[spacedogg]

This my first hand at reviewing a car...so here goes.

Let me start off by saying that the best way to appreciate your BMW, whether it is a E90/E91/E92/etc is to drive another car for a week or so.

Recently, due to a minor rear-end accident, I had give up the keys to my E90 to the local bodyshop. In turn, I received the keys to a free rental. Exciting.

I got a 2007 Toyota Camry LE. Under the hood, an ambitious 4 cylinder with over 23,000 kilometers already spent. And fabric seating...the kind that smells like an old taxi after a few years. Except with so many different people driving the rental before me, the interior already smelled a few years old. Hmmm. I knew this experience was going to be special.

Perhaps not as special as it could have been, as I was going to get a Hyundai Accent but I narrowly dodged that after I got upgraded to the Camry for waiting too long at the rental car office.

Now let me get this straight. The Toyota Camry is a great car. It has won countless awards such as the highly coveted 2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award and AJAC Car of Year. It is a good car. The naturally aspirated 2.4 litre four banger is surprisingly torquey and seems to pull the car around competently.

And there is room galore. The Camry is no longer a compact or the midsize car it used to be. It feels like a full-size sedan so there's plenty of space for all your 6' 4" friends and a regulation sized basket-ball court. When sitting alone you can practically hear echos off the plastic interior. And plus if you ever do run out of space in the passenger compartment, there is plenty of space in the truck to hide at least two (more) dead bodies.

The ride is silk smooth and quiet as a morgue...just as you would expect from a Toyota sedan. The exterior design isn't too bad looking either. It's not exactly beautiful...but it is charming. The butt even looks similar to the Bangle butts I've started to get accustomed to on BMWs. And with prices starting around $22,000 Canadian...it's pretty cheap too.

So all in all...an excellent car then?

Well...not exactly. It's just a car. While the engine is capable, you are impressed with it no more than you are of the special needs kid who barely colours between the lines. You're impressed with its ability...but it's hardly the best you've seen. And the car is big...and feels that way behind the wheel. You are painfully aware that you are piloting a big car around town. While doing shoulders checks, you are constantly reminded of how much car is still actually behind you. There's a lot fabric, metal and plastic back there, kid.

But the Camry is designed to "feel" smaller and lighter than it really is. The throttle response is so sensitive you feel the initial spurt of torque as if to suggest you are in a smaller car. The steering is light so as to make it feel like you can turn quickly. But the torque isn't enough to take your breath away under hard acceleration. And the steering gives absolutely zero feedback--when stopped at a light you can literally jostle the steering wheel a quarter turn with your pinky finger.

The ride, while comfortable, gets worryingly bouncy and floaty at speed. Making turns at relative modest speeds initiates safe understeer. Over bumps you can the rear of the car slowly bouncing across the bump a week after the front axle already bounced over it. You can almost count the seconds that the wheel is in the air rather than being in contact with the pavement. The car just feels "light". A little too light. And your mind can't help think that it logically can't be--it's such a big car how can it feel so light? So naturally your mind comes to its worrying conclusion: they didn't spend much money on paying for thicker sheetmetal. So it feels like you're driving a football field length of car made with aluminum pop can thin sidewalls.

Basically, there is absolutely no comparison to a BMW. After one drive in the Camry, you realize why others keep banging on about steering feedback. And you realize that the BMW has it good. You realize that the BMW is agile and nimble and not simply designed to "feel" agile and nimble. You realize the BMW may have a harsher ride but one that makes you feel planted to the road. You realize that the BMW isn't simply a car...but something more than that. A driving machine.

The Camry is a great car. But you can't help think it was made with a budget for people on a budget. And rightfully so, given that it costs nearly half the price of a E90. But the Camry is a soul-less car. Simply engineered to transport people from point A to point B. The BMW in comparison feels like a purpose built machine used to freshly squeeze sheer driving pleasure from asphalt.

The best way to appreciate a car is to drive a worse one. And for me, I now truly appreciate my BMW after driving the Camry for a week.

Let me tell you...we have it good my fellow E9x owners.

Except now...I'm afraid to test drive a true sports car like a Porsche, lest I have the same ephinany going back to my BMW as I did with the Camry.

[BMW F22]

not bad, not bad at all.

I do have to agree that the camry is a boat compared to the E90. Then again the Camry IS a big car. If you drive a Corolla you would think that it's pretty nimble. As for the build-quality, of course it's not gonna be as solid as a BMW since a typical Camry costs about half that of an E90.

[voltron1011]

Nice review....

[SpecC]

Originally Posted by BMWE90

not bad, not bad at all.

I do have to agree that the camry is a boat compared to the E90. Then again the Camry IS a big car. If you drive a Corolla you would think that it's pretty nimble. As for the build-quality, of course it's not gonna be as solid as a BMW since a typical Camry costs about half that of an E90.

I have driven the new Camry before as well and it IS a boat compared to the E90. It is so huge! but the power isn't bad at all though

[RokX]

When my E90 was in the shop, they gave me a Dodge Magnum SXT. Talk about a boat............

[DFW_M]

had the same rental, but with only 3k miles.
The feeling was like sitting in a buick.
Although, if I were doing the sales job (a lot of driving) it would be on my list...