2017 Camry XLE gets a test in a true Utah winter storm
2017 Toyota Camry XLE
Sunday Drive
By Craig and Deanne Conover
On a normal week with our test drive we have the opportunity to drive it around town and sometimes we find the time to get to Salt Lake or Park City on a Saturday, but this week Craig had to be in St. George for a 4 day conference we were excited to get some extra time we would not normally have in the Camry.
Of course this 4 day conference included and Thursday afternoon round of golf so Craig was insistent that we get away on Wednesday evening so he could make a noon tee time the next day. What seemed a few days before a good idea for the 3 hour drive turned out to be a white knuckle 7 hour adventure drive to St. George, Utah.
The good news if there really was any, we got to try the Camry out in the most adverse conditions we have encountered for quite some time, the bad news was it took 7 hours to get from Springville to St. George.
Just outside of Fillmore the weather took a serious turn for the worse with blowing snow and near white out conditions, it got so bad that we were perfectly content to follow the truck in front of us at 20 mph hoping he could see the road better and not lead us off of the road. There was so much snow blowing around our windshield wipers got caked with ice and froze over even with the defrost on full blast. We had to pull over just after Cove Fort and knock the ice off just so they would work again and we could see.
However the Camry handled the snow like a trooper as we continually saw 4×4’s slide and spin around on the road with one even leaving the road, but not the Camry it took the snow as well as any car we have driven, and it was up to 8 inches deep before we dropped down into Beaver. About the only complaint we had of the Camry was there was so much ice on the front the pre-collision warning kept telling us it was not working.
After arriving in Beaver we were able to clear the ice off of the front of the vehicle solving the problem with the car letting us know certain features would not work any longer and it also allowed the headlights to illuminate the surroundings much better.
We were amazed at how well the Camry did in the deep snow and going up and over high mountain passes with relative ease, considering how bad the weather was, would we want to do it again? No we would not, however the Camry did not let us down during the trip and we were sure some other vehicles we have driven would of.
Our test ride came with a larger V6 engine which gave the Camry plenty of power sporting 268 horsepower, which we really enjoyed on the way home in the 80 mph zones along I-15 as it took us just over 3 hours to make the same drive on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Never once did we feel there was not going to be enough power to overtake the vehicle ahead if needed or accelerate to a faster speed. There was a large amount of traffic coming out of St. George and having the added radar cruise control turned out to be a godsend helping us to maintain an even distance from the car in front of us, yet it would come back up to speed when the way was clear.
The moniker on the Toyota website ‘Demands respect at every corner’ took on a new meaning for us after our road trip with the Camry, it has now earned a great deal of respect after trudging through all the bad weather we experienced.
Of course Toyota has earned the right to use this new moniker as over the past two decades Camry has been the best-selling sedan in the U.S. market pretty much every year. Should they demand respect? Certainly as they have set the standard pretty high for others that want in on the sedan market. They have always had a great looking vehicle that was part sport, part mom and part economy, giving the greater masses of the motoring public what they wanted and needed in a family everyday driver.
The current version of the Camry was introduced in 2011 and has received minor changes and enhancements over the past 6 years, getting a refresh 3 years ago, and has come to have what we would consider almost a Lexus like look with a lower stance and dynamic lines on the exterior. The front end now features LED headlamps along with LED running lights inset to the sides of a stylish new black grill that sweeps around the front of the vehicle giving it a very aggressive look.
Our test ride came in a Blue Streak Metallic blue color or a very deep and beautiful summer twilight sky blue that was highlighted by awesome 18 inch machined alloy wheels with black painted inlays. The rear was accented with the perfect spoiler on the trunk, and dual chrome tipped tail pipes.
The beautiful blue exterior would not have been complete without the many soft touch updates to the interior of the Camry. The seats are made of a leather trimmed ultrasuede white material that was extremely comfortable to sit on for the extended ride. Both front seats are powered and adjustable and of course heated a great addition when having to plow through a snow storm.
Standard also in the Camry XSE is keyless entry that included a pushbutton start, the door handles, our personal favorites, worked exactly like those of a Lexus meaning that with the key in our pocket just putting our hand behind door handle would unlock it and just walking up to the Camry on a dark night would cause the lighting to come on inside and out.
There is also a powered moon roof that was standard in our test ride Camry, along with the 7″ touch screen that controls all of the audio functions along with monitoring other vital vehicle functions including all hybrid and gas usage. We found that we could also use a smart phone to put navigation on the screen from said device; however ours did have the upgrade that included navigation from Toyota.
The $710 addition to our ride was the Entune JBL audio system that featured 10 JBL greenedge speakers located throughout the cabin. This upgrade also included a voice recognition system and Siri eyesfree texting and other features with a iPhone.
This year Toyota now offers and advanced technology package that at a reasonable $750 addition is quite worth it. It comes with pre-collision alert and braking, radar cruise control, lane departure alert and automatic high beam headlights. There was also a $500 addition of blind spot monitoring which we really enjoyed on the way home keeping us informed of those in the lane next door.
The Camry has become a great contender in our eyes after a road trip with three adults, 3 suitcases, a set of golf clubs, 3 backpacks and 4 packages to take to the local Bernina shop in St. George. Along with all the stuff we got there in one piece through weather that we really should have avoided. See the new Camry today at Brent Brown Toyota at 1400 South Sandhill Road Orem, (801) 224-1320.
Base Price: $31,370
Price as Driven: $35,903
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