OVERSTEER COMPARISON: Three Camrys. Sort of.

OVERSTEER COMPARISON: Toyota Aurion Sportivo SX6 vs Toyota Camry Hybrid i-Tech vs Toyota Camry Atara SX

So you have a lazy 50-odd grand lying around and want to drop it on a top-of-the-line Toyota sedan? Well then you have a choice – namely two Camrys and a Camry-based, V6-engined alternative. We look at the options and, to save you reading all the way to the end, choose the one with the biggest engine.

Sitting at the top of their respective branches to the Camry-based family tree, the Aurion Sportivo, Camry Atara SX and Camry Hybrid i-Tech sit within a $5,000 range of each other in price and galaxies apart in terms of philosophies.

The $51,790 Sportivo is the performance king of the Aurion line up. Well… kind of. After all, it does share the same 200kW/336Nm 3.5-litre V6 and six-speed automatic transmission with the rest of the Aurion line up, but the addition of a sports suspension set up and a more aggressive body kit marks it out as different on the road and in the corporate car park respectively.

Ditto for the $51,490 Camry Atara SX – a more aggressive body kit and firmer sports suspension are its main differences from the lesser Camrys, while also sharing the same 2.5-litre inline four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission. Except in this case, the Atara SX’s twin exhaust outlets free up fractionally more power over the standard Camry, with 135kW and 235Nm compared to 133kW and 231Nm. So not a lot then…

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is the pricier $56,890 Camry Hybrid i-Tech, which looks very similar to the standard Camry (with mainly only badging, wheel design and a different grille to differentiate it), but under the bonnet it is considerably different to its siblings. With an Atkinson Cycle version of the 2.5-litre engine hooked up to a hybrid electric drivetrain and a CVT transmission the Hybrid produces 105kW/270Nm.

Looks-wise, the Camry Atara SX has this one sewn up. Aggressive and far more interesting than the standard Camry – and therefore the Hybrid i-Tech – it also trumps the Aurion by virtue of the fact that the Aurion looks, well, a bit silly really.

With its ridiculous out-of-place gaping intakes and simply silly big wing, the Aurion looks like something a particularly tasteless Japanese tuning house got its hands on before it was released. Which is a shame, because the base Aurion is a handsome, if slightly bland car, it is almost like they have gone too far in the opposite direction with the Sportivo in a desperate attempt to make it interesting.

While the Hybrid is the most delicate and subtle car of the three, it looks a bit too “base model” compared to the aggressive Atara SX, but then, it does have the car park “I care for the environment” badge-cred of the blue hybrid logos attached to its flanks.

Inside, however, the Hybrid i-Tech has it all over the other two. The brushed aluminum (-esque) dash trim highlights and overall feeling of higher quality raise the Hybrid’s interior over the other two, while the array of space-age readouts on the dash display add a sense of drama and eco-friendliness.

Other than this, all three are broadly similar inside, with the two Camrys sharing the same dash, while all three share the same stereo and steering wheel, but the Atara SX differentiates itself with some truly horrifically-coloured leather. This alone is enough to make it lose this one…

On the road all three feel similarly Camry-esque, yet distinctly different from each other.

The Aurion is a brute powerhouse, with angry acceleration and more delicate handling than expected, while the Atara SX is simply too firm for its own good. Both are decidedly firm, especially around town where the Atara is particularly unpleasant and jiggly.

Out on the open road, the Aurion settles down nicely, while the Atara SX never does, becoming annoyingly unsettled over typical New Zealand roads. It’s almost like the sports suspension was developed for the Aurion Sportivo with its heavier V6 up front and was simply ported directly over to the Camry Atara, where it doesn’t work quite so well.

The Camry Hybrid i-Tech is a pleasant surprise on the road, with the best ride of the three and surprisingly decent handling. While it tends towards understeer far sooner than the other two, it’s superior round-town ride makes it a far proposition easier to live with.

In terms of performance the Aurion clearly has it all over the other two, as you would expect. Its 3.5-litre V6 is verging on being ridiculously powerful for a front-wheel drive car (and in the wet, easily crosses that line into being a torque-steering, wheel-spinning handful…) and propels the Sportivo along at a remarkable rate.

When it comes right down to it, all three offer the same practicality, space and comfort, it all just comes down to whether you value performance over economy. The Hybrid easily beats the other two in terms of economy, while the Aurion destroys the others in terms of performance.

While this may seem to leave the Atara SX sitting nicely somewhere in the middle, its harsh ride ruins its chances of coming out on top here. That leaves the powerful and nimble (not in the wet) Aurion Sportivo and the frugal, high-tech Camry Hybrid iTech.

The Aurion is a wheel-spinning handfull in the wet, but the fact that the Hybrid costs $5,000 more hurts it more and would buy a lot of fuel for the Aurion owner to enjoy. Unless you really want to make a statement about caring for the planet, the Aurion Sportivo is simply the best way to spend your money at the top of the Camry family tree.