Achieving Entry-Level Midsize Perfection?

Recently, ahead of a beautifully clear, albeit cold day in the nation's capital, I woke up to the prospect of being one of the first

Stylish new Camry in front of the National Archive's stylish ventilation pipes. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

journalists to test North America's number one selling midsize car. What a daunting prospect. Not that the new 2007 Camry is the world's fastest, best handling or all-empowering super-sedan, or anything so intimidating, but the very fact that more of North America's new car shoppers will hang on my assessment than is normally the case makes me consider each word with weighty reverence. Of course, there's a justifiable argument that implies fewer prospective Camry buyers will read my words than those investigating Hyundai's impressive new Sonata or Mitsubishi's comparatively invisible Galant, being that Camry owners, a group that continually buys into a brand that enjoys six new customers for every one it loses, according to a J.D. Power and Associates customer retention study done last year, don't tend to look anywhere else before trading up to the new and improved version. So, for the few that bother reading about North America's most popular sedan, you're in for a treat.

It's ruddy-well near perfect! Yes, it's even good looking, something I haven't

The Camry is good looking, something I haven't been able to say about a Camry, well, since never. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

been able to say about a Camry, well, since never. The new 2007 Camry is assured, confident and dare I say bold (as overused as that word is) from the front end rearward. Its grille is thoroughly unique, true to Toyota's "Vibrant Clarity" design language; whatever that means. I especially like the saber-like headlamps; pointed to a razor-sharp edge at their lowest, most inward extremities, and almost vertical in presence thanks to how quickly they dive from high on the fenders to the bottom portion of the bumper, flanking the V-shaped sculpting pulled inward from the hood and gathered around the grille.

From its side-view that grille appears almost 300C-like, only because it stands almost completely upright due to a "bump" at centre that carries the stylized "T" crest. Looking backward, the remainder of the car is more aggressively raked than any previous Camry, or at least the optical illusion brought

It's more raked in profile than any previous Camry. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

about by those low-slung front fenders and sloped shoulder lines make it appear so. And like the 1997 through 2001 design, one of the nicest in the car's prior five generations, the taillights are thin, horizontal and wrap around the rear fenders to form integral elements of the Camry's side-view styling.

They look even better from behind, mirroring the headlamp clusters as they point downward at centre, not totally unlike the rear lights on Lexus' new IS 350. The rear valance integrates one right-side chrome-tipped tailpipe if in four-cylinder trim, or twin pipes at each corner if a V6 is strapped to the opposite end, finishing off a rear styling statement that is not only a great deal more enticing than any previous Camry, but is arguable more stylish than anything currently on the road, except Hyundai's new Sonata.