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Privacy policy last updated October 2008.

The Toyota Camry Altise And Performance

In my last post, I mentioned that on first impression, our Toyota Camry Altise seemed to have a little more power than I thought it would. Having driven it for a couple of months now, I can confirm that it does have a little zip.

When I put the foot down, it goes! I'd never mistake it for the 200SX I used to own, but it certainly exceeds expectations for a mid-size 4 cylinder family car.

When you're taking off from the lights and you plant your foot, it leaps forward - sure, not as much as turbo powered car would, but you can feel the speed. The power is maintained through the mid range (say 2000 to 4500 RPMs), but it drops off sharply after that. That’s when you realize that you are in family car after all!

In the higher gears, there is plenty of power there for overtaking maneuvers. If you’re cruising along the highway and need to overtake, simply put your foot down and you’ll be able to fly past the car you’re overtaking.

Although the Sportivo's name sounds like it may be faster, it doesn't have any more power than the Altise model. In fact, the Altise model is probably slightly faster because it doesn't have the extra weight of the Sportivo's body kit. I can’t confirm that, but I know that holds to be true in other cars with a ‘Sports’ model that actually has the same engine size as the standard model.

I know that cars have come a long way in the last 10 years and that a lot of cars in this class have more power than they used to, but it's made me a lot happier about owning a family car, which let's face it, a Toyota Camry is.

If you buy a Toyota Camry Altise, you won’t get a sports car, but you’ll be presently surprised by the power it does have – at least I was!

Picking our Toyota Camry Altise

Picking our Toyota Camry Altise up from the dealer turned out to be a good experience.

It wasn't exciting, like when I bought my first car, or when I bought my 200SX (now that was a car), but I hadn't had a chance to drive a Toyota Camry before we bought it, so I was a little uneasy.

Why didn't I drive it before buying it? Well, we needed a car quickly. We'd already decided to buy a Toyota Camry (based on reliability, size, efficiency, etc), although we hadn't decided to go for the Altise model yet. We decided what else we needed (low mileage, manual transmission, the year and price ranges, etc, as I've written about before).

There weren't many cars matching what we wanted. In fact there were only two which stood out from the rest. We decided to go with the Camry Altise, because it had done less kilometers that the other one (which was a Sportivo).

So there wasn't much choice and we'd settled on this particular car. Unfortunately, the dealer wasn't close to where I worked and I didn't want to take time off work to test drive it.

I looked at the car on the weekend, when the car yard was closed (you could still walk around the cars). It was easy to find, because there were only two with manual transmission. It looked to be in very good condition. Nice paint work, no rust, no obvious indication of any accidents. In fact, it looked pretty stylish.

Because of the Camry's reputation for reliability, I was pretty confident that I was getting a good car. I arranged for an RACQ check (ie a check by a mechanic) to be done. The results turned out to be good, so we arranged the finance and set up a time to do the deal.

When we arrived, we saw our Toyota Camry waiting for us.

We went inside and met the dealer, then did the paperwork. They were polite and efficient, but there was just so much paperwork to sign. I thought we were never going to get out of there! Once we finished the paperwork, we handed over the bank cheque and received the keys to our Camry. Transaction completed!

I still hadn't driven the car yet. I knew it was a good car and Camrys are definitely reliable, but there was still a little apphrehension there.

After checking it over, I got in and began to get comfortable.

It was nice and comfortable inside. There was plenty of room (especially in the back), much more than in most 4 cylinder cars. The interior design was much more appealing than some of the other cars we'd seen, Hyundai and Ford in particular, both of which had felt cheap.

I started the engine and slowly left the car yard.

The first impression was that it was very smooth. We'd mostly been driving smaller cars where you feel the bumps a lot more. The Camry's bigger body meant it should be smoother than what we were used to, but even I was surprised by just how smooth it was. The engine was quiet and the car handled well.

