India Cars

Toyota launched an automatic version of executive sedans in India. The changes in the interiors are slight yet noteworthy. The upholstery has changed from the oily grey leather on the manual option we had tested to a richer, finer and creamier grain that accords the interiors a far more luxurious feel. Both front seats are now electronically controlled with the driver’s seat getting lumbar support activated by a switch. The dash has also become a tidier affair with a smarter looking cd-changer taking pride of place on the centre console. The instrument console is sportier looking.

Nothing has changed on that front; MacPherson struts up front and doubles wishbones at the rear. The only thing that has changed is the aluminium alloy wheels which have moved to 6.5JJx16in from the 6JJx15in that it sported earlier. With an upgrade of the engine, the brakes get an upgrade as well and the CR-V now has 246mm ventilated discs upfront and 262mm solid discs at the rear.

Built specifically to European standards the Camry has a chassis and suspension package designed to literally glide over roads with. And the Camry soaks in all the rollercoaster nature of Indian roads without ruffle. A nifty suspension package with MacPhersons up front with harder spring and damper ratings and MacPherson with a dual link setup complement the rear end. Ride quality is exemplary though the long wheelbase and slightly high ground clearance induce loads of body roll, which is a pain when cornering sharply.

The automatic Camry is quite unlike its manual sibling. Stomp the gas pedal and the four cylinders fire to life with loud, throaty growl, the manual in contrast puts a lot more spin into the wheels without the engine decibel blast. On the expressway this translates into oodles of speed. The needle swinging past the 200kmph mark with the pedal past the floor though the VBOX confirmed that at a 199.8kmph, so short of that magic double ton. Considering that the manual Camry zoomed way past the 200kmph mark, falling just a nick off the same mark is quite a remarkable achievement for an automatic. Acceleration too is sharp with the Camry automatic taking just 12.23 seconds to swing past the 100kmph mark. The quarter mile comes up in 18.45 seconds and she goes on further to cover a kilometre in 33.69 seconds. Where the automatic excels is in the rolling tests, the flexibility of the gearbox ensuring that she never takes more than a couple of seconds in her short sprints making her a most powerful tool for blistering past lumbering traffic.

Braking is where the automatic Camry show the merits of a larger disc. The auto Camry gives the speed from a 100kmph down to zero within 41.86 metres in just 3.04 seconds, that is 0.73 metres less and around 10 seconds quicker than the manual Camry. In a critical situation this could prove vital. From 80kmph to zero is also a quicker and shorter affair at 2.38 seconds within 28.23 metres. With the ABS and related electronic aids, the Camry lives up to being ‘one of the safest family cars’ in the world.

The Camry returned a best figure of 11.8kmpl at a steady 80kmph on the highway with the air con switched off. In city driving cycles the Camry gave around 7.3kmpl with air con switched on, whereas the worst she returned was around 6.1kmpl. Of 70-litre fuel tank it gives 600km range.

The Camry is a lot of car; from front lip to rear it occupies space like no other D-segmenter. The Camry has a big mile munching engine, so one can switch on the cruise control and let the ECU do the rest.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Toyota Cars in India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.