MotorMouths

The 2012 Toyota Camry is younger looking, more luxurious, more tech-savvy and more fuel efficient, plus for core buyers, less expensive. If that doesn’t put rivals on the defensive, we don’t what will.

It’s been twenty years, but the Camry might have just leapt back to the front of the pack as the worry-free car you’d gladly recommend to your mother — without being afraid to be seen in it yourself.

The 2012 Toyota Camry breaks little new ground, but its steady, continual improvement and its newfound focus on niche buyers means that Toyota won’t struggle to put Camrys in garages.

The 2012 Camry is much more than an appliance on wheels. From the redesigned exterior to its sleekly styled interior, I was impressed with Toyota’s attempt at making the ho-hum family sedan into something a bit sexier and fun to drive.

By sheer volume and longevity, the Camry is a phenomenon; only in the driving department has it lacked the wherewithal to persuade. I submit that those days are over. Yes, driving a Camry—at least the SE V6 version–is now something to actually enjoy. What will they think of next?

Toyota did a nice job styling the new Camry. On the road it’s exceptionally quiet and the ride is refined. Under the hood, the XLE’s V-6 gave amazing performance while giving us 27.2 miles per gallon.

With plenty of room for five and the most airbags in its class, the 2012 Toyota Camry continues as an excellent choice for families. In a class with many strong competitors, the Camry should keep its sales lead, but the quality gap between it and the competition is slim.

We found that the 2012 Toyota Camry has some surprising zip under the hood to go with the comfort and reliability that made it such a success.

The 2012 Camry LE is a great car that doesn’t turn off most of the mainstream buyers who seek ownership contentment for the next 10+ years. It’s a bullseye… among a midsized segment that seems to attract more bullseyes than ever.

As ever, the Camry is aimed at the heart of the market where value, fuel economy, safety, quality and comfort reign supreme. The new 2012 Toyota Camry represents notable improvements on all of these fronts.

Soft, floaty ride, sufficient space, improved performance… Golly, is there anything the Camry Hybrid can’t do? Answer: Kind of.

For customers looking for a ‘sporty’ Camry, this is the best yet. But compared to similarly equipped Optimas and Sonatas, the SE doesn’t hold up on the ‘sport sedan’ front. Critically, Toyota has addressed one major problem, and that’s value.