![]() Full instrumentation and an AM/FM five-speaker stereo are standard, as is variable-effort power steering. The reclining, cloth-covered buckets offer manual lower-cushion rake adjustment and an adjustable lumbar support. The detail execution is just as satisfying inside the cabin-especially if you order up the LE package. The design marks a coming trend that will allow finer tuning for improved ride comfort. A compound top-bushing arrangement feeds spring loads through one path and shock-absorber forces through another. There's even something noteworthy hidden away deep within the Camry's rear suspension. ![]() Punching up your choice on a pair of console-mounted buttons subtly alters shift points and the converter's lockup strategy to suit. Along with microprocessor control of the torque-converter clutch's lockup, this unit allows you to choose from three shift programs: power, normal, and economy. X-ray the engine and you'll see weight-saving pieces like sintered-metal connecting rods and what Toyota claims is the world's first hollow camshaft.īacking up the engine is more high-technology hardware-an electronically controlled four-speed overdrive automatic transmission, standard on all LE models. Raise the hood, for instance, and your gaze falls on the elegant aluminum casting that forms the intake plenum and ram-tuned runners of the Camry's electronic port fuel-injection system. From road to roof it's laced with the sort of intriguing technical tidbits and thoughtful touches that mark so many Japanese automobiles. ![]() While the Camry could be Anycar at first blush, you don't have to dig far below the surface to uncover its heritage. In fact, we managed to slip through L.A., kar-krazy kapital of the world, virtually unnoticed. In any form, it's a fairly plain wrapper no crowds formed up when we left our metallic-red-and-gold pre-production LE at the curb. These bits get delivered to you in either a five-door hatchback (to which we put our fifth wheel) or a four-door notchback body-your choice of base or heavily frosted LE. MacPherson struts front and rear handle life's lumps and bumps. It drives the front wheels through either a five-speed manual gearbox or a four-speed automatic. Under the hood, a transverse-mounted two-liter four-cylinder engine is on duty. It may be that the Japanese have now also taken the lead in the splitting of hairs.Īs for the rest of the mechanical overview, the Camry falls right into step with almost all the cars in this class-domes-tic and foreign. The EPA interior-volume measurement of 106 cubic feet for the four-door slots it midway between the X (110 cubic feet) and the J (101 cubic feet) as well. The Camry's 175.6-inch length makes it about five inches longer than a J and an equal amount shorter than an X. The Camry's 102.4-inch wheelbase falls squarely between the J-car's, at 101.2, and the X-car's, at 104.9. Other sources within Toyota report that the true target, at least in engineering terms, is really the X- and J-cars.Ī few vital statistics illustrate how carefully Toyota has picked its spot. Toyota's marketing department officially maintains that the Camry will be faced off against the Honda Accord here, but you could have fooled us. And with the average American-made sedan going out the door for more than $9000 these days-mmmm, you can smell the profits clear over in Japan. That's a lot of sales, but an awful lot more are still solidly in the American sector. The foreign brands, after all, are now taking more than a quarter of the American market. This makes perfect sense when you think about it. What we have here is the American car according to Japan, in its purest form ever. Its conservative lines almost dissolve into the sea of Aries, Cavaliers, and Citations now flooding America. It offers every option your average middle-aged family man would want, and then some. Toyota has made little attempt to sway the masses with European inspiration this time around instead, the Camry drives as if Buick engineers had moonlighted on its development. If you want to understand what it's all about, you'd be well advised to sample some of America's small sedans-X-cars and J-cars, to be exact. The search for new ways to entice Americans into Toyotas has led to the new Camry. No, this car company keeps trying harder, as if it were struggling to survive or something. It's not enough that Toyota has already bombed us with the poor man's BMW 633CSi (the Supra), the world's best Chevette-class econobox (the Starlet), and one of the niftiest mudslingers in captivity (the Tercel 4WD wagon). If you're wondering what in the name of Bonzo the Toyota Motor Company is going to do to our nation's automakers next, the answer just rolled into your friendly dealer's showroom.
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