Ol’ Reliable Toyota Camry is All Good and All-Hybrid

SAN DIEGO – The Toyota Camry one day might go into some Hall of Fame for consistency of purpose over decades. While Ford, General Motors and Chrysler/Dodge have miraculously botched, blown and bungled the 4-door family sedan for decades – including the marketing by frequently changing model names – Toyota (and, to be fair, Honda) have nailed it product cycle after product cycle.

The ’25 redesign, the ninth-generation Camry, nails it again and once again leads all challengers by assuming leadership and producing each one as a hybrid getting great fuel economy. Yes, Toyota has taken away consumer choice on powertrain, leading buyers by the hand into electrified propulsion. But we predict none of Camry’s buyers will even notice the change except for fewer trips to the gas station.

Driving around Southern California’s rolling hills and mountain roads confirms suspicions that there is nothing especially exciting about the Camry. The experience is like eating a loaf of good bread or a tasty hamburger that is exactly what you want when hungry. In all three cases –  the Camry, bread and burger – they do the job in a quality way.

That’s not to say the drive has not improved over the previous generation. This new Camry comes standard with the fifth-generation Toyota Hybrid System which uses lighter and more compact electric motors to produce more power and enhanced performance. The system is the same as that which debuted in the current Prius.

Combining the 2.5L 4-cyl.’s power with two electric motors, the Camry has a standard 225 hp combined on front-wheel-drive models and 232 hp on models with Electronic On-Demand all-wheel drive. Torque figures are not available from Toyota. But fuel economy is up to 51 mpg combined.

The hybrid system is tuned to reduce RPM and increase power from the traction battery at lower speeds to provide improved acceleration and torque. We feel this especially when pulling out onto a busy road, from a standing stop at a stoplight and accelerating through an on-ramp. The improvements are incremental compared with the previous Camry, not revolutionary, and that’s what we’d expect.

Toyota’s Electronic On-Demand AWD is available for all grades. Though we only drove in stereotypical SoCal sunshine and thus did not get a chance to properly shake down the system, we are assured it provides adequate additional traction when needed, such as during inclement weather or while cornering. A dedicated electric motor-generator automatically supplies power to the rear axle when needed. It was tough to judge on cornering, though, in bone-dry conditions.

The ’25 Camry rides on the company’s TNGA-K platform, which also underpins the Crown sedan and Crown Signia, RAV4 CUVs and the Sienna minivan, as well as some Lexus models.

Good Curb Looks

There is some pizzazz in the new Camry’s outer shell. The SE and XSE grades have sporty exterior styling with a sleeker roofline and a more chiseled body than the previous model. The sport grades feature racing-inspired aerodynamic air ducts and a rear diffuser. The rear also has an exposed dual-tip exhaust as well as a rear lip spoiler. The XSE trim has a unique color-matched front grille. With standard 18-in. multi-spoke black-finished alloy wheels on SE grades and standard 19-in. multi-spoke black and smoke gray-finished alloy wheels on the XSE, it is overall a better suit of clothes than we have seen before on the top-selling passenger car.

The LE ($28,400) and XLE ($33,400) trims, pitched as “comfort grades,” will be the two value-priced trims, each having a more conservative presentation, minus the sporty bits in the SE ($30,700) and XSE ($34,600).

The XSE interior is available in two colors: Black with blue lined perforations or the somewhat garish Cockpit Red. Both the SE and XSE grades come equipped with standard aluminum sport pedals and a leather-wrapped steering wheel with paddle shifters. Given the fact that the Camry is also the No.1 model among Generation Z owners (perhaps helped by hand-me-down ownership from their parents and grandparents), the sportier touches are especially welcome and intelligent.

The upper XLE trim features leather and cloth-trimmed seats offered in Light Gray or Black. A quilted pattern in this material can also be found on the front door panels and dashboard, and it is nifty looking, though one wonders if it will hold up as stylish years hence.

Infotainment Upgrades

The infotainment and dashboard instruments in all four trims center around the standard 8-in. (20-cm) and optional 12.3-in. (31-cm) center screen, and 7-in. (18-cm) gauge cluster in the LE and SE trims or the 12.3-in. gauge cluster in the XLE and XSE trims. There is also a 10-in. (25-cm) head-up display on the XLE and XSE.

All trims come standard with USB-A and USB-C ports in the front and rear. Toyota engineers say there was much debate about whether to drop USB-A ports, but in the end decided to honor the fact that not everyone has moved to USB-C connectors with smartphones.

The Toyota Audio Multimedia system offers 4G connectivity for up to five devices as well as Intelligent Assistant, which allows for voice commands to control navigation, HVAC, streaming services and more. We tested the functionality and found no hiccups.

All Camrys come standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0: pre-collision avoidance with pedestrian detection; adaptive cruise control; lane-departure warnings and steering assist; road-sign assist, which displays sign indications on the HUD; automatic high beams; Proactive Driving Assist, which uses the vehicle’s camera and radar to provide braking and/or steering to augment tasks such as maintaining safe distance between vehicles or avoiding cyclists and pedestrians. The XLE and XSE offer additional optional safety features.

Camry was the No.1 passenger car in America for the 22^nd consecutive year in 2023 with 291,000 sales, per Wards Intelligence, with about 15% of those sales to fleets. That’s an incredibly healthy retail-to-fleet ratio. There is no reason to believe Camry won’t chalk up a 23rd year as the best-selling car.