Toyota Settled an “Unintended Acceleration” Lawsuit with US$10 Million

The families of four people killed in an accident allegedly caused by the now infamous “unintended acceleration” throttle-gate, sued Toyota earlier this year and reached a settlement in September. At the time, the amount was not made public, but now, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that a lawyer representing Bob Baker Lexus of San Diego, California, a defendant in the case, has revealed that the Japanese maker agreed to pay US $10 million.

 
The tragic incident, which lead to the death of California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three of his family members, occurred after the dealership lent him a 2009 Lexus ES that allegedly had the aforementioned defect.
Initially, Toyota and the plaintiffs agreed to keep the deal confidential and the manufacturer neither admitted nor denied liability.
In the aftermath of the disclosure, Toyota released an official statement saying that it was disappointed that the sum was made public, as the involved parties “reached a private, amicable settlement through mutual respect and cooperation without the involvement of the courts”.
Furthermore, the automaker considers that, by making the settlement deal public, Bob Baker Lexus is trying to shift the attention away from its own litigation case with the families.

“Our deepest sympathies remain with the friends and family of Mark, Cleofe and Mahala Saylor and Cleofe’s brother Chris Lastrella”, Toyota said in the statement. “However, as in the past, Toyota will continue to defend itself vigorously against the misleading allegations Bob Baker Lexus is making against Toyota. Toyota is not, however, in a position to address the additional negligence claims the families have against Bob Baker Lexus that are independent of Toyota”.

By Csaba Daradics

Source: LA Times & Automotive News

2010 Toyota 4Runner faithfully sticks to the formula it helped create

2010 Toyota 4Runner - Click above for high-res image gallery

Toyota has made some serious money over the past couple of decades by making safe, reliable vehicles. There have been a few models, like the Supra and Celica, that have appealed to the enthusiast, but the rest of America hasn't really seemed to care. New Toyota chief Akio Toyoda has promised to change that paradigm, however, pledging to inject new vehicles with much-needed soul. But do we have to wait a few years for Toyota's designers and engineers to come up with something new and exciting? Maybe not.



While the enthusiast-inspired products like the FT-86 coupe are still a ways off, off-roading types have a new Toyota to test drive: the 2010 4Runner. We've long known that the 4Runner has been perfectly capable of wrestling with a bit of mud, as it helped define America's sport-utility genre along with the original Jeep Cherokee way back in 1984. But this new model is at once bigger, more capable and more luxurious – and its styling has been designed to stand out in an admittedly thinning crowd of proper SUVs. We spent a week with a Magnetic Grey Metallic 4WD SR5 to see if Toyota has been right to stand by its mid-size mainstay while the rest of the automaking world has been busy turning its body-on-frame gas-guzzlers into pump-friendly softroaders.
Looking at our $37,649 tester from the outside, it's abundantly clear that Toyota has zigged when the rest of the world's utility vehicles have up and zagged. Our naked eye tells us the 4Runner is a cross between a GMC Terrain and Sloth from the movie Goonies. That's a nice way of saying that we find the 4Runner a bit hard to look at. Its flat nose, square-rigged proportions and bold side moldings won't win any beauty contests, but after a few days, its "more is more" look began to wear on us, if only a bit. One trait we just couldn't get used to are the bulging headlights and taillights that protrude from the sheetmetal by a good two inches. We're thinking there isn't a huge market for taillights that appear to have an inoperable growth jutting out to the sides.

The 4Runner's exterior definitely makes a bold statement, and that theme has been deftly carried over to the interior. Toyota has continued the big and bold theme inside the cabin, with oversized seats, a wonderful Delmonico-inspired steering wheel and a shift lever that could double as the barrel of a Louisville Slugger. Even the knobs are over an inch in diameter. The wide, squared-off center stack very efficiently packs in all the 4Runner's supersized buttons and switchgear, and ergonomics are surprisingly good. The 4Runner's overall length, at 189 inches, is three inches shorter than the Nissan Pathfinder, but the 4Runner is a far more useful 2.4 inches wider. That means more shoulder and hip room for passengers, more presence in traffic, and perhaps most importantly, more stability.



