Toyota Camry

Still the sales leader...

Some people describe the Toyota Camry as a car for people who don’t care about cars. That isn’t entirely fair. It isn’t entirely wrong either.

That’s because, well, let’s face it…the Camry is never going to inspire an owners club, a racing series, a line of designer driving gloves or serv4e as Br4uce Willis’s ride in Die Hard 19. No, the Camry is a transportation device pure and simple. And the reason is simple.

The design of the Camry is perfectly adequate, the interior design is perfectly adequate, the handling is perfectly competent, the power is perfectly adequate. There is nothing about this car to offend anyone. There’s also nothing about this car to inspire anyone.

And if you’re Toyota, that’s just fine because the Camry is still the best selling mid-sized sedan in America. Inside, the shapes are simple, almost stark. On our LE model, the upholstery was a bit on the, uh, dull side, but seems very durable. The trunk, by the way, is not quite large enough to swallow Rhode Island, but it is close.

Power from the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine is an underwhelming 158 hard-working ponies hooked to a 6-speed . But the car does feel peppy…yeah that’s the word…peppy and mileage is a combined 31 per gallon.

Handling is biased toward comfort, but the Camry will never let you get yourself in trouble by overcooking it into a curve…nor will it make you want to try.

The Toyota Camry is the perfect car for folks who want a solid, economical, well-built transportation device with good mileage and resale, and nothing more. There are lots of good competitors out there now like Malibu and Fusion, but this is still the target everyone’s shooting for.