2012 Toyota Camry

I've met plenty of Toyota Camry owners. To date, zero have raved about their car, yet the Camry's sensible qualities attract shoppers in droves. Even in its final year, the outgoing Camry outsold all its competitors — and beat all but one of them in Cars.com's family sedan Shootout last year. Redesigned for 2012, the Camry and its winning formula continue.

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While the 2012 Toyota Camry lacks the instant appeal of some competitors, a number of important, incremental improvements make it a worthy contender for any family-car shopper.

The five-seat sedan comes in L, LE, XLE and sport-tuned SE trims. A four-cylinder engine is standard, with a V-6 optional on the SE and XLE. The new Camry won't go on sale until October, but I drove most variants at a media preview.

That Thing's New?

Toyota describes the Camry as all-new — seventh generation, redesigned from top to bottom — but the styling suggests a milder update. The car's length, width and wheelbase remain the same. The headlights look more reshaped than reimagined. The boomerang taillights add something fresh, but the side profile smacks of the old Camry.

The Camry SE has sporty body treatments and 17- or 18-inch alloy wheels, versus 16-inch steel wheels on the base model. Better integrated than the outgoing Camry SE — whose slapped-on extensions had all the makings of a discount nose job — it's the clearest redesign of the bunch, if you can abide its face. I see the late-2000s Acura TL, some Mazda6 and a lot of woodchuck.

Revamped Interior

The overhauled cabin feels richer, if less consistent, than before. Dressed with stitched faux leather and a chrome-flanked, raised center panel, the dash has lots of upscale eye candy. The quality goes beyond sight alone — the climate controls feel weightier and the gearshift crisper moving from Park to Drive.

I prefer the last Camry's cushy seats to the new version's, which are a touch firmer. Still, the driver's seat has good adjustment range, and the center console doesn't encroach on hip or knee room. Though the backseat is not as cavernous as a Volkswagen Passat's or Honda Accord's, it fits adults fine, with good headroom and a hump-free floor. The Camry XLE loses its reclining backseat, but all trims gain a 60/40-split folding backseat. The previous generation's SE and XLE backseats didn't fold.

A few areas get the short shrift: cheap rear door panels, a ratty headliner, no more one-touch power windows all around. On the whole, though, cabin quality feels competitive, if short of the Kia Optima and Passat. And the Camry's practicality — vast storage cubbies, visibility unfettered by a descending roofline or thick window pillars — should draw buyers.

Trunk volume measures 15.4 cubic feet, up from last year's 15.0 cubic feet (14.5 in some trims) and beating the Accord. If trunk space is high on your list, check out the Hyundai Sonata and Ford Fusion. Both cars top 16 cubic feet.

The Gripe is Grip

The prior generation Camry was quick: capable with the 178-horsepower four-cylinder, muscular with the 268-hp V-6. That carries over for 2012, along with a 2 mpg improvement for each version in combined city/highway mileage, according to EPA estimates. At 28 mpg with the four-cylinder and 25 mpg with the six, the Camry leads all competitors but the Sonata. Credit Toyota for slimming most versions down more than 100 pounds, tweaking the drivetrain, adding fuel-saving electric power steering and outfitting the Camry with lower-rolling-resistance tires.