Consistent use of the soft touch materials on the back doors as on the fronts would be a start, better, thicker carpet that is easier to clean and doesn't wear easily, better feeling A/C ***** in the LE and SE models, more padding on the top of the door panels, more padding in the headliner, thicker dashboard padding and having it padded for the entire dashboard, not just the front half near the driver and passenger seats. They also need to dump the awful hubcaps on the LE and put standard alloys on it. And while I do like the design of the car (SE and XLE), it does look too much like the old one and doesn't look very upscale. The new Accord looks like a luxury car and while I understand Toyota has the Avalon that they need to keep distance from, the Camry should at least look completely new and a bit more expensive.

It isn't a bad car (In a few years, I might buy a new SE) and the XLE models, especially those with leather are competitive interior wise but the lower ones, especially that god awful 2012 LE, is an embarrassment and has an interior that would look terrible in a Corolla. Toyota put the same exact headliner that a Hyundai Accent has in the '12s, that recycled paper garbage. They put a woven one in the '13s but no cushioning in it. Toyota took two steps forward and three steps back with the new one. Honda really did a good job with the Accord, and I finally drove the new Fusion today. The interior of that car spanks the Camry's and I hate admitting that, because I really do like Camrys a lot. Toyota paid way too much attention to the bottom line and to the Sonata, which aside from the Chrysler cars is really the only one I can think of with a worse interior.

This car needs to be engineered in America and FAR FAR Away from the Japanese engineers hell bent on maximising profit from the yen. The Avalon proves that Toyota can still build an affordable, high quality car in this day and age. Part of me wants Toyota to lose that sales crown, simply to wake them up and actually put out a car I know they can build. Older Accords were nice cars, but nowhere near as refined and as well built as older Camrys. It now feels the reverse is true.

 

I agree, they should let you option the SE just like an XLE, like having dual zone A/C. They did add blind spot monitor to the '13s though, which is a plus.

 

you guys will never get Lexus Camry for 20k... 3 series doesnt have what you want so...

I dont agree at all. You will see the same with Corolla too. Toyota did not get where it is by having luxurious interiors and expensive cars. No, those things were the downfall of Toyota. For their bread and butter cars they need to spend money on reliability and not how thick the padding on back door is.

If you want luxury Toyota there is Avalon... it is not that expensive for what you get either and its interior is stunning IMHO. And again, it is not that much more expensive compared to similar Camry.

 

With all due respect, spwolf, I have to agree with 84Cressida. Camry buyers don't, nor should they expect, it to be a mid-size econobox. That's what made the superb 3rd-generation (1992-1996) Camry such an excellent car, IMO the best Camry ever built....and cemented its reputation. It had excellent build-quality, a luxury-car-plush ride, good material-quality inside, an almost bullet-proof drivetrain (except for some of the later 3.0 V6s), almost library-quiet sound insulation, and decent-grade sheet metal on the exterior. It also had American-market coupe and wagon versions. Subsequent Camrys, IMO, all went downhill until the latest-generation 2012 model, which, despite a stiffened ride and thinner sheet metal, was overall somewhat of an improvement.

 

Exactly. One of the reasons Toyota is Toyota and Lexus is Lexus is Toyota keeps the Camry where it needs to be and keeps it in check. An upscale Camry makes no sense since it sells, its not **** poor (Average at the worst) and you can see the general upgrade when you step into a Lexus.

Contrarily with Honda/Acura and Nissan/infiniti they have elevated their cars to levels that make it confusing to a consumer in regards to the upgrade. Has anyone experienced the new Accord for example? It makes Acura look completely redundant. Toyota does not need to create their own issues here.

The Camry is fine. If you want a better car, jump to a Lexus.... or Accord (ducks and hides)

 

i was recently on the highway and a new camry se drove by. back bumper side piece flapping away, it looked really cheap. then some, uh, competing cars came by behind the camry. to say they looked better is an understatement.

 

well my buddy has VW CC, which is Avalon priced and it doesnt pass Cressida's test for interior quality... it is mostly hard plastic everywhere that looks good on pics and doesnt give when you touch it... headliner is hard and has no padding either... front doors have hard plastics, let alone rear ones. In pics it all looks good though so I guess thats the point... more fluff.

Toyota's were never fluff cars and they shouldnt be. New Corolla and Rav4 are not fluff cars either.

 

I think that Toyota could take some lessons from Honda (and likely Nissan and Mazda also) when it comes to dressing up the interior of the Camry.

Toyota spends development money on little details that are not easily visible to drivers and as a result, have to cut back on costs elsewhere -- the dashboard and door panel materials, for instance.

In contrast, my wife's new 2013 Accord (2013 Canadian Car of the Year) has a nice-looking and soft-touch (as soft as you are likely to get these days on mass-market cars) dashboard, but it is missing some little things that I find annoying like a locking glovebox and audio system on-off switch on the steering wheel-mounted remote controls. Those 2 little things (among many others, I have no doubt, like a hood prop-rod instead of strut as someone else mentioned) are not likely to be greatly missed by most buyers, but by cutting costs there, Honda could give the Accord a better-looking and better-feeling dashboard and door panels.

Perhaps Toyota could do the similar on the Camry (but I would not suggest removing an audio on-off switch from the steering wheel-mounted remote -- removing that is just stupid, IMO).

 

Yes, I have. I partially, but not fully, agree. It does avoid some of the well-publicized shortcomings and cheapness of the failed 2012 Civic, but, IMO, it is clearly not an Acura.


Not with the new ES350. Not just me, but Consumer Reports was also disappointed with it. You can diss CR if you want, but that's their honest opinion.

 

The new Avalon is a better ES350. I despise the cost cutting that went into the ES which does not deserve a Lexus badge currently

 

I notice that too on every new Camry. It does look really cheap. It's inexcusable, really, because what does it say about the quality of the rest of the car? Every time I see one I shake my head and wonder how Toyota let that slip. It looks really bad, like they forgot to install a bracket back there or something.

 

Were the Toyota engineers in the USA (with the Avalon) better able to balance the less-visible details with the highly-visible details than the Toyota engineers in Japan (with the ES)? As others have suggested, the mid-cycle refresh of the North American Camry (and the next-generation Camry) should perhaps be engineered in the USA rather than in Japan.

Keep the next Camry a Toyota (quiet, refined engine combined with large, comfortable interior, and bulletproof reliability) but give it a better balance of little, less-visible details with the highly-visible details.

 

good post and makes a change from the usual japanese engineers can do no wrong and american engineers are eejiots. the reality is they're all human, and more importantly, those engineers have bosses, and work to meet the goals and deadlines that are set. product issues are usually a management/leadership issue and not an engineering issue.

 

<---- an engineer

the truth

 

dunno... you have test drives complaining of too harsh of an ride :-)

there is a reason Camry sells that well everywhere... it is good balance for the money. Honda has been doing different things and their sales are not good.

Toyota is a car for everyone, car that should last forever and be easy and affordable to maintain. While I would like to have a Lexus for a price of Toyota, I would rather have a Toyota with decent price.