We liked the 4Runner's comfortable leather seats, commanding view of the road and roomy dimensions, but there were a few notable problems within this Toyota's cabin. First, one of the most amusing buttons we've ever seen in any vehicle appeared in our tester: the "Party Mode" button. Sadly, Ryan Seacrest's short and suited self doesn't pop out whenever we pressed it. Instead, the sound system's music goes from clean to heavy on the bass and over-modulated. The stereo doesn't actually sound that bad in "Party Mode," but we're not sure why Toyota has elected to place the button a foot away from the headunit and behind that massive steering wheel we told you about. We didn't see the button for the first four days behind the wheel and may never have stumbled across it if one of our other editors didn't alert us to its existence.

Interior quality is also a bit uneven, as the 4Runner's dash plastic is unyielding, and touchpoints at the door and center armrest are surprisingly harsh and rubbery. We understand (but don't like) the use of hard plastics on a meat-and-potatoes SUV dashboard, but touchpoints deserve a bit more love. An even bigger problem presented itself in the form of our tester's third row seat, which is a $3,570 option that included leather seating surfaces and third row curtain airbags.




Since the 4Runner has a body-on-frame architecture, when the third row seat is folded, the load floor actually sits a few inches higher than in the standard five-seat model. The fully collapsed seats don't exactly stow completely flat, either, and the slight downward pitch of the floor makes it next to impossible to throw groceries in the boot without something flying out when the tailgate is opened. There is no convenient way to access that third row when it's needed, either. We found that we had to unfold the third row split-bench from the second row, which certainly isn't the most user-friendly way to access additional seating.

But while the interior wasn't exactly up to snuff, there were some considerable surprises once we got behind the wheel. The first area of delight came courtesy of Toyota's 4.0-liter V6 engine. This writer just finished a week in a Tacoma with the same displacement V6, and we came away from that tester wanting far more power. The six-pot beneath the hood of the 4Runner is a different beast altogether, with dual independent variable valve timing helping to achieve 270 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 278 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm. The extra horsepower (up from 236 ponies in the Tacoma) makes the 4,700 pound 4Runner feel surprisingly fleet-footed, and Toyota claims an impressive 0-60 mph time of 7.1 seconds. Perhaps more surprising than the 4Runner's perkiness is the impressive 19.5 miles per gallon we managed during a week of mixed driving (EPA figures: 18 mpg city/23 mpg highway). Not bad for a two-ton SUV with a five-speed transmission and large-displacement V6.



Our tester also proved to be very comfortable on the highway and around town, with the V6 providing reliable power and the chassis remaining well-controlled. Steering is a bit numb and could use a bit more heft when tooling around town, but it's about what you'd expect in an off-road capable SUV. It's true that the 4Runner's ride quality tends to get a bit bouncy when encountering less-than-ideal roads, but that's largely to be expected in a steel-spring off-roader like this.

The SR5 also has a not-so secret weapon in its very capable part-time four-wheel-drive system. On the highway, it can cruise comfortably using only the rear wheels for propulsion, but when the traction conditions turn foreboding, the driver can simply shift into Four High to keep momentum strong. When dirt turns to rock, the 4Runner can articulate over some pretty formidable terrain. Simply work your way into Four Low and let the 9.6-inch ground clearance, 25-degree approach angle and 24-degree departure angle work to your advantage. Toyota also has an even more rugged option in the form of a Trail package that includes a terrain response system, a locking rear differential, and skid plates for still more off-roading ability.



We rarely find ourselves short on fun when we're off the beaten path, and here the 4Runner revealed itself to be a very capable partner. Substantial P265/70SR17 tires and above average wheel travel made most pits feel like small potholes, and the 4WD system proved to be very difficult to overwhelm. One problem we encountered was that it was fairly difficult to switch the 4Runner's floor-mounted 4WD system shifter into 4WD High and Low. We got better with a bit of practice, though we'd much prefer a simple button or switch that interfaces with the 4WD system.

