The SE, on the other hand, was a fresh and welcome departure from the Camry's heretofore conservative legacy. Finally, a Camry that's fun and entertaining to drive. The manual transmission shifted cleanly, if not with sports-car crispness. Clutch engagement was smooth and easily managed. Foot brake and gas pedal are closely enough juxtaposed that heel-and-toe shifting is doable, although again, not with sports-car ease. The V6 eagerly spins all the way up to its programmed limiter at 6500 revolutions per minute, although we could feel the power drop off some beyond the 6200-rpm redline. It lugs without stumble from 1000 rpm in top gear. Steering turn-in could be a bit more precise, but cornering is markedly solid and stable, with little body lean. The sequential-shift automatic won't upshift when in manual mode, even with the engine bouncing off the rev limiter, but it will downshift if pressed. We're still struggling with the proper shift lever direction in these manu-matics. In some, pushing the lever forward feels right for downshifting, in others, the same feels OK for upshifting. In the SE, for whatever reason, we wanted it to go opposite the way that it does, that is, forward to go down a gear and rearward to go up one. But whatever, shifts were smooth but reassuringly certain. And while we never doubted the stopping power, brake pedal feel and travel were sedan-grade, too soft and too long, that is, for our preferences.
If there's any vestige of Buick-ism to be found in the new Camry, it's in the XLE. More than just the entry-plush interior, in ride and handling, too, the top of the line '07 was more soft and floaty than firm and planted. Not wandering or imprecise, mind you, as we were entirely comfortable and assured piloting it leisurely along gently curving two-lane byways and on lightly traveled or rush hour-packed, multi-lane highways. But the XLE is more of the set-it-and-forget-it mode of transport than one actively inviting driver participation in the task. Which, in its place, we found imminently enjoyable, along with the great sound system.
The Hybrid tucked right in between the LE and the XLE, in performance, especially, although the instantaneous torque from the electric motor at times delivered acceleration that felt equal to, if not quicker than the V6. And compared with the Honda Accord Hybrid, the transitions between just the electric motor powering the car to full hybrid, with motor and engine together, were much smoother. Not invisible, but more heard than felt, whereas in an Accord Hybrid we had driven a couple weeks earlier, the transitions sometimes felt like an almost-missed shift. But in terms of ride, handling and interior comfort, were it not for the graphic display of the hybrid's status, the substitution of a welcome, real-time, fuel economy gauge for the tachometer and the unique, abbreviated shift gate, we easily could have believed we were driving an XLE. The hybrid system combines a 147-hp, 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder engine with a 45-hp permanent magnet synchronous electric motor, yielding a net 192 horsepower.
Standard on the Hybrid is an assemblage of active driver assists Toyota calls the Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management system, or VDIM for short. This overlays on the ABS and EBD systems a function Toyota calls Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), which adjusts throttle and braking to correct for oversteer (when the car begins to turn sharper than the driver wants) and for understeer (when the car tends to go straight and the driver wants it to turn); Traction Control (TRAC), which tempers power output to a tire that has begun to spin; Electronic Throttle Control with intelligence (ETC-i), a throttle-by-wire system where the primary connection between the gas pedal and the engine is electronic instead of mechanical; Electric Power Steering (EPS); and Electronically Controlled Brakes (ECB), a brake-by-wire system. These last two are unique to the Hybrid (the EPS to provide steering assist when it's operating on electric motor alone and the ECB because the Hybrid employs regenerative brakes to charge the battery during stops) and, working with a variety of steering angle, yaw rate, deceleration, brake pressure, brake pedal stroke and wheel speed sensors, permit the VDIM to anticipate and help prevent a loss of control. Next Page