This is the 2018 Toyota Camry’s braces-filled face of your next taxi and/or Uber. You don’t like it. We don’t love it, either, for obvious reasons. But it’s going to be everywhere soon. Possibly with dents. Get used to it.
From the sounds of it, Toyota lowered everything there was to lower: passenger seating positions, hip point, shoulder line, roofline and hood height. The resulting height is now one full inch shorter than the current Camry’s. The wheelbase was extended by two inches. This is all meant to evoke a sense of sportiness and aggression that everyone seems to want in a car these days.
But the athleticism doesn’t just stop at the outside, oh no. Inside, the driver’s seat is described with the word “cockpit.” The front seats have been redesigned to be more comfortable and—you guessed it—sporty.
The new Camry will come with three new powertrains: a 3.5-liter V6, an all-new 2.5-liter four-cylinder and a hybrid system. In particular, the hybrid system’s battery pack was moved from the trunk to under the back seat for better vehicle handling.
Though, creating the new Camry was not without challenges. According to Toyota:
The biggest challenge for the Camry engineering team was to figure out how to convey the driving dynamics of a soul-stirring sedan. Driving dynamics were always at the forefront of the engineering philosophy for the new Camry. They wanted a new Camry in which the driver will be highly impressed with the handling capability and composure of the new design. So much so, that drivers will notice the dramatic improvements within the first few seconds of driving.
Hmm. I suppose I’ll just have to test it out and see for myself.
No word yet on power or pricing.