Since time immemorial the Toyota Camry has been the consummate family sedan. Nothing outrageous, just a well-built, smartly designed, inoffensive four-door saloon that millions of North Americans elected to take home. Over the years, blessed few cars - Honda's Accord and the original ford taurus - have proven more popular with the commuting masses.

That said, it was with not a modicum of disbelief but actual shock that I read on Car & Driver's Quickest Cars of 2007: $20,000 to $25,000 List that the Toyota Camry V-6 ranked second place behind Subaru's ballsy WRX.

Now, I've driven a WRX. It goes like stink and then some. It's like Subaru strapped a thin, tin chariot to a hyperactive rocket propulsion system and said "here ya go" to anyone on a budget that possessed a need to punish the egos of 40-something Boxster drivers who paid twice as much for their slower rides.

And then I've also driven the Camry. This was an '05, four banger model mind you, but it left an impression. Or rather a lack of one. Despite it competency, the model was rather colorless, odorless, and ultimately tasteless. There was little sensation that any of the controls were connected to any functional part of the vehicle. The throttle, for instance, gave all the ready accelerative response of jabbing a sleeping mule.

But C&D's numbers on the '07 V-6 model give us a completely new viewpoint. 0-60 mph in 5.8 seconds and on to the quarter mile in 14.7 seconds @ 99 mph.

This is the family sedan - on speed.