Long-term update: 2012 Toyota Camry in Las Vegas

Long-term update: 2012 Toyota Camry in Las Vegas


Hey look, our Toyota Camry went to Las Vegas. Or rather, as close as you can get to Las Vegas without leaving Dubai soil. But why are we talking about Las Vegas anyway? Considering we neither drink nor gamble, the only interest we have in Las Vegas is that CSI TV show.

Speaking of TV shows, we spotted our exact same test car on a documentary called MBC Action Driven. We guess it was filmed before the car was handed over to us. It’s kind of awesome seeing the car we’re driving around in on television.

As for the car itself, it is the perfect commuter-mobile. As long as you don’t have any pretensions of throwing it violently into corners like a Honda S2000, the car will conduct itself with adequate poise. Think of it as a poor man’s Rolls-Royce Ghost, and drive it that way. On the highway, there is a tinge of jitteriness and a tad more wind noise than a Rolls-Royce, but we doubt most drivers are that sensitive.

However, the 2.5-litre engine is sensitive to how you treat the throttle pedal. Our fuel-consumption average has largely hovered around 11 litres/100 km because we step on it every once in a while to make the four-banger sing. To put things in perspective, we got the same numbers from our 3.6-litre Volkswagen Passat CC V6 as well as the 1.8-litre Chevrolet Cruze. We suspect you’d need to be very soft with it to really get even better economy.

The new Camry is, undoubtedly, a very nice car. And while the threat from the Koreans is always looming in the background, Toyota has nothing to worry about for now, as their car gets the basics very right.

Original Mileage When Borrowed: 5,883 km
Latest Mileage To Date: 7,900 km
Latest Average Fuel Economy: 11.5 litres/100 km
Cost of Latest Problems: Dhs 0
Cost of Latest Maintenance: Dhs 0

Total Non-Fuel Running Cost Since Borrowed: Dhs 0

Read all 2012 Toyota Camry long-term updates

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Comments

  1. umm…i get the same mileage with my accord v6 and i dont actually have a soft foot. so..my question is..how is this a fuel saver car as most people put it?

    • Author

      How did you calculate your mileage? I know your car has cylinder deactivation, but not a trip computer.

    • We had people getting better numbers with the Maxima, didn’t we Mash? And Mash gets way better numbers with the Galant V6. As a matter of fact, my Pajero does only 13 l/100km on the highways with a sane right foot; considering that it is an ancient 3.5 V6 put into a 4wd body, I feel it is great. But all that, only on highway drives. I am not too sure about the Accord V6 as I have not driven one; but for the rest of the cars mentioned here, the city drive, which consists of lots of ‘stop-n-go’ scenarios, takes a heavy toll on the fuel economy of these wee-sixers. Now this exactly may be where the difference between a v6 and a four-cylinder is noticeable.

    • due to absence of a trip computer, i calculate the manual way. I fill in 50 aed of super and calculate the kilometres driven till the next fuel stop. i dont fill when the reserve light is on but really low when i fear stalling. so in this case i fill 27 odd litres and gives me about 225 – 240 kms.
      its a mix of highway and city driving and ofcourse the city driving reduces the average.

    • If you keep on repeating this practise of fuelling at last moments you might me end up with damage fuel pump.

    • My 3 years old with over 130K miles Mazda6 Ultra 3.7 gives me flat 11.5/100 KM FLAT…from Day one ! And I am heavy footer… with very high driving inside city and highway trips.. Almost 50-50 ratio..
      but i alwayas use Super 98…

      this camry is not economical..

      For all disbelievers i am willing to come with car to prove my point :)…that Mazda 3.7 V6 as not just powerful but fuel efficient…

    • Im damn Fan of Mazda6 specially the new coming 2014 model “TAKERI” cocept. Love Mazdas

    • Author

      Anil, by your own numbers, you get 12.1 to 12.9 l/100 km, fairly realistic for a V6. Of course, your method of calculation isn’t particularly accurate, but then again, it has been reported that some cars have odometers that run faster than the actual mileage, so we’ll never be sure!

