With Blinders On

The New Camry Isn’t Out to Redefine the Formula. It’s Out to Perfect It

- Raunak Ajinkya

I can’t tell you how nice it is to be reviewing a genuine, godforsaken full-fat luxury saloon for a change. With the barrage of SUVs in all shapes and sizes usually bombarding every nook and cranny nowadays, you can see how it might be refreshing to me that a regular, old-school people mover comes my way for a review. In this case, it’s the almost-forgotten Toyota Camry, and what a shiny, potent hunk of metal it’s turned out to be.

To give you a brief history lesson, the Toyota Camry’s been around in the Indian market for a fair while now. More specifically, it’s been here for the past 17 years now (can’t believe it, can you?), and it needs to be given a hand simply for lasting this long in the face of numerous other competitors coming (and going). The Camry, however, has always been a machine worth looking into, in my eyes. Not to get your high-speed jollies, mind, but simply to expertly manoeuvre your privileged behind in a fairly competent manner. In its eighth generation now globally, though, the Camry sees a bunch of revisions, and the hope is that it manages some sort of relevance in a sea of chunky baby hippos masquerading as modes of transport.