You won't find a lot of people shelling out $40K for a "sporty" Camry. They will most likely go look elsewhere. I for one, will not spend that much for a Camry.

If Toyota truly makes a TRD edition camry, I do hope they do more than just aesthetics and TRD badges all over the car. I'm talking about up in power, suspension work, and different body style.

Similar to the BMW M Performance, Audi S-Line, and M-Benz AMG Sport line. (I'm not talking about the M models, S models, or the AMG models; those are different and it's what Toyota's been doing with their Lexus models with the "F" lines like the IS-F, RC-F, and GS-F.)

Lexus F-Sport is mostly just aesthetics, light suspension tweak, brakes, and few other interior amenities.

 

I hear ya ...

Well Toyota better step-up and color or shut-up and retreat spending all this money in a racing series just to sell cars.

Very clever business model unlike BTC across the pond where they use the actual OEM chassis to fabricate race cars that influence the buying populace.



http://www.autonews.com/article/201...125/RETAIL03/151129906/how-toyota-used-nascar-to-sway-loyal-american-car-buyers

 

For me, appearance counts for little, so $40k would need to buy a lot more performance than a base Camry. The only problem is, "a lot more performance," means RWD, and that, in turn, means Lexus. So, I think this is a non-starter in Toyota land. I think the fact that Camry's surface every once in a while as high-profile, one-off "halo" examples in SEMA or NASCAR or what-have-you, is only meant to inspire the overall brand image, and not inspire Camry per se.

Now, if we got a DI-based engine that made at least 300hp with enough torque management to keep the car out of wheelspin in the first gear or two, and tires and suspension that could pull close to 1g laterally, then I think that would be worth high-$30's k. But Toyota would have an uphill battle to try to create a market for that, considering so few people buy the existing V6.

Best,
Mark

 

Like others have said, I think the 3.5-liter V6 D-4S Injection engine will find it's way into the Camry for the next generation ... FWD, AWD?

Who knows? I think the 8th gen will be a game changer for most Camry drivers, (look wise) and we'll see how the the new Sport Fusion does before Toyota decides to build the Camry prototype in the the latest pictures.

Reliability is a major influence, if anybody can do it ... It's Toyota.

 

Furthermore, I don't see any ill handling manners in my V6 7.5 gen, aka torque steer.

Engine management is superb and won't let you blow it up or understeer/oversteer unless you turn it off.

Trust me ... i've explored the bounds!

JMHO

 

I'd probably vote no...but then if you had told me several years ago that Ford would be selling a $40K Fusion, I wouldn't have believed you.

I'd be very surprised if Toyota released a niche high-performance trim. I wouldn't be surprised at an aggressive SE or XSE trim that's more appearance than substance. Look at Honda's Sport trim on the Accord and Nissan's SR trim on the Altima. Both of them slot just above the base model, but feature larger wheels and other trim pieces that make them look way more expensive than they actually are.

 

I'd probably vote no...but then if you had told me several years ago that Ford would be selling a $40K Fusion, I wouldn't have believed you.

A Fusion Sport 2.7 awd $35K MSRP can be purchased for $30K or maybe even less, so $40 K Camry has no future, no matter how fast or sporty it is. Look at the current pricing and discounts, all upper trim Camry have 5+K discounts and that for comfortable loaded models that don't sell well even with such discounts, so a $40K stiff and bumpy Camry would be even less popular. "FAst and furious" kids just don't have such money and 99% of ppl that have money and looking for a fast and sporty car would get something else cuz of Camry and Toyota image.
$40K would buy you a nice year old low miles GS350 or 535 that would bit a TRD Camry in every department, so $40K simply has no future.

 

How many times has this been discussed?

Perhaps you should watch this commercial on repeat; the chances are better for a TRD Highlander than a Camry at this point...

Reposting Jalopnik

Maybe Toyota will shock us all with a Camry Sport with a 300 horsepower turbo four, Brembo brakes, and wildly aggressive suspension tuning (and a manual? Oh, who am I kidding) but if they can’t even bother upgrading the performance for the one real sports car in their lineup, I can’t imagine they are going to put much effort into making a Camry throw down hot lap-times.

What we are probably seeing is just the next XSE trimmed Camry, for folks who want their commuter car to look a little bit cooler.

If anything, being in NASCAR will help them sell more Tacos and hopefully more Tundras, but them good ol' boys are loyal to their Chevys and Fords.

 

SEMA is going on this week in LV (wish I could get in there) perhaps some more tease TRD Camry photos?

 

I'd rather spend $20-25 and use the rest of that money to mod it my way.
They'd be better off selling TRD bolt-on for the cars.

Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk

 

I'd rather spend $20-25 and use the rest of that money to mod it my way.
They'd be better off selling TRD bolt-on for the cars.

I agree. I'd rather have my choice of TRD accessories rather than take a bundle that Toyota decided on. Items I would consider are a cat back exhaust, sway bars, shocks and some cosmetic items like a shift knob and some subtle TRD exterior graphics.

 

$40K? Nah. That's getting a little out of hand.

It's really too bad the $25K SE V6 doesn't exist anymore. Really glad I got one at the last minute.

