Test drive Toyota Camry vs Kia Optima
Disputes over D-Class sedans often end in a row, so it's best to keep a close eye on the wording. Especially when it comes to Camry and Optima
Until a few years ago, the Toyota Camry had much more strong rivals. Nissan periodically broke into the top 25 models of Russia with Teana (which, by the way, was sold even with all-wheel drive), and Honda offered an obscenely stylish Accord.
Now everything is different: a dollar at 67 rubles, VAT 20%, and the new Camry competes primarily with the very nice and richly equipped Kia Optima. We argued for too long about what to choose, but everyone stayed with his own.
It seems that this has already become a tradition: every year at the same time I always drive a Toyota Camry. Last year, the lengthy test of the Japanese bestseller turned into a touching farewell - at that time we already knew that the car would soon change a generation in Russia. David Hakobyan spoke in maximum detail about the new Camry during the test of the pre-production model in Spain. Later, Ivan Ananiev drove the commodity version in Russian reality. But it is the long-term test that will answer the main question: did the "seventy" live up to the expectations of the V50 owners.
Buying a car should never be considered an investment. Even in the monstrous December 2014, investing in a car seemed like a very hasty decision. Any car except Toyota. All these stories about "drove out of the dealership and lost a third of the value" do not exactly bother Camry owners. A year ago, dealers offered the Exclusive version (2,5 liters, Yandex.Auto, brown leather) for $ 20. Right now, such cars, but with a mileage of 855-20 thousand km, cost exactly the same.
The problem is that with the change of generation Camry has risen in price. Yes, the admission ticket costs about the same as before, but there is a price gap between the comparable more expensive versions of the V50 and V70. Anyone who has never dealt with a Camry will not understand this difference and will probably go to the Kia Optima configurator. But in fact, a noticeable increase in price is easy to argue.
The surcharge is for emotions, because the new Camry has become a driver's car. Here I finally feel very comfortable: the center console is turned in my direction a la BMW, a cool tidy with a large screen between the "wells", a lot of free space for small things, and all the buttons and switches have lost their touch of the 1990s.
It turns out there are subtle nuances that V50 owners are particularly excited about. For example, the fact that the level of the side glazing has become lower. Short drivers used to be uncomfortable in the Camry, especially on the track. The door card can now be used as an armrest for the left hand. The “scissor” (because of it the shoes were constantly getting dirty) was finally replaced with a button, and the heated seats are now controlled by the keys.
On the move, the Camry V70 is a different car altogether. It is especially noticeable when you change from the old to the new one. If someone tells you that this Toyota "does not steer", then he certainly never drove a "seventy". The steering wheel has become much shorter, the responses are faster, but the main thing is different. The Camry no longer has problems with directional stability at high speeds. Sedan by and large does not care: 100, 150 or 180 km / h - the possibilities are limited only by the old aspirated.
The most popular engine in the new Camry is still 2,5 liters at 181 horsepower. But after a generation change, his control unit was rewritten for the sake of ecology, and the car itself became heavier. Hence the loss in dynamics: up to "hundreds" Toyota accelerates a second slower. Soon such a sedan in Russia should receive an 8-speed "automatic" instead of a 6-range, but for now the buying scenario is as follows: a customer is staring at a V6, sees a slightly indecent price tag and still buys a Camry, but from $ 32 for $ 550. This is some kind of magic, but in two or three years on the "secondary" it will cost the same.
Even some one and a half to two years ago, the Optima was the most coveted Kia model. She was not the largest, most powerful, or the most expensive, but for some reason everyone wanted her. In general, she has developed about the same image as the seventh and eighth generation Honda Accord once had.
Do you know which one? It's hard to explain, but this is when all the guys in your area, with whom you grew up, call the car a "flat wheelbarrow" and, in general, tend to change into one of their smaller and simpler sedan. But now everything has changed: Kia has a Stinger.
The muscular fastback with the classic layout seemingly struck Optima off the wish list forever. But it’s not that simple. Firstly, the Stinger is significantly more expensive and in the top-end performance of the GT can easily move from the wishlist to the dream category. And secondly, among all the same guys there is an opinion that the Stinger is chosen by those who decided to save money and did not buy a BMW. So Optima still exists in its own paradigm. More precisely, it existed until the new Camry V70 appeared.
Never before has a Toyota Camry looked so stylish and even more daring. Toyota sedan has always been restrained, conservative and even boring. But the new car is struggling to shatter stereotypes about itself. After all, she not only looks more fun, but also learned to ride much more perky. Don't think that Toyota is now claiming to be a sports sedan. All the same, the thoroughness and even a certain monumentality remained with her.
But even after reformatting the Camry like this, I still go for the Optima. Despite the four-year-old age of the model itself, she looks very fresh. She has almost the same set of available equipment and power units of a fairly reliable design similar in terms of recoil. And the ride is almost as balanced.
If the Optima is in any way inferior to the Camry, it is only slightly. And even then only in two parameters: smooth running and soundproofing. The Korean is still a little tougher on the move and a little noisier at high speeds. But this is something you can live with, saving almost $ 2.
| A type | Sedan | Sedan |
| Dimensions (length / width / height), mm | 4885/1840/1455 | 4855/1860/1485 |
| Wheelbase, mm | 2825 | 2805 |
| Ground clearance, mm | 155 | 155 |
| Cargo space, l | 493 | 510 |
| Curb weight, kg | 1555 | 1575 |
| engine's type | Petrol, four-cylinder | Petrol, four-cylinder |
| Working volume, cubic meters cm | 2494 | 2359 |
| Max. power, h.p. (at rpm) | 181/6000 | 188/6000 |
| Max. cool. moment, Nm (at rpm) | 231/4100 | 241/4000 |
| Drive type, transmission | Front, AKP6 | Front, AKP6 |
| Max. speed km / h | 210 | 210 |
| Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s | 9,9 | 9,1 |
| Fuel consumption, l / 100 km (mixed cycle) | 8,3 | 8,3 |
| Price from, $. | 22 818 | 22 154 |
