[nkrishnap]

Congrats on getting the Camry home. It will undoubtedly serve you long.

Only grouse is Toyota has opted to kit it very little when compared to competition for the asking price.

Enjoy many more stress free miles on the Camry

[navin]

Originally Posted by vkaul1

Any reason why you did not look at Superb V6?

I did look at the V6. I wanted a Petrol auto box and the DSG petrol was known known to be problematic.

Originally Posted by dipen

Coming to the point # 1, I think the Hyundai Sonata would have fitted a better bill except if you dont like the brand.

What is the Mumbai OTR for this and how much it is over the Accord and Superb.

The Camry no doubt would be reliable; but as you have rightly said, it loses the game to the competition.

The Camry bests the Sonata when it comes to power delivery and handling. While I did not test drive either the Sonata or Camry (before purchase) other BHPians whose opinions I trust had.

Where the Camry looses in the "goodies" section. Mnay of these goodies are available for UK and US versions of the same car and I will not be surprised if Toyota releases an updated version of the Camry with some of these "omisions" in a year or 2.

As a buyer we need to understand that a Accord or Camry will never have the handling and ride of a 530d or E350. These are different cars for different markets. The Camry however does compete against the Sonata, Accord and Superb.

When it comes to Petrol auto boxes the Camry is far more reliable than the Superb. That leaves the Accord. The current gen Accord is a good car but not a great car. The rear seat is not as comfortable as the Camry (in my experience).

If Honda does not make the same "errors of omision" as Toyota have done with their 2013 Accord they might steal the limelight. Only time will tell.

[dkaile]

Congratulations navin on getting a super reliable ride.

You have echoed my thoughts exactly as to whats right or missing about the Camry. It had the potential to become the segment leader had Toyota just added a few more bare essentials. But that it will give you years of boring pleasure is an under statement because nothing will ever go wrong with the car. I was in similar dilemma like yours seven months up the line, and had it been available then, I think I would have bought the reliable Camry over the Superb. But having converted to the Superb from my favorite Toyota, I am not regretting one bit, till now.

Do keep updating and give us some more goody photos.

[Nik9912]

Congrats Navin on ur new steed
dont think you will remember but we had interacted a lot about ICE for my previous car
I just got a new Superb ,i must add Dkaile a lot of it thanks to your detailed post on your car .
yes its a black elegance and a beauty

[Shreyas Aterkar]

Originally Posted by navin

Maybe I complain a bit too much.

I guess it's like the Rolling Stones sang:
"You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, you might find
You get what you need"

That's the Camry, not everything that you want, but enough to cover your needs.

First, congratulations for your new car Navinji! The new Camry looks good IMO. You have rightly put you get what you need with it but the best part is that its a very good car (if I may say best in the segment and even better than one segment above it) to be driven in.

I seriously think as do many that Toyota has skimped many segment essentials in the new camry and that might not go well with most. But that means your exclusivity criterion will be met.

Have many happy miles of happiness and enjoy Toyota reliability.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by navin

I did look at the V6. I wanted a Petrol auto box and the DSG petrol was known known to be problematic.

But thats the 7 speed in the 1.8. The V6 still uses a 6 speed DSG which is reliable, comparatively.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

But thats the 7 speed in the 1.8. The V6 still uses a 6 speed DSG which is reliable, comparatively.

But do not forget that the Superb V6 runs only on premium fuel. It needs 95RON minimum I think.

A Superb V6 although a good option will never come close to fill it, shut it forget it type of car that Navin was looking for. Also remember that this car is his daily drive and although he may have access to other cars, you don't want your primary car to be an unpractical car.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

But do not forget that the Superb V6 runs only on premium fuel. It needs 95RON minimum I think.

A Superb V6 although a good option will never come close to fill it, shut it forget it type of car that Navin was looking for. Also remember that this car is his daily drive and although he may have access to other cars, you don't want your primary car to be an unpractical car.

Not sure if it was recommended or compulsorily needed. Reason being I have a couple of friends with this car, some run over 30k kms and I know they fill only normal fuel or speed and I don't think they've faced any issues with it.

Sure the mileage would have been worse than the Octy, but the car is about as low and not that impractical, I mean after a vRS.

[navin]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Sure the mileage would have been worse than the Octy, but the car is about as low and not that impractical, I mean after a vRS.

Akshay, The Octavia vRS served me well. I did not have any significant trouble with either the car or the service (from Autobahn). However the general impression in the market is that when it comes to reliability Toyota is one of the best options.

My needs over the past 8 years have changed. 8 years ago I drove at least once a week (partly because my FIL would pester me to bring his only grandson over on weekends).

The Camry cannot be compared to any of the 1.8 Turbo petrol Skodas when it comes to drivability. The Laura, Superb, etc.. are all much more fun. If I was still in the market for a stick shift I might have gotten one of them. I am sure at least that their stock ICE would have been better

When it came to auto boxes, I had 3 friends who got stuck in their DSG equipped Skodas. One of them had it happen twice. Then my Father in law had a small issue with his Beetle (which was later resolved). I wanted a car with a reputation of reliability.

