Camry: Worse than the Verna, at 3x the Cost
I test-drove the Toyota Camry, both in the city and on the highway, and evaluated it against my requirements. The Camry costs 60 lakh in its single variant, and it’s a slightly worse car than the Verna at 23 lakh. If you disagree with my conclusion and feel the Camry is better, that’s a reasonable point of view, but it’s still not 3x better.
Here’s my assessment:
+ All four doors have a small pocket for keys next to the window controls.
+ EPB
+ High-quality interior
± 1.7 tons
- Fastback, which is less aerodynamic than a typical sedan with a flat boot.
Comfort
+ Amazing legroom, to the point where I had to slide the seat forward a bit from all the way back to comfortably and safely reach the pedals.
+ The steering wheel tilts and telescopes electrically.
+ 12-way electrically adjustable seat, including 4-way lumbar.
- It starts with a jerk from auto hold even when I press the accelerator very gently.
- Revs a lot even for mild acceleration1, which makes it sound slightly more annoying than the Verna.
+ The acceleration is linear.
- The Camry is unwieldy at 5m long, and wider than most cars. This made driving on a small road stressful. I almost touched a pedestrian, albeit at 5 kph. On multiple occasions, I had to stop, and it was hard to get started again because vehicles were swarming around the Camry on all sides. I didn’t feel this way on the same road in the Verna, Creta or Windsor or many other cars, because they’re 4.4 - 4.6 meters long, which is the ideal length for Bangalore — shorter, and it becomes cramped; longer, and it becomes unwieldy.
- When someone drives close, which happens all the time in Bangalore, it beeps. This stupid ADAS mis-feature can’t be deactivated.
- When I drive slowly, which happens all the time in Bangalore, the parking camera keeps activating, and immediately beeping because I’m too close to an object as I park the car, or so the system thinks. Whenever it triggers, whatever was on the infotainment screen is replaced by a camera view, which further disrupts the experience. This can’t be turned off permanently.
- The car is a strong hybrid, which means the petrol engine keeps coming on and off, which is less pleasant than continuous engine sound.
+ Auto hold
Driving
+ Since it’s a sedan, that too a long one, I was concerned about speed bumps, but it handled a high one (the one at Nagavarapalya school) at 18 kph!
+ The car can turn at speed stably.
+ Separate buttons for Eco, Normal and Sport, so I can immediately switch to the mode I want, rather than having to press a single button repeatedly or rotate a dial while looking at a screen, which keeps my eye off the road longer.
+ A HUD shows the speed, which is safer since I can still see the road in my peripheral vision.
Digital
+ 3 USB-C ports
- The infotainment screen has an extremely wide aspect ratio, which is a poor fit for a car — while navigating, it shows what’s far away on either side of my route, which is irrelevant. I want a tall screen, even if it’s not wide, so that I can see what’s further along my route.
+ The extremely short screen doesn’t intrude into my view through the windshield.
- The music quality isn’t as good as the Verna’s Bose sound system.
- On top of that, it constantly keeps getting interrupted by the hair-trigger ADAS and parking camera, so I felt there was no point listening to music.
Cooling
+ One bottle fits in the door and two in the center holders, either a 1-liter Bisleri or my Thermos.
+ 4-zone AC
+ Ventilated seats, with 3 speeds.
+ Rear window sunshades.
+ The rear windshield can be covered with a sunshade, electrically.
+ The AC controls have the best tactile feel of any car.
- The sunroof is non-panoramic. Panoramic sunroofs cool a black car instantly that has been baking for hours in the afternoon summer sun.
- The opaque part of the sunroof opens manually, making possible a situation where it’s closed but the glass is open, bringing in noise but not ventilation or a view.
Front passenger
+ I can stretch my legs
+ Same 12-way adjustment and 3-level ventilation.
+ Great headroom for a sedan.
+ The window is panoramic in both width and height, giving me a beautiful view of the world as it goes by.
Rear seat
- The headroom is not great even by sedan standards.
+ I can stretch my legs
+ There’s lots of space
- The window is short and at low relative to my eyes, so the view is not the best height-wise. But width-wise, it’s panoramic.
- The sunroof is not visible, since it’s not panoramic
+ Elegant tan theme
+ 2 USB-C ports
+ Each passenger can independently angle the AC up / down / left / right, and open, partially open or close the vent.
This is because it isn’t turbocharged. Turbos can generate a lot of power at low RPM, and so maintain a more steady sound.