The Toyota 4Runner may be every bit as safe and reliable as Toyota models of the past, but it also has a bit of attitude in its design and capability, and that's a good thing. And with the Chevrolet Trailblazer gone and the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango about to reinvent themselves as crossovers, the 4Runner has very little competition in a segment that just a decade ago surpassed well over one million units per year. In the end, customers will have to decide if they really do want to go off-road every now and again. The genre's sales may be dwindling, but with the 4Runner's history spanning a quarter of a century and 1.5 million units sold over four generations, we're guessing that Toyota will find enough loyalists who still think a bit of grit under their fingernails – and tires – is an attractive thing.
source by autoblog

2010 Toyota 4Runner faithfully sticks to the formula it helped create

2010 Toyota 4Runner - Click above for high-res image gallery

Toyota has made some serious money over the past couple of decades by making safe, reliable vehicles. There have been a few models, like the Supra and Celica, that have appealed to the enthusiast, but the rest of America hasn't really seemed to care. New Toyota chief Akio Toyoda has promised to change that paradigm, however, pledging to inject new vehicles with much-needed soul. But do we have to wait a few years for Toyota's designers and engineers to come up with something new and exciting? Maybe not.



While the enthusiast-inspired products like the FT-86 coupe are still a ways off, off-roading types have a new Toyota to test drive: the 2010 4Runner. We've long known that the 4Runner has been perfectly capable of wrestling with a bit of mud, as it helped define America's sport-utility genre along with the original Jeep Cherokee way back in 1984. But this new model is at once bigger, more capable and more luxurious – and its styling has been designed to stand out in an admittedly thinning crowd of proper SUVs. We spent a week with a Magnetic Grey Metallic 4WD SR5 to see if Toyota has been right to stand by its mid-size mainstay while the rest of the automaking world has been busy turning its body-on-frame gas-guzzlers into pump-friendly softroaders.
Looking at our $37,649 tester from the outside, it's abundantly clear that Toyota has zigged when the rest of the world's utility vehicles have up and zagged. Our naked eye tells us the 4Runner is a cross between a GMC Terrain and Sloth from the movie Goonies. That's a nice way of saying that we find the 4Runner a bit hard to look at. Its flat nose, square-rigged proportions and bold side moldings won't win any beauty contests, but after a few days, its "more is more" look began to wear on us, if only a bit. One trait we just couldn't get used to are the bulging headlights and taillights that protrude from the sheetmetal by a good two inches. We're thinking there isn't a huge market for taillights that appear to have an inoperable growth jutting out to the sides.

The 4Runner's exterior definitely makes a bold statement, and that theme has been deftly carried over to the interior. Toyota has continued the big and bold theme inside the cabin, with oversized seats, a wonderful Delmonico-inspired steering wheel and a shift lever that could double as the barrel of a Louisville Slugger. Even the knobs are over an inch in diameter. The wide, squared-off center stack very efficiently packs in all the 4Runner's supersized buttons and switchgear, and ergonomics are surprisingly good. The 4Runner's overall length, at 189 inches, is three inches shorter than the Nissan Pathfinder, but the 4Runner is a far more useful 2.4 inches wider. That means more shoulder and hip room for passengers, more presence in traffic, and perhaps most importantly, more stability.



We liked the 4Runner's comfortable leather seats, commanding view of the road and roomy dimensions, but there were a few notable problems within this Toyota's cabin. First, one of the most amusing buttons we've ever seen in any vehicle appeared in our tester: the "Party Mode" button. Sadly, Ryan Seacrest's short and suited self doesn't pop out whenever we pressed it. Instead, the sound system's music goes from clean to heavy on the bass and over-modulated. The stereo doesn't actually sound that bad in "Party Mode," but we're not sure why Toyota has elected to place the button a foot away from the headunit and behind that massive steering wheel we told you about. We didn't see the button for the first four days behind the wheel and may never have stumbled across it if one of our other editors didn't alert us to its existence.

