This 2022 facelift has been given the evolutionary makeover rather than something radical.
BHPian JoshMachine recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Paid a visit to the dealer today to check out the Camry Hybrid. No surprise, the car took centre stage attention and the ales reps were ensuring all the red carpet treatment to potential customers.
First things first, the Camry retails at 49.77 lakhs OTR in Pune for individual registration. For corporate, the price gets jacked by a couple of lakhs.
Get ready to shell out extra 15k if you want the Pearl White color.
Of course, the accessories sit outside of this price list along with the ceramic coating. I was told that these are potential freebie items, totaling about 78k or so.
Now that the elephant is out of the bag, over to the car.
First impression: Darn good. Menacingly aggressive front fascia:
This 2022 facelift has been given the evolutionary makeover rather than something radical. When seeing the car in person, some of the changes actually look very good.
Take the front bumper for instance. IMO, it now lends that adrenaline-esque stance to the car, with some chrome boundary adding that nice touch of class.
The side profile shows a subtle character line that is brought up the rear side door.
The rear lights are blackened out a bit, again to add that touch of sportiness. Subtle, but to the keen observer, it comes across as a welcome change.
That oblique stance, showing the good proportions:
New alloys on the facelift look stylish:
When inside, the biggest change is for the infotainment system, which is now pushed up by few inches to make it appear floating, and the A/C vents pushed down:
The Optitron meters remain unchanged:
Out on the road, I drove for about a good 35-40 mins. Had to drive the pre-facelift car since the new one was not yet registered by the dealer.
Switched on the ignition, and expected/waited for the engine thrum to kick in. But ‘nothing’ happened, or so it seemed. The car came to life just like that! Super silent! Not bad.
Coming from a Vento, the Camry’s dimensions felt almost 2 sizes bigger from the outside. I wondered how would it actually ride. However, a gentle tap on the accelerator made the car gently crawl out of its slumber mode and drive away. Again, super smooth.
For almost 50% of the test drive, I could easily witness that all the work was done by the Ni-MH battery source itself. Not a drop of petrol sipped for this section along typical city speeds. The Camry rules in the city.
When I wanted to test the spirit and shifted to ‘Sport’ mode, only then the 2.5 liter engine made its presence felt. But then, I had to literally make some effort to feel that transition, else I wouldn’t have noticed any change at all.
To my surprise, here again on the highway, the Camry was a pleasant and fun proposition. No swaying (admittedly, not many high-speed turns out there), no drama whatsoever on the open roads. Steering firmed up, tacho moving to ‘PWR’ on the dials and just some nice grunt to get going.
Overall, a very nice experience – with the dealership and the car.
For a hefty price tag of almost 50 big ones, the Camry has its job cut out, but me thinks it will hold its own well, given its ultra-reliability + super FE + nice luxe interior update + overall subtle yet stylish makeover tag.
Keyword: My impressions: Checked out the 2022 Toyota Camry Hybrid