The Toyota Camry is reborn with adaptive cruise control and road sign assist

TIGER WOODS, Spice Girls, Lion King, Tie-dye – 2019 is the year of the comeback.

In the car world, the same can be said for Toyota.

We have already seen the Corolla name revived, the Supra is coming back after twenty three long years and today we review the first Camry heading to these shores since 2005.

My sources tell me there is an MR2 in the pipeline too, the dinky two-seater reinvented as an all-electric sports car.

When Toyota boss Akio Toyoda promised “no more boring cars”, he meant it. The Toys are back in town.

“I’ll be your Uber Executive driver this evening Sir, please step right in and get comfortable.”

Chances are the only time you’ll get up close to the new Toyota Camry will be after hearing these words.

Toyota itself predicts just 500 sales of the big saloon this year — and four in five of those will come from the fleet car market.

So unless you’re a company car man, or an Uber driver looking to raise your game from a Prius, the Camry is going to be a rare sight.

Which is a shame because it’s got a lot going for it.

Powered by a self-charging 2.5-litre petrol hybrid, it’s cheap as chips to run, returning more than 50mpg — and with CO2 emissions of just 98g/km it’ll only cost £130 to tax in its first year.

It’s basically the same car as a Lexus ES — but for six grand less. The styling isn’t quite as sleek, and it doesn’t have the status of the Lexus badge.

But in terms of quality and comfort it’s well and truly on a par. While 2.5 litres and 215hp sounds like a lot, don’t expect fiery performance.

The engine screams like a banshee when you get your clog down — yes, it’s got a hateful CVT gearbox — but the roar isn’t matched by pace.

The 0-62mph time of 8.3 seconds isn’t going to trouble anyone in anything German.

But drive it sensibly and it is quiet and smooth, especially around town thanks to Toyota’s hybrid excellence.

It really is a serene place when driving modestly, with a sumptuous interior which would keep even the fussiest of fare happy in the back.

Tech is abundant — even the cheapest Design trim has adaptive cruise control, road sign assist, reversing camera and heated electric seats.

Although some might be unhappy about the fact it doesn’t have Apple CarPlay as an option. Yet. The boot is 527 litres which is on a par with a BMW 5 Series.

For clarity, I should spell out that the Camry replaces the Avensis in the Toyota brochure. It is a tidy car which deserves to find more success than Toyota expects of it.

As we slowly move towards the day when we’ll all have to drive hybrids, there’s no harm in becoming an early adopter.

And you can always moonlight as an Uber driver at night.

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