Following 3 days worth of driving in a new Camry hire car I thought I'd
put a brief review up, and see what others' opinions are on this car.

This week I had a business trip to Sydney (various locations around the
city) and used a hire car through one of the major providers.  I drove
around Canberra for about 50kms before I left, drove to Sydney, drove
around Sydney for 2 days (about 200kms), and then drove back last
night.

At first I didn't like the Camry much, because it felt a bit unwieldy,
and I couldn't see the extremeties of the car at all.  After a while I
got used to this, but still wasn't really comfortable about where the
edges (especially the rear) really were.  Around Canberra the
performance seemed adequate, but unimpressive (4cyl auto).  It took a
while to realise that the gearbox is a five speed auto, partly because
to get to fifth gear you move the selector sideways, but it's still
next to the '4' position.  The longer I had the car, the more I
disliked the gear selector (it moves all around the place, and is no
good for quick changes between drive and reverse when throwing uturns
or the like in Sydney streets).

Once I got out onto the Hume highway I discovered the reason the Camry
was made: cruising.  The cruise control was very accurate, and the car
was very quiet and comfortable at speed - at least as quiet as my
Berlina.  The auto box had to change gears a bit to maintain speed,
especially just after Goulburn were it would sometimes have to change
all the way back to 2nd to maintain my 118km/h cruise control speed
(buzzing away at 4500 rpm).  Generally though, high marks for freeway
work.

Once in Sydney traffic is discovered the Camry's biggest weakness.  It
just doesn't have the power to sneak into gaps or zip in front of other
traffic.  Sydney traffic moves a lot more quickly than Canberra, and the
Camry was only barely adequate, and had zero power in reserve.  On
several occasions I found myself cursing at the lack of power, despite
a floored throttle.  I would say my Astra is considerably quicker in
these circumstances.  I basically thrashed the thing the whole time I
was there.

The trip home was comfortable, much like the trip down.

One surprise was the fuel consumption.  The trip computer indicated
that by the time I was entering Sydney on the way there, my overall
average for the tank (I reset it when picking the car up) was only 6.7
l/100km.  During the city driving phase the average crept up to 8.3
l/100km, and when I got back to Canberra it had dropped back to 7.8
l/100km.  When I filled the tank I stopped on the first click, and a
quick calculation revealed the actual consumption to be about 8
l/100km.  Given the thrashing it copped in Sydney, that number is
amazing.

Other impressions?  Huge fuel tank gives great range (one fill at the
end of the whole trip).  Seats comfy.  Interior comfortable but not
very classy.  Boot average (not massive, but bigger than the 380 I
hired last year).  Very quiet and economical on cruise.  Nice build
quality.

Now the big question... would I buy one?  Probably not, unless I was
going to do lots more trips.  Around the city the clumsiness and lack
of power irritated me.  What I really want to do now is try a similar
trip in an Aurion.  I will be interested to see how the power and fuel
consumption differ.

Has anyone else driven the new Camry?  What were your thoughts?