I got so lucky last weekend to have driven the 2018 Toyota Camry SE edition given to be my a car dealer friend I met on Instagram. I have thousands of exterior pictures of the present Camry generation on my phone. The XSE trim makes me turn my head whenever it passes on the road. Now, Toyota has introduced the 2020 Camry to TRD (TOYOTA RACING DEVELOPMENT) for a factory redesign on the car and be sold as the highest level trim with The XSE coming in at second from 2020.
The SE trim I drove is the third-highest trim you can get from the 2018 Camry series so yeah! this review is very valid. Toyota Camry has managed to be the second-highest selling Toyota car in Nigeria because of its easy maintenance culture and simple looking design. Right now, the design has shifted from simple to a Lexus type of look. I hope you know Lexus is a subsidiary company to Toyota? here is the truth about the 2018 Toyota Camry from the angle of the SPORTS EDITION trim.
Before we continue, all the trims available on the 2018 Camry are:
HYBRID LE, HYBRID SE, L, LE, SE, XLE and SE.
The exterior has a lot of aerodynamic features just to give it a better grip on the ground as it drives through Nigerian wind that would want to lift the car and make you experience fear of rolling over.
The other trims also have aerodynamic features in place but it's not as pronounced as the one on the SE/XSE trim. That rear diffuser just creates a statement from the rear of which says " I AM NOT YOUR REGULAR CAMRY". rear diffusers only come with the SE/XSE. The optional automatic headlights with high beam LEDs are very sleek and perfectly fit into that front fascia that looks like a spider spreading all its tentacles.
No matter the colour of the CAMRY you want, it comes with a 2 tone exterior design with black as the constant colour across all trims. Black detailing is always a thing to look forward to on cars and the Camry has it's own coming straight from the factory with the lower front bumper grille. Can't believe Toyota didn't fit fog lights on this car.
The taillights look very beautiful especially with the beautification from the fake air vents on the rear bumper just below the light. This car seats on an 18 inches 2 tone alloy rims(gloss black and chrome). The rims vary from trim to trim.
The base engine on this car is a 2.5 litre 4 cylinder engine coupled to an 8-speed automatic transmission and this union produces 203 hp while the XSE trim harnesses a 3.5l v6 engine to produce 301hp. The base engine has a 32mpg rating for fuel consumption so don't be scared, it is very economical and it even has an ECO driving mode.
The hybrid comes with a Continuous Variable Transmission and 2 electric motors so that you burn less fuel while driving this car, especially in the city.
I love the exterior of this car because the design is a very unique one, Toyota put so much work into the design. They wanted to call back all their sports car lover fans with this design and I feel they have succeeded.
On opening the car with the not so fine keyfob, I noticed something strange. The interior wasn't the type that would make Nigerians scream "MAD O" it was just there. I was expecting a very sleek kind of interior with decorations I have never seen just like how the exterior stood out but honestly, the interior looked just average. The choice of materials used on the interior decoration feels random and not properly mixed and it makes me question why Toyota did that.
Here is the link to a video I made on my instagram on the features of the 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY FEATURES
The centre console has buttons around the infotainment screen with a new feature called "ENTUNE". This car lacks ANDROID CONNECT or APPLE PLAY so the ENSUITE is an app that has a phone version that you need to pair the car and infotainment together. This is very stressful if you ask me, so I would rather just use the Bluetooth connection option and mind my business.
The steering is well designed with a lot of buttons present as controls for the car. On the steering, there is a voice command button and it was at this point I knew that even with my Nigerian English accent, I could talk to this car to do a lot of things on the infotainment like play music, dial numbers, open apps and ask for directions very cool right? there are a lot of buttons on this car and I am not a big fan of that.
The CAMRY also has ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL that makes you semi-auto pilot this car. It keeps a safe distance between the next car while you do nothing.
I love the way the collision and assistive braking work hand in hand. Once the car detects you are trying to brake suddenly, it shuts off music/infotainment sound playing and starts a warning sound just to make you focus on the road more then it assists by braking for you faster than you would normally brake while displaying on the instrument cluster a red braking sign.
The car also has LANE DEPARTURE ASSIST and ACTVE STEERING ASSIST.
The suspension on this car damped me well and for a moment, I thought it was air suspension. It drives very smoothly with acceleration doing 0 to 60mph in over 6 seconds. It's not a boring car, so it has sports mode across all trims and a paddle shifter exclusive to the sports trims only. I love the leather-wrapped gear shift lever.
The sports mode didn't feel more powerful than normal mode but it keeps the RPMs up as you switch between gears while shifting up which is the best way to hit high speeds in this car. The car doesn't sound powerful at all so don't expect any fast car sound with this car.
The visibility from the driver's seat is perfect and the seats are very large and comfortable. The car has a standard amount of room to boast of, the only passenger that might complain is the middle rear seater because I was a little tight there.
The trunk is slightly bigger than previous generations and it opens automatically fully open when you press the button on the remote.
The CAMRY is perfect for Nigerians with families because of space and easy interior controls. This car sells in Nigeria Tokunbo market between 11-14 million nairas. It's a car that would serve you all its purpose without stress and maintenance is available all around you with parts coming into the country daily to the car parts market. So far, this car hasn't been developing a general fault so it's a very safe buy.
The main competitor of this car is the Honda Accord and I have driven that too so expect a comparison much later.
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