That's a pretty long list of problems/gripes to accompany a new and well respected car. I, too, would be pretty upset with those monkeys if I were having to wear noise-cancelling head phones and sticking an unslightly cardboard cover on my new vehicle's dashboard just to make the car functional for driving.
Max, I have to disagree with you. The Aurion is nothing like the Camry. The steering wheel is on the wrong side, and all of the units are metric.
Please forgive me, I'm simply teasing a bit, playing the uncouth American.
But, it does give me pause to think. Your first point about road noise and the body stiffening required to deal with the added power makes me think they kept the body style only. Shift the steering wheel (and EVERYTHING entailed with that), stiffen the frame, and the car really does not merit the same name. It might be interesting to see the structures side by side.
The user interface you described has no justification; not having dimmers for night driving is dangerous.
Interesting to see Item 10 listing power surges on the Toyota giving sudden acceleration. A major recall was issued in the US for a similar problem. I wonder if these items were related. Noise cancelling headphones would definitely be a nuisance for a long period of time.
The Cruise Control light issue has been around for over 10 years -- our 2000 Camry has the same ambiguous light. But it lacks most of the other monkey points -- a reason to keep it for another 100K miles.
reference monkey #1 - why wasn't the noise level detected during your test drive? Is 86db your gut feel or was that measured?
reference monkey #3 - you are getting frostbite from 5C? I thought 0C was freezing, but then again I am a Yank and we measure things in F. Have you considered moving the potential frostbitten appendage away from the vent?
reference monkey #6 - "The steering wheel controls for the volume are unusable" - and then you go on to describe how the controls are used. BTW- watch those finger cramps, we wouldn't want that to escalate to a life threatening condition.
Before you ask, I'm not an offended Camry owner, but drive a VW Jetta Wagon diesel that gets 45mpg. It is just the exaggerations got to me.
I've noticed a lot of the smaller cars have a lot of road noise in the cabin and really stiff suspensions. It is too bad many of the smaller cars have lots of cabin noise. I would think ride comfort would be a top priority.
Minotilted.r gripes, if you ask me. 0.5 degree increments in climate control is reasonable, and its not a setting you change frequently ( I change mine 4 times a year, I think). The best audio systems have analog, continuously variable volume controls - 3db is too great a step increment. I thought all vents even in the wretchedest Hyundais can be opened, closed and tilted. I did find that the Corolla instrument panel was difficult to read with sunglasses when drivibg with headlights on and panel lights automatically dimmed.
Here's MY two cents. In late 2003, I purchased a 2004 CAMRY. Had driven it well over 100K miles when it "died" one afternoon on way home from work. Was able to restart, and drove directly to TOYOTA dealership. The diagnosis was that the throttle body was worn out. From TOYOTA, it was a complete assembly, not an individual parts replacement issue. So, that coupled w/ the need for new tires all around, I decided to trade it for a "pre-owned" CAMRY. That turned out to be almost the worst decision of my life since attempting to scale Mt. Everest in my underwear!!!!! This CAMRY has the awkward headlight controls that was mentioned in the main article. It also has the annoying radio controls on the steering wheel, as in the 2012 model CAMRY/AURION. The cabin area was redesigned to include really useless pockets, etc. Having seen the 2012 CAMRY, I had contemplated trading the present CAMRY on a new model in hope of eliminating some of these annoyance. This article came along in the nick of time. Maybe I'll talk to my sales associate to see IF they get any 2003 to 2007 model year CAMRYs in trade w/ low mileage. Even the body style of the earlier version is more pleasing to me than the newer models. I WISH I spent the money on the throttle body & tires. The irony is that the service advisor mentioned that the throttle body woes that I experienced usually happen when the vehicle has at least 200K on the odometer. I guess mine was on the outside of that bell curve to my detriment. Too bad the HYUNDAI SONATA loses so much of its resale value. They SURE seem to be an extremely popular alternative to the CAMRY, especially here in the Tampa Bay, FL area.
Pardon my bias, but what wouldyou expect from,a Toyota? Those are mostly luxury features,anyway.
The reality is that digital,voljme control is a poor choice most of the time. It is used because it is cheaper,not better.
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