There were other people onboard, so I couldn't drive very fast, but I sensed that there was power there for when it was needed. It'd never match a sports car, but it looked like it had more power than I thought it would. I was pleasantly surprised.

The trip home was uneventful, but very pleasant. I was reassured that buying a Toyota Camry Altise had been a great decision.

More About Our Toyota Camry Altise

In previous posts, I've discussed why I chose to buy a Toyota Camry Altise and why I chose the Altise version over the Sportivo. I've given away some information about the Toyota Camry Altise we ended up buying, but it hasn't been the focus yet. Today I intend to fill in the blanks.

The Camry we bought was a late 2003 model, the same shape that went through to 2006. The shape is far more stylish than previous models, which were pretty much the blandest car you could find. The front in particular looks great. I'm not so convinced by the rear, but it's not the worst I've ever seen. Side-on is fine, although as mentioned the rear could be better and somewhat spoils the lines of the car - for me at least.

This is one of the areas that the Sportivo does better than the Altise, with the rear spoiler adding a little something to the look of the rear of the car.

The colour is Blue Mystique, a very soft metallic blue, that almost looks green at times. I'm not a big fan of the colour, as I prefer stronger and darker colours. Still the car looks fairly impressive.

Although the car is four and a half years old, it's only done 47,000 kms, which is pretty good. We could have got a 2005 model but it had 100,000 kms on the clock. With second hand cars, mileage is one of the most important things to consider. The more it's been driven, the more likely it will have problems. Although, Toyota Camrys have a name for reliability of course.

It's manual - I hate automatic transmission.

It's pretty roomy - there's a lot of space in the back. No problem fitting five people in this car! The boot is large - plenty of room for the golf clubs, or suit cases. The Camry recently came to the rescue when another car (a hatchback) couldn't fit a load in the boot.

Well, that's about all for this post. In the next post, I'll talk about picking our Toyota Camry Altise up from the dealer.

Toyota Camry Altise vs Toyota Camry Sportivo

There are different models of Toyota Camry, so why did I settle on the Altise?

In fact, I had a direct choice between a Toyota Camry Altise and a Toyota Camry Sportivo.

On the surface, the Sportivo seems better. It looks a little nicer, because of the body kit and and it has some extra features.

For the record, here are the features that both the Altise and the Sportivo have:

• 4 Speaker Stereo


• Adjustable Steering Col. - Tilt only


• Air Conditioning


• Airbags - Driver & Passenger (Dual)


• Body Colour - Bumpers


• Body Side Mouldings


• CD Player


• Central Locking - Remote/Keyless


• Disc Brakes Front Ventilated


• Disc Brakes Rear Solid


• Engine Immobiliser


• Independent Front Suspension


• Independent Rear Suspension


• Intermittent Wipers - Variable


• Power Door Mirrors


• Power Steering


• Power Windows - Front & Rear


• Remote Boot/Hatch Release


• Remote Fuel Lid Release


• Speed Alert - Warning
  

And here are the features that are exclusive to the Toyota Camry Sportivo:

• 16 Alloy Wheels


• ABS (Antilock Brakes)


• Armrest - Rear Centre (Shared)


• Body Colour - Fittings


• Body Kit - F&R Spoilers


• Skirts


• Rear Apron


• Chrome Grille


• Cruise Control


• Fog Lamps - Front


• Headrests - Integrated 2nd Row


• Leather Gear Knob


• Leather Steering Wheel


• Metallic Finish Inserts


• Paint - Metallic


• Sports Instruments


• Sports Seats - 1st Row (Front)


• Sports Steering Wheel


• Suspension - Sports

Now all those extra features sound nice, right? Sure and I'd snap them up, all things being equal.

But the choice I had was between a Toyota Camry Altise and a Toyota Camry Sportivo: they were the same price, but the Altise had done 47,000 Km and the Sportivo had done 70,000 Km.

So my choice was really between the extra features and the lower mileage.

At that stage, you start thinking that you only really need cruise control for highway driving (which we don't do much of), etc..