Interior quality is also a bit uneven, as the 4Runner's dash plastic is unyielding, and touchpoints at the door and center armrest are surprisingly harsh and rubbery. We understand (but don't like) the use of hard plastics on a meat-and-potatoes SUV dashboard, but touchpoints deserve a bit more love. An even bigger problem presented itself in the form of our tester's third row seat, which is a $3,570 option that included leather seating surfaces and third row curtain airbags.




Since the 4Runner has a body-on-frame architecture, when the third row seat is folded, the load floor actually sits a few inches higher than in the standard five-seat model. The fully collapsed seats don't exactly stow completely flat, either, and the slight downward pitch of the floor makes it next to impossible to throw groceries in the boot without something flying out when the tailgate is opened. There is no convenient way to access that third row when it's needed, either. We found that we had to unfold the third row split-bench from the second row, which certainly isn't the most user-friendly way to access additional seating.

But while the interior wasn't exactly up to snuff, there were some considerable surprises once we got behind the wheel. The first area of delight came courtesy of Toyota's 4.0-liter V6 engine. This writer just finished a week in a Tacoma with the same displacement V6, and we came away from that tester wanting far more power. The six-pot beneath the hood of the 4Runner is a different beast altogether, with dual independent variable valve timing helping to achieve 270 horsepower at 5600 rpm and 278 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm. The extra horsepower (up from 236 ponies in the Tacoma) makes the 4,700 pound 4Runner feel surprisingly fleet-footed, and Toyota claims an impressive 0-60 mph time of 7.1 seconds. Perhaps more surprising than the 4Runner's perkiness is the impressive 19.5 miles per gallon we managed during a week of mixed driving (EPA figures: 18 mpg city/23 mpg highway). Not bad for a two-ton SUV with a five-speed transmission and large-displacement V6.



Our tester also proved to be very comfortable on the highway and around town, with the V6 providing reliable power and the chassis remaining well-controlled. Steering is a bit numb and could use a bit more heft when tooling around town, but it's about what you'd expect in an off-road capable SUV. It's true that the 4Runner's ride quality tends to get a bit bouncy when encountering less-than-ideal roads, but that's largely to be expected in a steel-spring off-roader like this.

The SR5 also has a not-so secret weapon in its very capable part-time four-wheel-drive system. On the highway, it can cruise comfortably using only the rear wheels for propulsion, but when the traction conditions turn foreboding, the driver can simply shift into Four High to keep momentum strong. When dirt turns to rock, the 4Runner can articulate over some pretty formidable terrain. Simply work your way into Four Low and let the 9.6-inch ground clearance, 25-degree approach angle and 24-degree departure angle work to your advantage. Toyota also has an even more rugged option in the form of a Trail package that includes a terrain response system, a locking rear differential, and skid plates for still more off-roading ability.



We rarely find ourselves short on fun when we're off the beaten path, and here the 4Runner revealed itself to be a very capable partner. Substantial P265/70SR17 tires and above average wheel travel made most pits feel like small potholes, and the 4WD system proved to be very difficult to overwhelm. One problem we encountered was that it was fairly difficult to switch the 4Runner's floor-mounted 4WD system shifter into 4WD High and Low. We got better with a bit of practice, though we'd much prefer a simple button or switch that interfaces with the 4WD system.

The Toyota 4Runner may be every bit as safe and reliable as Toyota models of the past, but it also has a bit of attitude in its design and capability, and that's a good thing. And with the Chevrolet Trailblazer gone and the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango about to reinvent themselves as crossovers, the 4Runner has very little competition in a segment that just a decade ago surpassed well over one million units per year. In the end, customers will have to decide if they really do want to go off-road every now and again. The genre's sales may be dwindling, but with the 4Runner's history spanning a quarter of a century and 1.5 million units sold over four generations, we're guessing that Toyota will find enough loyalists who still think a bit of grit under their fingernails – and tires – is an attractive thing.
source by autoblog

Three Toyotas latest to earn IIHS Top Safety Picks

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just announced that a total of three new Toyota vehicles have been given Top Safety Pick awards. Both the 2011 Toyota Avalon and 2011 Toyota Sienna were awarded the institute's highest ratings in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. The 2010 Lexus RX also nabbed a Top Safety Pick nod. All of the vehicles come with electronic stability control as standard equipment – another parameter for receiving the award.



