Toyota Camry Review and History

Toyota Camry is one of the best selling sedans in the US market. Lets take a look at what Toyota has done to push Camry to the top.

The brief history of Toyota Camry has to be the first discussion. To see where Camry has been and what made it evolve into what it is today. Toyota has never really payed too much attention to US cars, but has been in direct competition with the Honda Accord.

Toyota Camry came out in 1983 trying to give some choices for those who did not follow the slogan "Buy American." When Camry first hit the scene it was not the ugliest duck, but was a close runner up. But, there is something to be said about the first Camry, I still get 80's model Camry's traded today! A 25 year old Car? That is unheard of for a car to last that long.

In 1987 Camry came out with an upgrade that followed the Accord update in 1986. The largest improvement in 1987 was the decrease in noise and vibration and a smoother riding sedan. Also, a nicer looking car compared to its earlier model.

In 1988 Camry offered a V6 Engine for those that said the sedan was too sluggish. Another big decision in 1988 was Toyota placing a production plant in Georgetown Kentucky. This proved to be a huge boost because Americans could buy a Japanese car and support American workers.

1992-1996 Toyota took the Camry to the top with larger displacement engines, bigger cars, better looking cars, safer cars, the whole 9 yards.

From 1997-2001 Camry offered more levels and better designs. In 1997 Americans voted the Camry #1 for the year so Toyota was doing something right. The Camry always had a change to rival the Accord or at least stay in competition with the Accord.

Toyota 2002-2006 made some aerodynamic improvements and did not try to confuse customers with too many options. Toyota saw the focus heading toward a safer more fuel efficient car and headed in that direction. Later in this model change a few things were added. A larger displacement V6 that was more fuel efficient, some luxury upgrades like navigation, but nothing too confusing. I believe American car makers can learn from Toyota about too many options. There are too many ways to equip an American car and it seems you never have the exact match, where if you could say you have a choice between A and B it would be much easier and simplified.

A total redesign for 2007 to current with four models: base CE, popular LE, sporty SE and luxurious XLE. There was a definite design for styling that makes it sleeker and sexier.

2009 Toyota Camry now offers the Camry model which is the base; dropping the CE, Starting price at $19145. The LE model starting price at $20,600. The SE starting at $21,815. The Luxury Camry XLE starting at $25,575. Toyota also offers a Camry Hybrid starting at $26,150. All models have a fuel mileage of 21 city and 31mpg highway except for the hybrid that offers 33/34.

2009 Camry Engines: 2.4 liter DOHC 4 cylinder with 158 horsepower, 3.5 liter DOHC 6 cylinder with 268 horsepower, and a 2.4 liter hybrid engine with 147 horsepower.

2009 Camry Color Choices: Classic Silver Metallic, Black, Barcelona Red Metallic, Blue Ribbon Metallic, Magnetic Gray Metallic, Super White, Sky Blue Pearl, Aloe Green Metallic, Desert Sand Mica. Interior choices are ash fabric, Bisque Fabric, Dark Charcoal Fabric, Ash Leather, Bisque Leather, Dark Charcoal leather. Not all choices are available for all models.

There are a host of other options available including but not limited to Navigation, heated seats, push button start, Hybrid system energy flow, Heated Seats, Sport Fabric, 6 Disc changer with Blue tooth, just to name a few. Many are available only in a package and cannot be separated. This makes the ordering and build process easier and keeps customer choices to a minimum.

FREE PRICE QUOTE on The Toyota Camry of your choice at Yahoo! Autos

1 comments:

Rj Maan said...

I really like and appreciate your efforts on providing such a nice piece of article. One thing i would like to add is that you forget completely to add that there are some Toyota Camry Repair Manuals are also available in the market that provides all the necessary information of repairing and servicing with the help of diagrams.

Post a Comment

Blog Archive