    • well..lets see; 50 AED of Super fuel gives 27.32 litres and I get a mileage of 225 – 240kms.
      So, that comes to 8.23kmpl – 8.78kmpl and therefore a mileage of 11.38L/100 – 12.15L/100.

    • Author

      You use Super98 on your Accord? It doesn’t need it, at least not the U.S. one. I know you have the Japanese one, but check your manual.

    • I know it doesnt need Super98 but I fill it anyway as I do feel a little difference in performance which is worth the extra AED 0.11. And yes mine is the Japanese make.

    • Oh and my car has a 5 speed auto against the camry’s 6 speed auto

  2. Lol at the sonata in background…

  3. I get 15 l/100km in my V6 Prado. That’s city drive in the summer heat. Not impressed with the Camry’s fuel economy.

    • city drive in the heat you get 15 l/100 kms in a V6 Prado??? :S :S…my mitsu soars to a ridiculous 19 L/100 km – sometimes more…

    • I get 20L/100KMs in Armada with city driving. Highway I get between 14-15L/100KMs at a speed of 140KM/Hr.

      @Mitch 15L/100KMs is pretty good. My camry gets 13.7L/100KMs after I started using synthetic oil. Before I got 14L/100KMs.

  4. the las vegas of karama , the interior is better

  5. @Vivek,
    yes, this is what I get so far and Im following the fuel consumption close. I even calculated it by writing down the mileage from a full tank to another full tank. It was a curiosity in the auto comunity Im part of, many ppl wanted to know how hungry this toyota V6 is. I expect it to go down a little as the temperature cools down in Dubai in the following months and Im not going to use the a/c on auto. My mileage is 3000km so far, all done in the city.

    • if you are getting that in the city, I must say that it is excellent! I am now curious to know what mileage your Prado achieves on the highway..

      And by the way, my mileage figures are all from the trip computer. Guess I need to do a manual calculation; coz somehow I have started feeling that it shows ridiculous data.

  6. I havent had the chance to take the car on a longer trip so far. My trip computer also shows 15, the maximim shown was 15.5 when I hit busy traffic. 19l that you get is very high!

    • My Prado V6 also gives similar figures… 14.5 to 15/100 kms in summer in city driving .. My car has now done 8800 kms..

  7. @Vivek :

    The mileage of 19L/100 kms could be because of the missing 5th gear … i believe your’s is the 3.0L or the 3.5 L which is 4 speed automatic … my cousin have his 3.0L LWB version, and I’ve seen his mileage shown as 18.8L/100 kms, that too he drives it with no passengers at all …

    My ’07 Prado VX gives 14.2L/100 kms … 90 percent city drive … so i shud be happy 🙂

    • yep. I drive the 3.5L version with only 4 gears to play with. and it does make a difference when I hit higher speeds than 120 kph as the vehicle revs higher. But in city driving, I doubt if it makes so much of a difference, as the slower moving traffic and stop ‘n’go scenario means, we wouldn’t be seeing the highest gear often.

      I remember the mileage I used to get with the Prado VX I occasionally used to rent out from Avis. On long drives, we could easily get well over 500 kms from a tank after my on-road thrashing and off-road bashing!

  8. 4 gears make a difference in the city drive as well, especially in Dubai where it’s legal to do 80-100km/h on many roads. You are not always in stop and go traffic, are you? When you cruise around at 90-100km/h in the city you burn more fuel just because you dont have the 5th gear.

  9. hmmm looks like every one forgot about the camry…. dam it is so forgettable even on its own thread!

  10. Hey Mash,
    My camry and the later model camry has this weird brake fading character. When I take it out early in the morning brake feels like I got new set of pads but as I drive it, it gets more cushy and the pedal needs to travel further more. How do you feel about the brakes for this camry?

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