Toyota's Sienna earns the honor of being the first minivan to receive the Top Safety Pick since the IIHS added rollover data to its list of crash criteria in 2010. The news is likely to come as music to the ears of Toyota engineers and dealers, both of which have had to stand by and watch their brand's quality and safety reputation erode under a hail of recalls. Thanks for the tip, Eddie!

[Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety]

Three Toyotas latest to earn IIHS Top Safety Picks

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just announced that a total of three new Toyota vehicles have been given Top Safety Pick awards. Both the 2011 Toyota Avalon and 2011 Toyota Sienna were awarded the institute's highest ratings in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. The 2010 Lexus RX also nabbed a Top Safety Pick nod. All of the vehicles come with electronic stability control as standard equipment – another parameter for receiving the award.



Toyota's Sienna earns the honor of being the first minivan to receive the Top Safety Pick since the IIHS added rollover data to its list of crash criteria in 2010. The news is likely to come as music to the ears of Toyota engineers and dealers, both of which have had to stand by and watch their brand's quality and safety reputation erode under a hail of recalls. Thanks for the tip, Eddie!

[Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety]

2009 Toyota Camry XLE

2009 Toyota Camry XLE – Click above for high-res image gallery

A recent night of excitement: driving the Camry XLE to the Super Wal-Mart. So lame, but that's not the car's fault. Like Wal-Mart, the Camry has been excoriated as a work of Satan, antithetical to all that is American, never mind where it's built. Despite the gleeful way everyone always lobs shots at Toyota's midsizer, there's a lot of virtue here. After all, there has to be some kind of hook to this car attaining such vaunted status, besides the bounce-lending automotive cult of personality. Since nobody actually reviews the Camry – we just complain about it as it outsells everything else – we rustled up an XLE powered by Toyota's 2.4-liter four cylinder and tried it out.


So why does the Camry sell so well? Because it's a solid car that offers good value. The trunk is big, the four is thrifty, it comes well equipped. We thought there might be some personality hiding in there that would win us over during the Camry's stay. Nope. The best thing about the Camry's half-pretty styling is the anonymity afforded by the glut of them on the road, and the car itself tries very hard to avoid offending anyone.

It's exterior styling is more expressive than previous Camrys; one could even get away with saying the styling was a motivating factor in the purchase of a Camry. The front end has a suggestion of feline to its face, and the hood has some well developed surface detailing that plays light nicely. Out back, the trunklid rises up out of the rear quarter panels, giving the Camry a high poop deck. The Camry is not unattractive, and while it blends in due to the surfeit of Camrys on the road, this iteration has far more flair to the sheetmetal than its forebears.

Inside, the XLE is equipped with everything you'd ever want. For entertainment, a JBL audio system with multi-disc capacity, .wma and .mp3 capability and satellite readiness occupies a place of prominence on the center stack and provides plenty of NPR and angry-guy talk radio. When tuned to music, the sound of the system is annoying, despite the speakers' JBL pedigree. A severe high-frequency resonance from the tweeters that sounds like metal-on-metal made us feel like we'd been listening to a dog whistle.

The HVAC panel is lower down in the "Plasmacenter," and offers up dual-zone climate control. Every time we started the Camry, the HVAC would come on in recirculate mode. If you neglect to manually select fresh cabin air, the windows have a tendency to get foggy, especially if it's humid. The recirc default may be less of an issue if you rely on the automatic functions of the climate control, but for anyone who likes to be master of his or her machine, it's an annoyance that quickly gets old.