P.S. I am not going to talk about Camry's ICE as the story is till unfolding. Toyota has thrown a real googly and the cost of producing something that resemebles good stereo in the front is mad. Good stereo in the back is impossible without taking a blow torch to the rear doors.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by navin

The Stereo
What on earth were the guys in Toyota thinking?

The stock system is pretty poor but worse still, the stock locations for speakers is just as bad. It has been a nightmare trying to get consistent soundstage in this car. Either the music sounds like it is in mono coming from where behind the HU or dual mono (where there is a big acoustic hole between the left and right channels).

We removed all the processing in the OEM HU using an Audision Bit 10D, added better fullrange speakers in the dash, upgraded the front midwoofer and rear speakers and added some nice amplifiers and subwoofers and we still have not found what we are looking for.

I like to keep my car looking stock and simple so we settled with a pair of Hybrid Audio L3v2 3" fullrange drivers in the dash, a pair of 18cm Audison Voce midbass in the door, a pair of Ground Zeno 6x9s in the rear deck, and pair of Morel Ultimo 12" subwoofers, and a pair of Steg amplifiers to drive the subs and front speakers. The rear speakers were driven by an Alpine F340. I am attached pictures of the subwoofers, Steg amps and Bit 10 below. The subwoofers will get grills when the grills are ready. The Alpine amp is hidden behind the Audison Bit 10.

The Camry is a mad car if one wants to upgrade the ICE. There are many issues. Simple things like front speaker locations limit choices, the rear speakers get a HP signal from the HU so a processor is ESSENTIAL.

Would love to know a tad more about your ICE upgrade. Most of the things mentioned in your aforesaid post went over my head so if you could simplify a bit more it would be most helpful. And some more photos of the ICE upgrade please.

[navin]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Would love to know a tad more about your ICE upgrade. Most of the things mentioned in your aforesaid post went over my head so if you could simplify a bit more it would be most helpful. And some more photos of the ICE upgrade please.

Dkaile,

Well it is simple. For reasons I cannot comprehend whoever was responsible for Camry's ICE thought it useful to send only information over about 200-300Hz or so to the rear speakers. This despite the fact that the 'midbass' unit for the front door and rear deck are the same.

Since we have opened this car of worms lets understand what they (Toyota) have done.

The OEM HU is a double din unit that doubles as a Vehicle System display in that it can display all sorts of stuff which frankly I have no use for.

The Front speakers are a pair of 6x9" widerange units (used as midbass) in the front doors mated to a 2" fullrange unit in the dash. The rear speakers are the same 6x9" but for some reason crossover of (High Pass) at about 200-300Hz.

The OEM HU has no RCA out. Only speaker out.

If one upgrades the speakers one needs to bi amp the front as there is no commercial car speaker system that mates a woofer to a fullrange. Bi-amping allows you to mate any woofer to any fullrange as you can control levels and slopes required.

Now lets assume one uses a 5 channel processor like the Bit 10. You need to use 4 channels for the front because you have to bi-amp the front. That leaves the 5th channel for the subwoofer.

What does the rear passenger do? Either he lives with the OEM HU feeding the OEM speaker in the back (and live with their limited response) or uses a 7 channel processor like the Bit 1 so that you have 2 more controllable channels for the rear. This is where I am heading.

[Vid6639]

Are you retaining the stock HU with the Bit 1 or will that go bye bye?

[rikhav]

Hi Navin
Congrats on your new purchase

Sure 30 lacs is a big price and not to have some things you pointed out in the car is surely bad on Toyota's part

But then are few choices under 30 lacs which would have reliability as good as Toyota added with comfortable rear seat.

Would you have considered the Passat if it came in a good peppy petrol engine?

I think FE of around 5-6 km in mumbai traffic is good for a 2.5L engine. My 1.6 Fiat Petra gives me 7 kmpl in moderate to heavy traffic conditions

[Utopian]

Congrats for the purchase, Navin. Camry does look majestic in the sanps you clicked. Too sad that Toyota missed out on features like a decent ICE and reversing camera for the price it demands for the car.
Wishing you a comfortable ride.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Are you retaining the stock HU with the Bit 1 or will that go bye bye?

I have to Toyota does not give you the choice of replacing the HU with a 3rd party HU. If they did I would not need a Bit 1.

Originally Posted by rikhav

Would you have considered the Passat if it came in a good peppy petrol engine?

For sure!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Congrats for the purchase, Navin. Camry does look majestic in the sanps you clicked.

The 'magestic' snaps were clicked by our own Rudra-da. Yes I am fortunate to have him do this. I clicked the poor shaky one of the ICE. Once the ICE saga is complete (after Bass and Trouble aka Ajay Kamath makes the time) I will post new ICE pics.

Many many thanks Rudra.