Close X
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
ADVT 
Reviews

Toyota Camry Hybrid 2022

Benjamin Yong Darpan, 31 Mar, 2022 12:54 PM
  • Toyota Camry Hybrid 2022

Sporty green motoring. 

Hybrids often have a reputation for being, well, boring. It doesn't have to be this way, as models like the 2022 Toyota Camry Hybrid proves. Particularly in the sporty XSE trim recently debuted last year.

“We love the handling, responsiveness and comfort of a classic passenger car, and we know many Canadians do, too. That’s why we continue to offer compelling choices like the Camry,” says Cyril Dimitris, vice president of Toyota Canada. “Drivers who have not experienced a modern Toyota sedan owe it to themselves to put the new Camry on their test-drive list.”

Rather than going for luxury-oriented styling, the XSE wears a black mesh-style wide-mouthed grille flanked by standard equipment LED headlights and matching mesh lower air intakes. Underneath is an integrated two-tone front splitter. Truth be told I personally prefer the XLE’s front bumper design with the stretched out horizontal bars, but different strokes for different folks.

On the other end, there are LED taillamps, a subtle lip spoiler sitting atop the trunk and a built-in diffuser. Definitely un-Prius-like. Other exterior highlights are a bright red coat of Supersonic Red paint and big gunmetal 19-inch alloy wheels.

Built on the Toyota New Global Architecture platform featuring an extended wheelbase and wide stance, this latest iteration looks bigger than previous examples — and exponentially more refined — resembling in many ways its brother from another mother, the Lexus ES.

The cabin is spacious providing 1,069 millimetres of legroom for the front passengers and 965 rear, and can accommodate 428 liters of cargo. If additional room is required, the 60:40 split bench folds forward.

Even the interior is quite Lexus-like, as the grade-topping XSE comes with all the bells and whistles like the much-improved Toyota Audio Plus infotainment system utilizing a nine-inch display, beautiful heated leather steering wheel and wireless charging. Unfortunately, the leather on the seating surfaces aren’t the most premium feeling.

Sharing the same under hood mechanicals as the RAV4 Hybrid, which the brand calls “the most popular and proven advanced power train on the planet, the propulsion unit consists of a 2.5-litre four-cylinder Atkinson Cycle engine and two electric motors that transfers 208 net horsepower to the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission.

Most products in the segment tend to be a bit whiney during acceleration as the Camry is as well, though not overly so. I wouldn’t say performance is exactly blistering, however the pickup is decent and the sedan is comfortable to drive. The sport-tuned suspension isn’t too stiff and increases the fun factor taking the long way back home after dropping off the kids at school.

All models are packaged with Toyota Safety Sense 2.5+ driver assistance and among the usual assortment of functions also include intersection support that detects an oncoming vehicle or pedestrian when performing a left-hand turn and provides audio/visual alerts and emergency braking if needed; and emergency steering assist helping keep the car in the proper lane while trying to avoid a potential collision.

The 2022 Toyota Camry Hybrid is built at the company’s manufacturing facility in Kentucky.

Highlights:

MSRP: $37,905 (as tested)

Motor: 2.5-litre four cylinder + two electric motors

Horsepower: 208 (net)

Torque (lb-ft): 163 @ 5,200 rpm

Gearbox: CVT

Layout: front engine, front-wheel drive

Fuel economy:  7.8 L/100 km mixed city/highway (observed)

Photos courtesy of Toyota Pressroom.

MORE Reviews ARTICLES

2022 Genesis GV70

2022 Genesis GV70
Those who prefer maximum performance aesthetics may choose the available Sport Package that bundles dark chrome accents, painted diffusers, up-to 21-inch special alloy wheels, circular instead of vertical dual exhaust tips, exclusive steering wheel and optional carbon fibre overlays.

2022 Genesis GV70

2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid

2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid
A longer and taller cargo area (up to 1,690 litres of space available when rear bench is folded) can accommodate some mighty large items — I was able to squeeze in a patio table and a full-size Ikea bookshelf on two separate occasions. 

2022 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid

Mercedes-Benz S580 4MATIC

Mercedes-Benz S580 4MATIC
Though boasting a long wheelbase form factor for maximum space and stability, the car doesn’t look nor handle like the limo one might expect. Cue the short front overhang, wide track, large diameter flush-mounted wheels and optional rear-wheel steering that significantly reduces turning radius.

Mercedes-Benz S580 4MATIC

2022 Mitsubishi Outlander

2022 Mitsubishi Outlander
Premium two-tone quilted leather upholstery covers the seat cushions and door panels, and a “floating” centre console houses an innovative shifter utilizing a sliding mechanism for gear selection.

2022 Mitsubishi Outlander

2022 Honda Civic Sedan

2022 Honda Civic Sedan
Top-of-the-line Touring grades, for example the unit Darpan tested, include for the first time a fully digital 10.2-inch LCD instrument cluster. The on-screen information can be customized to show different virtual gauges, music selection, trip computer and so on.

2022 Honda Civic Sedan

Tesla Model 3 prices out of rebate eligibility

Tesla Model 3 prices out of rebate eligibility
The Tesla Model 3 will no longer top the list of Canada's most rebated electric car. Transport Canada says the popular battery-operated vehicle was removed from the eligibility list for the federal zero-emission vehicle rebate in late November. The carmaker just raised the base price for the Model 3 to $59,990, well above the $45,000 qualifying price to get the $5,000 rebate.

Tesla Model 3 prices out of rebate eligibility

PrevNext