The power adjustable, leather trimmed seats are comfortable for most anyone, and the ergonomics are well-considered with everything easy to find. A couple of minor niggles; one of the center stack's lower pieces didn't line up, and its turquoise stripe pattern glows far too brightly at night. Back seat passengers find plenty of legroom, thanks to the Camry's large footprint, and the rear seatbacks even recline. We'd happily trade their reclining trick, however, for seats that fold offering more access to the trunk than just the large pass-through. The trunk itself is a veritable cavern: big, accessible, eminently useful.

While we found the Camry an innocuous place to while away the hours, it feels like the low end of its class in terms of materials and design. In a turnaround of monumental proportions, the Fusion and Malibu slay the Camry's interior. Even in the XLE with its leather upholstery, it's disappointing. The dash and door panels are styled in a spare fashion, and when swathed in gray like our tester, the feeling is drab. Fake wood inserts in the center console and on the doors is overly shiny and reminiscent of bad old sedans from dark days gone by.The XLE is not the base model, but it didn't feel as niced-up as a new Hyundai Sonata in comparable trim, and the Detroit brands are better still.

Inoffensive is the order of the day when you point the Camry into traffic. The 2.4 liter four cylinder is plenty powerful and revs smoothly all the way to its redline while generating 158 horsepower. An available V6 offering 100 more horsepower is entirely unnecessary, especially when the torquey four returns an EPA highway rating of 31 mpg, brag-worthy for a car this size. Part of the good mileage is an automatic transmission that aims for fifth gear and takes a search warrant to find a downshift. The autobox is recalcitrant, if efficient.

Sport is not the mission here, but some less flaccid chassis calibration would be fitting, like fitting the SE's "sport-tuned" shocks and extra bracing to the XLE. Feeling both underdamped and undersprung, the Camry doesn't impart the impression of buttoned down security like we desire in a family stormer. Light steering devoid of feel keeps mum about what's going on with the tires, and the Camry feels nervous on the road. The ride is soft, overly soft, possibly as an effort to please every rump. You can dance the Camry if you're up for a challenge, though, it is capable enough. VSC is part of the Option B package that includes power adjustable seats with leather upholstery and heaters and mats for the floor as well as the trunk, and Toyota's aggressive stability control calibration means it'd take a ton of nerve to get in trouble.

After spending a week with the Camry, we now understand why it's such a good seller; it's a good car with a great reputation. Unlike 15 years ago, the Camry's not just duking it out with the Accord anymore. Domestic brands are turning out cars that we find far more compelling in terms of styling, price and features, not to mention initial quality, and let's not forget Hyundai's juggernaut Sonata. The Camry XLE isn't a screaming bargain for the $28,000 our sample unit cost either, but Toyota has a track record of impressive reliability and longevity with the Camry, important for buyers looking for an automotive sure thing, and that's a huge check in this car's plus column for the average consumer.
source by autoblog

2009 Toyota Camry XLE

2009 Toyota Camry XLE – Click above for high-res image gallery

A recent night of excitement: driving the Camry XLE to the Super Wal-Mart. So lame, but that's not the car's fault. Like Wal-Mart, the Camry has been excoriated as a work of Satan, antithetical to all that is American, never mind where it's built. Despite the gleeful way everyone always lobs shots at Toyota's midsizer, there's a lot of virtue here. After all, there has to be some kind of hook to this car attaining such vaunted status, besides the bounce-lending automotive cult of personality. Since nobody actually reviews the Camry – we just complain about it as it outsells everything else – we rustled up an XLE powered by Toyota's 2.4-liter four cylinder and tried it out.


So why does the Camry sell so well? Because it's a solid car that offers good value. The trunk is big, the four is thrifty, it comes well equipped. We thought there might be some personality hiding in there that would win us over during the Camry's stay. Nope. The best thing about the Camry's half-pretty styling is the anonymity afforded by the glut of them on the road, and the car itself tries very hard to avoid offending anyone.

