Posted on 11/22/2006 1:33:53 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
DETROIT -- The redesigned Toyota Camry, the hottest-selling car in America, is the winner of Motor Trend Magazine's 2007 Car of the Year award.
The award, announced Wednesday, went to all Camry variations, including the hybrid, because the car is innovative yet has a broad appeal, magazine Editor-in-Chief Angus MacKenzie said in a statement.
"The Camry is the one car rival automakers all wish they could build. It offers something for nearly everyone -- performance, efficiency and roominess -- at a price point most Americans can afford," MacKenzie said.
The Camry beat 26 other models that were totally new or redesigned in the year prior to Jan. 1, 2007, the magazine said. Japanese automakers had 10 cars in the field, with six U.S. models, five from Korea, four from Germany, one from the United Kingdom and one from Sweden.
MacKenzie said the Camry won in a very strong field.
"There have never been more choices available to American car buyers. That is a fact of life in the 21st century," he said.
Through October, Toyota sold 350,481 Camrys this year to lead all cars in U.S. sales. The No. 2 car in sales is Toyota's Corolla at 330,995, according to Autodata Corp.
Staffers at the magazine evaluated the vehicles on their innovation in engineering, design, safety and technology; their performance and quality; and whether the vehicle delivers value to the consumer.
This is the first year the Camry has won the award.
Among competitors for Car of the Year were the Chrysler Sebring, Saturn Aura, Nissan Altima, Kia Rondo, Honda Fit, Mercedes-Benz S Class, Volvo C70 T5 and the Volkswagen Rabbit.
Last year's winner was the Honda Civic. Last month, the magazine named the Mercedes-Benz GL450 its sport utility vehicle of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Boring is relative. Totalled my 92 Corolla in February and bought an 06 Camry. Then when I saw the new model a couple months later I wished I had totalled the 92 later. The new model is significantly less boring than my 06.
Rice grown where? Maybe another subsidy to a huge conglomerate. We can't do it here- except Arkancide.
I had a Camry station wagon for many years, and put 180,000 miles on it. Comfortable seats, handled well, nice suspension, good on the corners, hardly ever needed repairs, and completely reliable. What else do you want in a car?
I'm driving a Subaru now because I need the four wheel drive. Otherwise, I'd have stuck with a Camry probably.
Yes it's a wonderful car. I would rent one without hesitation. But its appearance and road manners are as bland as the food served in a convalescent home. I'm not ready for applesauce twice a day and I'm sure as hell not ready to own a Camry. My license will probably be confiscated before I get that old!
I concur with your skepticism
I'm sorry but I do not worship Jap cars. I buy cars for quality, longevity, total operational cost, safety for my family, functionality, comfort, performance, and looks. I buy GM. My GMs provide me an average 200,000 miles of life. I will hate to part with the one that has seen 44 states, 6 provinces and 268,000 miles. Sure have passed a lot of riceburners broken down along the roads or crushed in accidents during that time.
I suspect we have a different idea of what constitutes roominess. Yes, it's bigger than a Tercel or an Echo. I cannot say I have been in the current edition, but I hit my head on the headliner in the late-90's Camry.
My idea of roominess is a 1972 Chevy Impala, in a newer car maybe a Buick Roadmaster. A Grand Marquis is marginal. A Lincoln Town Car is about right.
A roomy car has room for at least (western height)six (western height) adults. (My 1966 "compact" Dodge Dart managed that).
Anyone who thinks that "all Toyotas are great" never had the displeasure of having to drive an early '90's Toyota Previa "minivan" (actually a barely made-over Japanese delivery van).
I have nothing against the company. I just don't think any of their cars qualify as roomy. Their current light-truck line-up very well might (this includes mini-vans, SUVs and pick-ups).
I suspect some of you hail from a different tradition, where your roominess benchmark is not a '72 Impala or Ford LTD wagon, but rather a Dodge Aries, Nissan Maxima or Chevy Nova ('80's edition), which were disingenuously touted as mid-sized.
I've owned Camaries, Lexuses and a Toyota Avalon and for a sedan the Avalon is a great car.
Read what I was responding to.
Aren't Toyotas designed by a California studio?
"Jap cars."
Whether you meant to or not, those two words date you, and identify you. It looks like you are about to suffer another indignity when GM goes under.
A roomy mass market car is pretty much impossible under the CAFE laws.
The real appeal of hybrid technology isn't in eco weenie sardine cans that get 50mpg instead of 30, it's in allowing a genuinely roomy car to get 25 instead of 15 and thus be able to be sold at a reasonable price.
My 1988 Toyota 4runner was proof enough for me. I gave it to a younger brother last year. It came on the market twenty years ago this fall.
Perhaps those words do date me; however, I will honor the memory of my Father who fought in the Pacific. There are many who dislike GM, Ford and many great American corporations and celebrate the thought of American manufacturing subservience to foreign dominance. I am not one of them.
Yeah, but which car isn't?
Designers at every auto company are facing nearly identical constraints. EPA requires this, DOT requires that, NHTSA requires the other, and when it comes down to it there isn't much latitude to make anything other than jellybeans for the mass car market.
Right -- CARS.
The best selling vehicle in the U.S. for 28 consecutive years? . . .
Good point. Many car designs don't have the class of days past. (Mustang breaks the boring mold.)
I just enjoy tweaking rice worshippers. They can bash American car manufacturers adnausium but blaspheme their sacred riceburner and they are incredulous. I really enjoy doing it in person and watch the dear-in-the-headlights look as I say the unthinkable about those things.
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