Review: New 2022 Toyota Camry – how the Dynamic Force and 8AT combo changes the car?

• CBU Thailand, priced from RM 199,109, up by RM 10.3k
• New 2.5L Dynamic Force engine, new Direct Shift 8AT, now makes 209 PS and 253 Nm, more than Honda Accord 1.5 TC-P
• New 9-inch infotainment, rear seats with centre control panel, better safety features with expanded TSS functions

Colloquially, we will sometimes refer to the new 2022 Toyota Camry as a facelift, but calling it as such doesn’t do the car justice. For one, the changes are definitely more than just a ‘facelift.’

What’s the difference with the 2022 Toyota Camry 2.5V?

Out goes the previous 2.5-litre 2AR-FE Dual VVT-i port fuel injection engine and 6-speed automatic transmission. In its place is a new 2.5-litre Dynamic Force VVT-iE engine with D4-S dual fuel injection (port + direct injection), now paired with a slick shifting 8-speed Direct Shift automatic transmission.

In other words, the new 2022 Toyota Camry 2.5V now shares the same powertrain as the Toyota RAV4 2.5L.

But in the Camry, the engine has been tuned to make 209 PS and 253 Nm. That’s 25 PS and 8 Nm more than the outgoing port injection Camry.

Most importantly, the front passenger door now comes with keyless Smart Entry, whose omission was a major complaint for customers of the previous model.

In terms of safety, the new 2022 Toyota Camry 2.5V’s suite of advance driving assistance systems (ADAS), which Toyota refers to Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) has also been improved.

The adaptive cruise control (Toyota calls it Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, DRCC) now adds Stop & Go function, meaning that it can come to a complete stop. And unlike the Corolla Cross, the Camry comes with electric parking brake (EPB), so the DRCC can resume driving with minimal driver intervention.

There’s also Lane Tracing Assist (LTA), which reduces fatigue on long distance drives on straight roads by keeping the vehicle on the centre of the lane.

The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) or Pre-Collision System (PCS) Detection in Toyota lingo, has now been upgraded to also detect bicycles (daytime only) as well as pedestrians (day and night).

The Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) now comes with automatic braking function, so you don’t collide with another vehicle while reversing into a busy main street.

Inside, you get paddle shifters and new 9-inch infotainment (previous was 8-inch) that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support (finally!) plus 360-degree parking camera.

The air-conditioning is now tri-zone one (previous was dual-zone) that allows individual temperature control for the driver, front passenger, and rear passengers.

Behind, the rear seat is completely new. It now comes with a Lexus LS-style rear centre console that allows the boss riding behind to control the infotainment in front and air-conditioning behind. The backrest is also adjustable by 8 degrees.

You can tell the new 2022 Toyota Camry apart from the previous model by its two-tone colour wheels, new front bumper with a more octagonal cut, and black accents on the tail lamps. At a glance, there’s it’s quite hard to tell the new apart from the old, which is good news for owners of the previous model concerned about resale value.

What’s the increase in price like?

The list of upgrades are quite substantial. Obviously you can’t expect to pay the same RM 188,763 price as before.

The new 2022 Toyota Camry is priced at RM 199,109, that's an increase of RM 10,346. Prices will increase further after 30-June 2022, when the current SST discount for CBU passenger cars end.

Driving experience – A front-wheel drive BMW you refuse to acknowledge

With 209 PS and 253 Nm, the new 2022 Toyota Camry finally has the firepower to match the Honda Accord 1.5 TC-P’s 201 PS / 260 Nm.

Our brief drive in the new 2022 Toyota Camry is relatively short, a day trip shared between 3 drivers so this review will skip our usual instrumented testing data.

On first impression, the new Dynamic Force engine feels more visceral than the same unit used in the RAV4 and Lexus ES 250. Clearly it’s been tuned for a more sporty character, with a more vocal induction note when pushed hard, which is welcomed.

Being a naturally aspirated engine, of course it lacks the low-end grunt of the turbocharged Honda Accord, with peak torque of 253 Nm coming in at 5,000 rpm versus the Accord’s 1,600 rpm.

