• Exterior Styling.
• Doesn't get satellite navigation. • Isn't as sporty as Toyota suggests.
The Toyota Camry Atara SX is billed as the most sporting Camry ever, but is it a four-door Toyota 86? Um, no.
VERDICT: If you ignore Toyota’s marketing of the Atara SX as the most sporting Camry ever then you’ll get along just fine with the thing. It rides and handles better than a standard Camry, but sporting it isn’t. It’s big, roomy inside, pretty good on fuel and it looks good.
WHAT IS IT?
The Toyota Camry has never been the sort of car that enthusiasts flocked to. Even when the Sportivo brand was floating around, Toyota’s sporty passenger cars lagged behind the rest of the pack.
The Sportivo name might have been dropped here and we don’t get proper TRD stuff here anymore, but that hasn’t stopped Toyota from pursuing a tweaked philosophy with its cars. Enter this Toyota Camry Atara SX.
Not available anywhere else in the world, the Atara SX, says Toyota is the best handling Camry ever. That’s not such a big call as it might sound… Toyota let its Australian engineers loose to fiddle with the suspension tune and steering calibration to provide a more sporting feel for the Atara SX. And we’ll come back to this in a moment.
From a styling perspective, the Atara SX is a more convincing proposition. At least on the outside. It looks good with its black 18-inch alloys, it also gets a sports mesh grille, rear lip spoiler, leather-accented sports seats and dark diffuser on the rear bumper. The inside isn’t so special feeling with leather seats but nothing else to tell you you’re in the best-handling Camry.
Under the bonnet is a 2.5-litre four-cylinder that makes 135kW at 6000rpm and 235Nm of torque at 4100rpm. This is mated to a six-speed automatic and it drinks a combined 7.8L/100km.
WHAT'S IT LIKE?
Well, to my eyes, it looks good. There are hints of Toyota 86 in the way the bonnet flows down into the deep spoiler at the front and the black mesh grille is a nice touch. The black rims and the spoiler lip on the boot give it a sporting look if not an overly masculine one. That said, women we’ve asked about the styling think it looks a little too, dare I use the word, Bogan. Sorry Toyota, but that’s what the people have told me.
And the inside, as hinted at above, is more of the same. Big broad leather seats are a one-size-fits-all arrangement, which offer little in the way of support. The back seats have the same broad design and while you can easily seat three adults across the back, they’re not particularly comfortable. That said, there’s decent leg, head and shouldroom. I installed two child car restraints in the back, one a booster seat and the other a top tether and harness restraint; both my kids said there was a good amount of room for them in the back. That said, the slippery leather seats mean that unless you use the mat that should come with your child seat those kids sitting in boosters will be sliding around.
All of the plastics used feel cheap and scratchy although they are tough and should resist the wear and tear of daily life reasonably well. The infotainment unit is not the same system that Toyota uses in some of its newer cars, and the unit in the Atara SX misses out on sat nav which is disappointing for this sort of car. Syncing the unit with your smartphone is easy, but the call quality via the bluetooth is atrocious and the touch screen can sometimes be reluctant to respond to finger touches.
So, what’s the Atara SX like as a driver’s car? A disappointment, if I’m honest. Toyota’s engineers are a very capable bunch; you only have to look at what they’v achieved with the Fortuner and HiLux. But if you weren’t told they’d breathed on bits of this Atara SX you wouldn’t know.
The steering which has been revised with a faster ratio for a “more connected driving feel” is certainly better than garden variety Camrys, but that’s about as far as it goes. The steering offers no feel, the weighting is too light yet it’s quite fast; it makes for a very disconnected experience. Then there’s the transmission. This is the same standard unit that runs in other Camrys and it’s a clumsy unit, indeed it feels like an old-school four-speed transmission the way it holds a gear and then thumps into the next one.
The engine is nice and strong and even when you’re pushing it the fuel consumption can be kept under 8.5L/100km. Toyota claims the Camry rides on ‘sports suspension’ and, yes it rides, turns in and controls its body better than a standard Camry, but thanks to the clumsy transmission and the light steering you never feel like pushing the Atara SX. And if you do, well, be warned as the speed rises you’ll lose the low-speed comfort with the thing thumping into bumps and ruts in the road and shuddering into the cabin.
Turn the speed down, though, and look at the Camry as A to B transport then it’s not too bad. It’s easy to drive, reasonably comfortable at around town speeds and there’s plenty of room inside for a family. It gets a five-star ANCAP rating and being a Toyota there’s excellent dealer/service access around the country as well as capped price servicing.
THE COMPETITION
The Toyota Camry Atara SX faces competition primarily from the Hyundai Sonata, which is clearly gives its Japanese rival a run for its price to proportion ratio, level pegging the Toyota even in terms of looks. However, the ASX does have that sportier look which Sonata doesn’t convey.
The Subaru Liberty is another contender against the Camry Atara SX and ironically could handily trump the sporty-looking Toyota despite looking more sedate.
Finally, the Mazda6 Sport also puts up a very strong case with its innately sharp looks and handling. While the exterior doesn’t get all the bling of its higher spec brethren, the Mazda6’s interior is markedly better than the Toyota's to make it feel like its a class above it.
Visit our Showroom for a full breakdown of specifications and price for the 2016 Toyota Camry Atara SX.
