Starting to see more camrys on the road..the looks was a bit harsh at first but seems to grow on you after awhile..wonder if this is a 'studied' kind of thing..but still it cant beat the elegance of the previous model..

Btw cybermaster98, do u work for an automotive company?it seems like your comments against toyota in most threads are at times constructive but at others seems almost 'unrealistic'..

Tell me how unrealistic please

So far I still like the Camry without the bodykit. It looks nice and better than previous generation, just my preference and taste. Interior wise, Camry is just nice and I think best in D-class segment for me.

Anyway while booking my Hilux, my SA says the Camry 2.0 is not worth to buy. He say wait for the facelift as Toyota will update with new engine and possibly new gearbox. Just rumors.

It could happen, but I just don't think it will happen here. Most likely Asean countries will get the shaft until say 2017/2018 at the earliest when a new Camry will be introduced. The next generation Corolla which is due out next year is not likely to use any new engines unless they delay the introduction till 2014.

By the time these new engines reach Malaysia, other car makers would have introduced more advanced tech.

Hmmm, doubtful. Realistically, engine technology between major auto manufacturers aren't too far apart from each other unless you are some 3rd world country manufacturer *cough*Proton*cough*. Toyota is cash rich and has a huge R&D department. I'm certain they regularly buy the cars of their rivals and take them apart to study their technology before coming out with a different form of implementation.

As the article has already said, they are far ahead in hybrid technology but have fallen behind in petrol and diesel technology. Based on consumer numbers, hybrid sales will continue to increase with EV now coming in the picture. I think they got their strategy right, as long as they don't fall too far behind, they can still count on people who are brand loyal to carry them over the next 2 to 3 years.

see New Atkinson cycle engine for toyota, got turbo somemore.....

http://www.cbt.com.my/2012/10/01/toyota-to...-turbo-joining/

The problem is that Toyota and Honda have fairly modern vehicles, sometimes even the same as what they sell here. But by the time it reaches our shores they have taken out everything that makes these cars modern and competitive.

I would not be surprised if Toyota has studies that show that this is what sells cars in Malaysia. Give them a vehicle that is too modern, and people will not buy it since so much can go wrong. Just look at the discussions about hybrids here. People are SCARED of buying a hybrid, because after many years the battery needs to be replaced (or so they think). As a result the hybrids from Toyota are as well spec'ed as they are in more developed countries. Who buys a hybrid is not scared of technology.

If we had stricter emission laws, that problem could be easily rectified. The same goes with our safety standards.

Toyota has been very conservative when it comes to update on their models. Why fix something that is not broken?
I realized that since the introduction of Camry, Toyota has been focusing much on 2.5 flagship model which get a new engine and new gearbox.

I think the Corolla will get their update sometime end of next year and base on the history of introduction we are more likely to get carried over techs, 1.8 & 2.0 Dual-VVTI engine and CVT gearbox. Even if there is introduction of better engine, we would not have these on debate over poor fuel quality.

@Icehart: At the same time VSC was removed when the 2.4 turned into a 2.5.

We have highly tuned 140+ hp 1.4 liter engines from VW over here, and I haven't heard anything about them failing. Our petrol should be fine I guess. Diesel is a different story of course.

I believe most of the advancements in terms of safety and fuel economy was driven by consumer demand rather than policy. Although there are some policies _nudging_ people into the right direction. You can drive an old stinking Proton Saga in Germany. But you'll pay a lot, really a lot on road tax. And some areas you are not allowed to enter with a heavily polluting car. And fuel is simply so expensive (very high taxes on fuel) that good fuel economy is very important. They even go so far as to put in special additives into heating oil (really it's just diesel that isn't heavily taxed) so that it produces some very obvious smoke when burned in a car engine. So that people don't use that to evade taxes.

Safety standards... I'm not sure there are even any rules. The Lada Niva, which is on sale in Germany, has ABS. That is _all_ in terms of safety. No ESP, no airbag, nothing. Lada Kalina, Dacia Logan etc. only have 2 airbags and ABS, and they are also perfectly legal. It's just that customers are not willing to accept this, unless there is a very, VERY good reason for that. The Kalina sells very bad, the Dacias are doing fine but are also offered with more airbags, and they are very cheap and spacious, running on reliable old Renault tech. The Niva is a cult classic, and a dirt cheap proper offroader. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAjOKVd6Dws&feature=related lol)

most of the time, the problem that keep bugging VW user is the DSG that had mechatronic failure. Not much problem heard from the Turbocharged, direct injection TSI engine. Maybe our RON95 not much problem.

Safety standards i think in Malaysia is really bad , i think most of the Malaysian here buy car just look for resale value, exterior looks. The safety features most of them didn't bother about as they can't see importance all those safety features.

You can see most of the people that drive Vios, Myvi always want to add a lot of bodykit to the car and think that their car's output power is improved.