Mid-range acceleration however, blows the Accord. It pulls hard and where the Accord’s tiny forced induction 1.5-litre engine runs out of breath, the larger capacity Camry will still pull with vigour.

After over 300 km of hard driving (keyword ‘hard’), split between 3 drivers, the Camry averaged 7.7-litre/100 km (trip computer reading, unverified). This is in no way representative of real-world driving, and we will do a more proper fuel consumption test later, but 7.7-litre/100 km is definitely impressive considering the kind of road, traffic, and speeds the car was doing.

Keen drivers will be interested to know that on twisty roads, the Camry’s naturally aspirated engine also makes it much more satisfying to string together a sequence of bends.

Thanks to its floor-mounted throttle pedal (a rare feature only used by Mazda, Porsche, and BMW) and a linear throttle – which has none of the jumpiness typical of turbocharged engines - you can pitch the car into a corner and finely balance how you load and unload the chassis, in ways that’s shouldn’t be possible on a D-segment sedan, never mind one that’s called a Camry.

Is it sharper than a Mazda 6? Nope, but it's 95 percent there, with 120 percent better straight line tractability than the Mazda 6, which has an even more busy rear than the Camry.

That’s TNGA magic for you. 

But we can’t help but wonder, is this actually what Camry owners want?

If you are looking for a cruiser to shorten the kilometers separating Kuala Lumpur and Penang in the most relaxed manner, then unfortunately we have to say that the Honda Accord does a better job, at least as far as ride is concerned, which brings us to the next point.

Ride comfort – Watch and learn Honda Accord, this is how you make good seats

The Toyota Camry carves corners with such poise and comfort that it makes you question if you are shortchanging yourself by buying Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

However, it is also because of this superiority in taut handling that the Camry plays second fiddle to the Honda Accord, or even the Volkswagen Passat, on long straight roads.

Compared to its peers, the Camry’s rear axle can feel a tad busy, as if it’s always looking for a corner that’s not there. It’s always looking for an opportunity to play when all you want is to drive straight. In such a driving scenario, the Honda Accord is the better car.

But for the majority of buyers, we doubt they will notice this trait but if you want to ask us what the difference is, this is our answer.

Where the Camry’s comfort lords over everyone else is its seats. It’s probably the best on this side of half a million Ringgit.

Toyota now makes the best front seats in the business and that’s inline with the entire driver-centric, All About the Drive philosophy.

In the Camry, you sit in an almost perfect position – hip point, pedal vs steering wheel alignment and driver orientation. Paddings for the lumbar, side bolsters, shoulders, and lower thighs are spot on.

If only there is a way to install the Camry’s seats into the Honda Accord, then you will have an ideal cruiser.

The Accord rides better and is calmer on straight roads but its front seats are not as comfortable as the Camry, with an unnecessarily aggressive lumbar padding while lacking in support on the shoulders and thighs.

What we don’t like: Slow infotainment

We have only one complaint on the new Camry and depending on your order of priorities when shopping for a car, it may be a deal breaker.

The upgraded 9-inch infotainment with 9 JBL speakers, Android Auto / Apple CarPlay sounds good on paper but our experience with the head unit have been quite disappointing.

With Android Auto and Spotify running, the head unit’s response becomes very slow. Ever experienced Spotify lagging while operating Google Maps? Neither have we, until we hooked up our phones into the Camry’s infotainment.

To confirm that there’s nothing wrong with our devices, we tried completing the same tasks using Apple CarPlay, but the response is just as slow.

At one point, the screen is just overwhelmed by our requests and it just went blank.

The Honda Accord on the other hand, still has one of the best infotainment integration and user interface out there.

Conclusion

There’s no perfect car. Do you prefer to live with an unsupportive seat or a clunky infotainment? That’s your call. But we suspect the problems with the Camry’s infotainment can be solved with a simple software update, while Honda is not going to upgrade the Accord’s front seats.

The locally-assembled (CKD) Honda Accord is only asking for RM 187,390, when equipped with comparable Sensing suite. The Toyota Camry however, is imported (CBU) from Thailand and is asking for a little bit more money, at RM 199,109.

We will have a more detailed review, with our usual instrumented testing and WapCar Ratings when it’s our turn to have more seat time in a press car.