Sensible, Practical... Boring

Since I bought my WRX, I haven't test drove any cars lately, and haven't been able to do any more test drive reviews on this site. However, I just spent ten days in NY with a rental car, so I figured I could review that. The car was a 2007 Toyata Camry.
Here's a picture:

Aside from being ugly, this car was also slow and boring to drive. To be fair, this was the 4-cylinder model with an automatic transmission. There is an available V6 that apparently puts out 260hp and has received pretty good reviews. I'm also use to driving smaller, sportier cars, so a big comfortable sedan is not something I'm gonna like.

Since its not fair to compare it to sporty cars, I'll take this opportunity to complain about a couple of general things they are doing in new cars today. First is the steering. This car had an adaptive steering ratio so that the wheel is easy to turn even at low speeds. The problem is that it removes the feedback you would get a from normal, fixed-ratio steering. Without feedback, driving is more like playing a video game. A video game with crappy play control.

The other ridiculous new feature is today's automatic transmission shifters. Instead of simply pressing a button and pulling the lever in a straight line to D or R, they now have no button and some crazy shift pattern you have to navigate. I was forced to look down each time I wanted to put it in drive or reverse. What a pain.

This car is good at its primary goal which is comfort and convenience. But the fun to drive factor was zero.