AFAIK the 6 speed DSG is fine, 7 speed has problems when used inappropriately (main tip was I think to not shift from N to D while rolling). The 170 hp tune of the 1.4 TSI was AFAIK very problematic, so much so that VW pulled them from the market for a while. The others should be fine, but of course not many have done really a lot of miles yet. But I doubt these engines will fail before the 200k km mark, and for most of us that is more than enough.

I'm not sure why people don't bother about safety here. Some do, obviously, but many don't. I mean I can understand that when you spend 40k on a new car you can't expect much and you don't have much choice. But the Camry is at a price range where the owner can clearly afford something better. And someone who can afford a car that expensive is probably also not suicidal or thinks his life is worthless and wants to die.

Maybe people here can enlighten me. What is the thinking of buying a Camry today? Why don't you care about your life?

A friend of mine that went to a Toyota focus group held very recently for the new Camry told me most people listed the following as priorities in selecting a car.

Brand power
Resale value
After sales service/ ease of service

According to him, in a room of 8. Only 1 person listed safety as a critical requirement when buying a car. Brand power was always the first thing that came out from everyone's mouth. In other words, a lot of Malaysians prefer to have a decent branded car than being in a car that protect them from serious accidents. Go figure :/

Probably because most people think cars with that three attributes are automatically deemed safe.

I guess with the results from this focus group, The next Vios will not come with any airbags

Great, the sooner the better. Only then the mindset will change when more ppl died during accident involving Toyota models. There is no shortcut to cure naive plus ignorant.

Camry 2.5V review

http://paultan.org/2012/10/15/driven-toyot...t-drive-report/

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Added on October 15, 2012, 3:48 amWeird. In this thread when a Camry involved in an accident, people would say "see. I have told you so. ..."

But, when a Korean car involved in an accident like in the video posted ealier, people would say "nothing that we can do if the car is driven at this speed."

Some forumers even pray for the death of a Toyota owner.

This post has been edited by kepalapening: Oct 15 2012, 03:49 AM

I've read it, the article highlights the best features of the new Camry which are:

- Very high levels of Comfort
- Strong brand image, executive feel
- Very good resale value

A pity the article never mentioned how under-equipped the car is in terms of safety features compared to its rivals.

Anyway, the point was never about cursing Toyota owners, it was always to highlight the fact that safety should always be of paramount importance, particularly if you have a family and kids. In a nutshell, why wait until something bad happens then only regret? For many people, it will always never happen but even so, prevention is always better than cure.

If u read the article, ull see that its the same as what most of us having been saying here all along. Besides comfort, brand image, refinement, after sales service and resale value, there is little else going for the Camry. And mind you he's talking about the top of the range 2.5V which is clearly the better model compared to the 2.0L. If he had talked about the 2.0L, im sure the article would have been much 'worse'.

The reason why ppl probably passed such comments as you mentioned above is again because of the lack of safety features in the Camry. When a car with limited safety features is involved in an accident, you'll get these comments but when its a car that comes fully loaded all the safety gear, then you get the other form of comments. Its perfectly understandable. But as in most accidents, driver capability plays an important role. The safety features have its own limitations. Nobody is praying for any death. What ppl are saying is that maybe it will take a bad accident or a death to make ppl realise the importance of buying a car with safety in mind rather than brand image and resale value. Its a valid comment and applies to everybody not just Toyota owners.

But the fact remains (as the article clearly pointed out) that this Camry was designed for 'uncles' meaning ppl who give alot of focus for comfort and a reliable service network. The article has also clearly pointed out issues with the lack of the stability control, lack of general specs, high pricing and also the design which is preferential i guess.

Btw, just a side note. The article is only a few hours old and its already got 37 negative ratings compared to 14 positive.

This post has been edited by cybermaster98: Oct 15 2012, 08:49 AM

Cybermaster98, what i means is how 'excessive' some of your negative comments are. Im not a big fan of the camry judging on how the bloodsucking umw Removed the VSC from the current gen camry and bUmping up the price, we all agree on that. but i notice that any threads containing the word 'camry', there will be posts from u that very harshly 'shoot' the owners of camry as well as the car itself.So out of curiosity i just wondered maybe u work for an automotive company or just passionately hate the company anD their products so much.

I have to agree with kepalapening on this. It has come to a point where remarks that seems to 'curse' toyota users surface everywhere. Even remarks like "why toyota buyers dont care about the safety of their family" or "if u buy camry because u dont care about safety then its ok". To me its an insult to those owners as who in the world wouldnt care about safety?

I do agree with the points that the camry doesnt seem like a good buy now but i have to admit that a camry is a camry. There do have some strengths and appeal to it that others dont. Point is,IF i had the luxury of buying one,I wont. but i wont go to the length of questioning and insulting those who actually bought the car for What i feel are very valid reasons.but then again thats just me.

This post has been edited by aztechx: Oct 15 2012, 11:13 AM