If the new Camry comes with a V6 and it's $35K or something, it won't matter if I'm tempted, I'll be living with my port injected 2014.5 SE with only 6 speeds for a while.

 

An Accord touring as well as an Avalon starts at $36k itself, so if a souped up, fully loaded, reliable 300hp Camry is priced at $40k msrp ($35k after discounts), i would go for it. More room than "cute-luxos" like a CLA, and more performance than TLXs, ESs. Main thing for me would be features and actual performance.

 

No, but I would buy a Ford Fusion Sport for under $40K.

 

There is no way I would pay over $20K for a Camry appliance even if it is all stainless steel. You can get a T4R or Tacoma truck for that money.

 

totally agree i think people who buy the top of the line 35,000 dollar camry are either nuts or misinformed.

 

Kind of summarizing thoughts here, there are two big barriers against making a true high-performance version of a Camry:

1. The existence of Lexus.
2. FWD.

Best,
Mark

 

thats the dilemna: get a slightly used gs350 for $30+ with more lux or a new trd cam...

 

Nope for a couple of reasons.

1) Owning a $40k vehicle is a bad idea for my commute. Rough driving conditions (traffic is very fast and aggressive, accidents happen daily), constant crap hitting your car (road debris, gravel, truck tires blowing up, etc), and snow/salt ruin a car in short order. That would be strike 1 there and why I chose a cheaper Camry over a 2016 Dodge Charger R/T earlier this year.

2) 300hp can become boring, useless and even frustrating if you spend alot of time in traffic or live in a heavily populated area like I do, which was a lesson I learned many times with high-horsepower cars over the years. The 2.5 I4 with a few mods and a throttle controller is actually pretty quick, rarely do I actually get to or even need to really push my car with or without aggressive traffic conditions to pass or accelerate quickly without blowing past the speed limit significantly. I couldn't justify a $40k Camry when the one I have does just fine with just a few tweaks and wouldn't doubt that's would be the same response from many others as well.

3) $40k TRD Camry is actually kinda corny. I am not a fan of limited edition vehicles that are expensive, especially when it's equipped with one-off options as it often makes parts and repairs expensive. I know many will beg to differ but in my opinion, the only vehicles I've seen this done well is muscle cars in particular, such as the Mustang but that's a tried and true formula. Anytime it's not, it's usually an expensive failure or expensive car with shortcomings making the car less practical, comfortable, reliable, efficient or discreet for daily driving.

4) RWD, manual, V8. You can buy an older 300hp (or close to it) RWD car for cheap these days, even few year old mustang GT's are dropping in value. Why spend $40k on a Camry when you can have good-old V8 fun for cheap and likely save enough money to buy a cheap second car....a standard Camry or SUV/CUV for bad weather or family duties if needed?

5) You can make your own TRD edition from ebay accessories for cheap, well at least the badging part haha. :grin:

 

The market for Japanese V6 midsize sedans is pretty small. Currently, most Toyota dealers in my area are heavily discounting the V6 models as it is... they have trouble moving them off the lot. One dealer in my area still has a fully loaded 2016 XSE V6 that is priced down to $26,500- nearly $9,000 off sticker... they can't get rid of it. I can see Toyota offering a V6 LE or SE again at a lower MSRP before they'd introduce a special edition $40,000 Camry that no one will buy. If Toyota would make the V6 more affordable, they'd probably get more people taking it. They currently charge around $5,000 bucks for it, that's too much for 95% of buyers.

The vast majority of people who would be interested in buying a Camry in the first place aren't buying it for its sporty handling or horsepower rating. People want a simple, reliable appliance. They aren't interested in anything fast or sporty. I'm convinced that the only reason why Toyota is moving so many SE models is because they are only $800 more than the LE and include a bunch of equipment.

People who are willing to pay more than $35,000 for a V6 Japanese sedan are much more likely to buy a Nissan Maxima or even an Avalon... or as previous posters have mentioned- a low-milage used Lexus.

With the shrinking sedan market (as families continue to choose small SUVs over sedans), you can probably plan on Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and other makers to shrink offerings to what people buy and eliminate special trims that are only desired by 1% of buyers. I think the XSE V6 model is probably the closest thing that Toyota will ever have to a TRD V6 Camry.

 

My guess is that if Lexus didn't exist, then Toyota might do something similar to what Ford did to create their Fusion Sport model (AWD, 380ft-lb TQ from a turbo 2.7l 4-cyl.) But since such an extrapolation would project into Lexus territory, it simply wouldn't happen in a Camry context.

Thanks,
Mark

 

No, would look to other options @ 40k

 

Let me look into my TMS-crystal ball...

Toyota shows a one-off concept for a TRD Camry with DI V-6, AWD, a host of suspension goodies, and drop-dead good looks. Car enthusiasts go nuts and start pestering Toyota dealers. The car makes its rounds at shows and is road-tested by several car rags (the moto-scribes actually like it.) Rumors of a production version "very close to the original concept" fill the air. Dealers, smelling cash, start to pressure TMS.