It's exterior styling is more expressive than previous Camrys; one could even get away with saying the styling was a motivating factor in the purchase of a Camry. The front end has a suggestion of feline to its face, and the hood has some well developed surface detailing that plays light nicely. Out back, the trunklid rises up out of the rear quarter panels, giving the Camry a high poop deck. The Camry is not unattractive, and while it blends in due to the surfeit of Camrys on the road, this iteration has far more flair to the sheetmetal than its forebears.

Inside, the XLE is equipped with everything you'd ever want. For entertainment, a JBL audio system with multi-disc capacity, .wma and .mp3 capability and satellite readiness occupies a place of prominence on the center stack and provides plenty of NPR and angry-guy talk radio. When tuned to music, the sound of the system is annoying, despite the speakers' JBL pedigree. A severe high-frequency resonance from the tweeters that sounds like metal-on-metal made us feel like we'd been listening to a dog whistle.

The HVAC panel is lower down in the "Plasmacenter," and offers up dual-zone climate control. Every time we started the Camry, the HVAC would come on in recirculate mode. If you neglect to manually select fresh cabin air, the windows have a tendency to get foggy, especially if it's humid. The recirc default may be less of an issue if you rely on the automatic functions of the climate control, but for anyone who likes to be master of his or her machine, it's an annoyance that quickly gets old.

The power adjustable, leather trimmed seats are comfortable for most anyone, and the ergonomics are well-considered with everything easy to find. A couple of minor niggles; one of the center stack's lower pieces didn't line up, and its turquoise stripe pattern glows far too brightly at night. Back seat passengers find plenty of legroom, thanks to the Camry's large footprint, and the rear seatbacks even recline. We'd happily trade their reclining trick, however, for seats that fold offering more access to the trunk than just the large pass-through. The trunk itself is a veritable cavern: big, accessible, eminently useful.

While we found the Camry an innocuous place to while away the hours, it feels like the low end of its class in terms of materials and design. In a turnaround of monumental proportions, the Fusion and Malibu slay the Camry's interior. Even in the XLE with its leather upholstery, it's disappointing. The dash and door panels are styled in a spare fashion, and when swathed in gray like our tester, the feeling is drab. Fake wood inserts in the center console and on the doors is overly shiny and reminiscent of bad old sedans from dark days gone by.The XLE is not the base model, but it didn't feel as niced-up as a new Hyundai Sonata in comparable trim, and the Detroit brands are better still.

Inoffensive is the order of the day when you point the Camry into traffic. The 2.4 liter four cylinder is plenty powerful and revs smoothly all the way to its redline while generating 158 horsepower. An available V6 offering 100 more horsepower is entirely unnecessary, especially when the torquey four returns an EPA highway rating of 31 mpg, brag-worthy for a car this size. Part of the good mileage is an automatic transmission that aims for fifth gear and takes a search warrant to find a downshift. The autobox is recalcitrant, if efficient.

Sport is not the mission here, but some less flaccid chassis calibration would be fitting, like fitting the SE's "sport-tuned" shocks and extra bracing to the XLE. Feeling both underdamped and undersprung, the Camry doesn't impart the impression of buttoned down security like we desire in a family stormer. Light steering devoid of feel keeps mum about what's going on with the tires, and the Camry feels nervous on the road. The ride is soft, overly soft, possibly as an effort to please every rump. You can dance the Camry if you're up for a challenge, though, it is capable enough. VSC is part of the Option B package that includes power adjustable seats with leather upholstery and heaters and mats for the floor as well as the trunk, and Toyota's aggressive stability control calibration means it'd take a ton of nerve to get in trouble.

After spending a week with the Camry, we now understand why it's such a good seller; it's a good car with a great reputation. Unlike 15 years ago, the Camry's not just duking it out with the Accord anymore. Domestic brands are turning out cars that we find far more compelling in terms of styling, price and features, not to mention initial quality, and let's not forget Hyundai's juggernaut Sonata. The Camry XLE isn't a screaming bargain for the $28,000 our sample unit cost either, but Toyota has a track record of impressive reliability and longevity with the Camry, important for buyers looking for an automotive sure thing, and that's a huge check in this car's plus column for the average consumer.
source by autoblog