Factor in that the Altise is less likely to be driven as hard - lets face it, someone who buys the sporty model is more likely to drive it hard - and the choice is even easier...

Folks, mileage is one of the most important factors in choosing a used car.

So, have a good look around if you're buying a used car. Although the Sportivo seems better, a Toyota Camry Altise will often be better value, offering lower mileage or cost.

Why I Bought A Toyota Camry Altise

My first post established that: a) I had bought a Toyota Camry Altise; and b) that the purpose of this blog was to pass on information which may help people decide if they wanted to buy one for themselves.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about why I decided on a Toyota Camry and why I decided on the Altise model.

First I have a confession to make! When I was a little younger (say 10 years ago), I used to say "I'd never own a Toyota Camry!". True! I used to detest Camry's. At that stage of my life, I was into sports cars and owned a modified Nissan 200SX (also called a Silvia).

The move from a high powered rear wheel sports car to a safe front wheel drive 'family car' was something I couldn't have imagined. Yet I now own a Toyota Camry. Why?

Well firstly, I now need a family car, because I have a family! Otherwise, I probably would have gone with something sportier. But what I need right now is something that meets the following criteria:

• safe and reliable
• large enough to fit a family
• economical fuel wise
• preferably 4 cylinder (to avoid extra tax)
• but with reasonable performance!
• large boot
• air conditioning
• manual transmission (I hate automatics!)
• only 3 or 4 years old
• low mileage (under 50,000 Kms)
• reasonable look!

That's what I was looking for and what I eventually found in my Toyota Camry Altise.

But it wasn't straight forward. As I mentioned above, I used to hate Toyota Camrys which for me were the personification of family cars.

I knew that Hyundis were far cheaper than other brands for the equivalent age / features, so I seriously considered purchasing one of them. I started by looking at the Hyundi Lantra and the Hyundi Sonata. The Lantra wasn't bad, but it was just too small. The Sonata was big enough, and relatively cheap, but I just did not like it's looks. The brand new ones don't look too bad, but I wasn't quite in a position to get a new one.

I also looked at the Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla, but they were also too small. A pity, because they would be economical, looked good (especially the focus) and I'd read good things about their performance).

I faced up to the fact that I needed a family sized car. I looked at the Mitsubishi Magna and the 380, but they were a little bit too big (engine wise, not size wise). I also discounted several other makes and models that I liked, but which were 6 cylinders as that would mean paying extra on the registration tax every year and using more fuel than necessary. With the current cost of petrol, that's not a good idea!

So I was looking at the midsize range. There wan't much in that range that I liked at all. I'd already ruled out the Hyundi Sonata, and the only other car in the same sort of range was the Toyota Camry.

It was physically as big as the 6 cylinders, but only had 4 cylinders. It was comfortable to sit in, yet the performance seemed reasonable. It looked good and had modern styling, not like the super boring Camrys of old, which I had detested. It was more expensive than the Sonata, but you could see why: the quality was just that much better. As much as I had hated Camrys, I respected their well earned reputation for reliabilty.

So the choice ended up being easy... Next I just had to find a Toyota Camry with low mileage, not too old, with a manual transmission. I managed to do that, but I'll leave that story for another day!

Toyota Camry Altise - Introduction

This blog is going to focus on just one thing: my Toyota Camry Altise.

Why write a blog about a car, especially one that's a family car, rather than an expensive sports car? Well I just bought one.

When I was looking around for information on the Toyota Camry Altise, I could find lots of information from Toyota and car sellers, but very little objective information from people who actually owned a Camry Altise.

Buying a car is a big decision. I thought it would have been very useful if I could have read some reviews from Camry Altise owners. So, I created this blog.

I plan to write about my experiences with my Toyota Camry Altise here. Hopefully that can help other people who are thinking about buying one.

If you're someone who's thinking about it, I hope this blog provides you with some useful information about it and help you decide whether the Toyota Camry Altise is for you.