A year goes by. The rumors persist. The dealer and enthusiast pressure builds. TMS reluctantly starts to yield and lobbies TMC. The Japanese point out all the potential problems: looming CAFE standards, limited production, need to focus resources on profitable SUV's, etc.

Another year passes. TMC finally green-lights a sub-$40k TRD Camry after much arm twisting. More time passes. People start to forget and enthusiasm wains . The project grinds slowly forward.

Finally, the "much anticipated" TRD Camry is debuted. The car resembles it concept somewhat, but many "production concessions" are necessary. One of these is the elimination of the AWD...too costly. Another is the presence of a 4-cylinder turbo 2.0 liter, in place of the V-6. There is no manual transmission option. Base price comes in at $39,990.00, just under the 40k threshold.

Still reluctant to fully commit to the project, TMC will only produce a limited number of TRD Camrys. Most will be "fully loaded" versions with roof, leather, and a host of luxury options that push the MSRP up over $50,000.00! There are a hand-full of "base models" made. Most end up in the TMS press-pool. Each dealer is allotted one car. Most dealers tack on additional "dealer profit" or accessories, pushing the price even higher. Enthusiasts turn away in disgust! Lexus dealers howl!

The magazines like the car but can't break away from their decades-old institutional prejudice against any Camry...it receives luke-warm reviews. Sales languish. Dealers start to dump cars. Most are purchased by older customers, who complain bitterly about the stiff ride and steering. The next year, the suspension is softened up and handling suffers...but, by this point, the end is near. After 18 months in production, the TRD Camry is quietly dropped from the line-up. TMS cites "limited demand and poor sales." Production capacity is needed for the new RAV-IA self-driving SUV.

There, I took you through the entire sorted episode and saved you much yearning and heart-break. You can thank me later.

 

And what part of TGNA didn't you understand?

You can bolt in RAV4 /Highlander all wheel drive faster than Hillary going to prison!

 

$40k for any Camry is unacceptably high price. Like others mentioned, for $40k I would look past the Camry.

 

Trying to focus strictly on the question at hand, in theory, yes I would pay $40k for a special Camry if it offered $40(+)k of value. For me, in order to do that, it would have to handle far better, and accelerate a lot harder, than the existing v6 Camry. In my case, I solved the handling issue by spending about $2k on top of my initial $22k expenditure on a 2012 XLE some years ago with 7k miles on the clock. That still leaves me $16k shy of $40k, so it would have to accelerate like an F16 to make-up the difference. Since that would require AWD or RWD, it simply isn't going to happen because that's Lexus space. (Hope I'm not getting too repetitive in saying this.)

Best,
Mark

 

Let's see...

Camry and 40 grand in the same sentence...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

If the Camry TRD came with a supercharged 5.7 motor, roll cage, RWD or AWD, carbon fiber body panels, Brembo 4 piston front & rear brakes, 500HP or more, I'd buy one.

 

You're describing a Chevy SS in a way, which is a $40k+ car. (minus the roll cage and carbon fiber parts) haha

 

This idea of a $40K TRD Camry is a non-starter.

What I think these spy shots are showing is just the new XSE Camry V6. It will get a bump in power, it will have the new 8 speed automatic, and it won't cost much more than the current XSE V6.

Not sure why people think the quad exhaust and black rims means this is some ultra-performance Camry.

And this debate on a new vs used has been around ever since the first car was sold to the second owner.....and it is debatable.

It's not crazy to prefer a brand new car over a used car with a fancy badge and nice interior.

Certified or not, a used car is rolling the dice, and that depreciation discount is just compensation for assuming that risk.

Did the previous owner hit a curb?

Did they have an accident in their pants while sitting in the car?

Did they chain smoke in the car and the selling dealership covered it up temporarily with air freshener?

 

Nope. If I'm looking for a sport sedan, I don't look for one which starts with front wheel drive. I start looking at a Cadillac ATS with cash on the hood on top of already very reasonable base pricing.

The Camry is good at what it does - I like it for that. I wouldn't be very interested in seeing one made into something it's not.

 

Hi Jcme0557,

Two good posts there! I enjoyed reading those - thanks.

Back to the question of a performance Camry (TRD or whatever you call it,) and price at $40k: actually, I think what I've done to make my car handle as well as it does (it still amazes me that FWD is even capable of this,) could become the new SE/XSE suspension standard. It has a reasonably soft ride and good NVH, would mean zero adaptation on the production line to assemble, and zero impact on the drivetrain, so zero emissions/CAFE concerns, etc.. I strongly believe that a car doesn't need a stiff suspension to handle well, unless the suspension has inherently poor kinematics. Basically, all the suspension needs to do to extract maximum performance from the tires, is keep the tire reasonably vertical to the road surface (my goal is within three degrees,) under all car and suspension motions. And finally, the price should be far under $40k. The car would be faster 0-60 and in the 1/4-mile, simply because the tires have much better traction than the current OE, so far less wheelspin in first gear.

Just a suggestion, albeit a serious one.

Best,
Mark

 

A TRD edition would be nice granted the price isnt past $40,000.
The Avalon looks pretty good decked out in TRD fashion.