In Europe a Citroen Xsara 1.4, 2002, with 6 airbags. 3 stars EuroNCAP (that's the pre-facelift rating which had fewer safety features and some airbag malfunction during the crash, so ours probably should perform better). I think we paid 8000 Euro for the 1 year old car. I'm very satisfied with it, drives well even at high speeds, is comfortable. The engine could be stronger, obviously, but the manual gearbox makes the most out of it.

In Malaysia a 2005 Renault Kangoo, 2 airbags, 4 stars EuroNCAP. 5-6 year old car, paid 25k. Been relatively reliable and affordable to run, extremely spacious and has decent handling too (to me a good compromise between comfort and handling, although it is leaning on the stiffer side of things. It's a conti after all).

As you can see both budget cars, but both reasonably safe for their price and age. It can be done, even in Malaysia. From a D segment car I do expect much more than that though, especially considering the price and competition. I wouldn't consider the Jaguar XF either, despite being gorgeous and having a very lovely interior. But 4 stars is just not good enough if you pay so much.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Mar 15 2012, 02:28 AM

so price aside, i'm pretty sure the new camry would withstand an accident as well as your 2005 kangoo right? so safety wise, on par with what you are driving mah.. since final destination type scenarios dun care you sit in kangoo/xsara or 2012 camry right?

yeahh...u got a point here

yeah, Passat will be a good choice if the price higher than the current version. 6 airbags with better safety features, why not?

interior acceptable la, semi-uncle-ish. exterior uber uncle-ish.

anyone knowing when will be the launching date???

Likely, yes. But the Camry is much, much much more expensive. In those price regions you can get cars that are much safer than the Kangoo, so the question is: Why not buy one of them? Find me a 25k car that is as safe as the Kangoo though. You simply go for the safest car that it in the price range that you are willing to pay. If it is a bit less safe, but has other advantages, ok. But the gap between a Camry and a Jetta/Passat for example will be pretty big. Or between a Fiesta sedan and the Camry.

well that's your reasoning based on price factor, but the way i see it, if you can put your life in a kangoo, i dun see what;s wrong with a 2012 camry with similar crash protection..

If I had the budget for a safer car, I would have gone for it. Probably a C4 Picasso or something like that (I need an MPV), although the C4 isn't as practical as the Kangoo (sliding doors). And for Camry sort of money that would be the very last car I'd consider, even far behind the Koreans (ok, ahead of _some_ Chinese cars. Some Chinese D segment cars are likely to be safer than a Camry).

If people would stop buying the Camry for safety reasons, the next Camry would be as safe as the competition. Toyota has the tech. They CAN do it.

Btw., a brand new D segment which offers the same sort of protection (probably) as a 9 year old (probably much older, the facelift was rather cosmetical) design of a car that was built upon a B segment platform and that was meant to be a very affordable panel van? And you fail to see what's wrong with that? Times have changed, technologies have advanced. A lot.

obviously you fail to see that your kangoo in 2002 getting 4 stars would fail to get even 3stars in 2012 new euroncap tests.. so please don't think so greatly of that panel van that you put your life in.

No, I do realize that (although I think 2 stars would be a bit harsh), so yeah, perhaps the Camry is a bit safer. It better be, being 10 years newer and 2 segments higher, not to mention twice as expensive when new.

Again: It's about getting as much protection as the budget allows (or at least not much less than the best in that class and budget). And the Camry just doesn't.

In Europe people not buying cars that are far behind in terms of safety led to all cars being pretty safe. It would be nice if that would be the case here too, no? Even Camry fans would profit from not buying it, eventually, as Toyota would finally release a competitive product. Just imagine Toyota would bring the Euro spec Avensis here. All specs are identical in terms of safety and include VSC+ and 7 airbags. 6 speed manual, auto or CVT, Diesel engines too. Base engine is a 1.6 with 132 hp. Not on par with the Germans perhaps, but not awful either. It's a car that I'd actually consider. What's wrong with that? Btw., base spec is 22700 Euro, minus 19% tax is 18387. IIRC the maximum tax for a CBU car is 115% (or is it 105?), 39532 Euro. That is around RM 158128. Now, why exactly should we pay so much for the Camry? (If I got http://www.maa.org.my/info_duty.htm right). If it was produced in an ASEAN country it would only be 85% (or 75%) tax, thus RM 136063. It is also likely that they do make some profit when selling the car in Germany, so imagine how much profit they are making here.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: Mar 17 2012, 03:30 AM

all in all....it will still sell, firstly due to it's reliability and comfortableness, secondly due to its badge.

So how many star did this new Camry get anyway... Since Mr kadajawi keep mentioning it...

I would like to know how many star this new Camry got?

Sonata looks better ...

I don't think it ever got tested using the Malaysian spec car. US spec probably equivalent to 4 or 5 current EuroNCAP stars, which is good, but that one is full of safety features. I mean... standard 10 airbags, but only USD 22000? If you go for a Conti you'll get a 5 star car... that wasn't downgraded, so it still is one. Who knows if they use different steels on the ASEAN Camry. Toyota likes to rob us and blames the taxes. The taxes are very high, there is no doubt about that, but somehow taxes for Toyotas seem to be higher than for other brands...

Hopefully the ASEAN NCAP starts soon, and hopefully it's not a joke. Then we can finally see how OUR cars, as they are sold here, perform. For now there is a lot of guessing involved, except for Contis that get the same specs as in Europe.

Some pics from CBT.Launched in Thailand already









SOS

This post has been edited by aztechx: Mar 18 2012, 12:53 AM

A Toyota SA told me yesterday that the latest high spec Camry got all the gadgets you can expect from current Camry, Teana, Accord, and Passat.... not sure how true is it... or he bull shit me!

This post has been edited by assange: Mar 18 2012, 08:05 AM

wow from the sos it says that '' Also available in both the Camry Hybrid and Camry 2.5G is a Bluetooth Hands Free function that is linked to the car's DVD-AVN in-car entertainment unit, JBL 10 speaker system with 5.1 channel surround sound ''

aiyoh some of the current model features removed also.. and reserved for hybrid model.

anyone know if it comes with 10 airbags too??? if would be grat with 10 airbags and 10 speakers 5.1 surround by JBL ...wow


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