Are they really? I've always thought they were a small car because they run a 4cyl model as well as the larger 6cyl. DH's is certainly cheap to run like a small car - helluva lot cheaper than the commodore we used to have.
I agree. I had a 96 Camry, 4cyl, ran like a dream, no issues at all. Very fuel efficient but gutsy. Massive boot space (we got three full golf bags in there with room , couldn't get them in dad's commodore). It's a bigger sized car physically but I reckon it's comparable to the running of a small car. It didn't cost me any more to fill it compared to the Hyundai Excel I had prior to that (bought that brand new, got rid of it at 75000kms and 4 years old - weak, couldn't go uphill with the aircon on!). It also looks like the second hand market is pretty safe because they don't tend to get trashed - elderly or families tend to buy them and not use them to hoon around in. The only reason we sold the Camry was because we knew we wanted to start a family and we often travel with our dogs - we didn't want kids and dogs in the backseat together so we got a wagon.