Marking its ninth generation for the 2025 model year, the Toyota Camry has continued a task that has helped keep the sedan segment alive and thriving after such a vehicle has fundamentally been a benchmark that others aspired to be. For 2025, the Toyota Camry gets a redesign but doesn’t take away the methodical approach of giving the masses a respected midsize mainstream sedan, even when the new Camry is now a hybrid for all trim levels (LE, SE, XLE, XSE).
With Toyota leading the way for hybrid vehicles, it made sense to make the new Camry a hybrid utilizing learned tech over the decades but departing from the disdain of convoluting poor vehicle acceleration and muddling performance with the Camry formula. Instead, Toyota took a wise approach to give the Camry some oomph even with an efficient hybrid powertrain that utilizes a 4-cylinder engine coupled with the latest hybrid tech, somewhat similar to what Toyota has given its redesigned Prius – no longer a meddling slow vehicle that sips fuel – it too has some get-up-and-go.
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The new Toyota Camry gets one powertrain across the board: a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine coupled with an electric motor that also acts as the starter and generator for feeding power back to the smallish hybrid battery pack. Power is sent out through a continuously variable transmission (CVT) in a front-wheel-drive setup, but there is an all-wheel-drive option available on all trims as equipped in my Camry XSE test vehicle that utilizes an additional electric motor out back to power the rear wheels instead of having a physical connection to the engine like the front wheels. In such a setup, there’s a bit of extra power totaling 232 horsepower over the standard 225 system horsepower in a front-wheel-drive configured 2025 Camry.
What you’re probably wondering and most concerned about, and for good reason, is the new Camry’s ability to get things moving. I’m happy to report that the Camry XSE, with its all-wheel-drive setup, does exceptionally well out on the road in the real world, hitting 60 mph in 6.9 seconds. With the hybrid setup, the Camry XSE AWD does well in giving you a good initial jolt of power thanks to the instant torque of the electric motors. The system is virtually seamless, without any noticeable hiccups in power delivery when transitioning from the electric motor to firing up the gas engine. Moreover, regen braking is smooth in its transitions to the use of friction brakes. In all, the new Camry does most things better than the new Honda Accord Hybrid, which includes accelerating a bit quicker, and in the Camry XSE AWD trim, there seems to be a better driving dynamic that’s more balanced than the Honda Accord Hybrid giving you a better ride quality even though the Camry XSE has a supposed sport-tuned suspension setup.
To bring things home in a big way over competitors, the new Camry is quite the efficient vehicle, among the most efficient you can find in such a form that you can match its EPA estimates of 44 mpg city and 43 mpg highway in the real world for the new Camry XSE AWD. However, every other Camry trim in the base front-wheel-drive setup gets even better MPG, as much as 53 mpg city and 50 mpg highway in the base LE trim, and 48 mpg city and 47 mpg highway in other trim levels in the standard front-wheel-drive setup.
One thing I did notice is the Camry’s ability to adapt to your driving style, especially out on the highway when the vehicle seems to settle into a more efficient driving character long after setting off on a drive. Fundamentally, you may return MPG figures well short of the EPA estimates when first driving the Camry, but you eventually find that it seems to make adjustments with the CVT, lowering the RPM and eventually returning higher figures. However, the Camry, just like many other hybrids, allows you to make small changes in your driving to return remarkable fuel economy numbers, often ones that surpass the EPA estimates – with the help of the clever power meter that’s been a part of Toyota hybrids since their conception to know when you reach the threshold of having the engine kick in to provide additional power. I dare say that Toyota is the king of hybrids and continues to nearly perfect such technology – and the new Camry is proof of such a concept.
In all, the new Camry, even with its new styling that remains mostly contemporary, gets a little spicier for the hybrid realm, which I am all for as I still somewhat miss the silkily smooth V6 powertrain availability. However, I think Toyota made a good choice at the right time for the new Camry exclusively being a hybrid – it just works as advertised and with Toyota’s long lineage with such technology, there’s no doubt that the new Camry will be just as reliable as it has always been.
Aside from the remarkable advancements in Toyota’s hybrid technology, there’s a lot to appreciate in a rather straightforward approach to the interior of the new Camry. I’ve always called Toyota a methodical giant and they didn’t disappoint in following that path with the newly redesigned Camry when it comes to the interior.
The seating areas are as expected, but with a clever use of the available space and a decent amount of seat adjustability to accommodate most body sizes. The back seats appear to be slightly reworked for better spacing. One downfall that bothered me was the hard center armrest, which seemed to need a lot more padding, causing some uncomfortable moments on longer drives.
There’s a new level of the interior being premium, but nothing at the level of something like a Lexus ES. Basically, there’s never any confusion about the class of vehicle that you’re in with the new Camry, which can also be a good thing as there’s a simplistic approach to the design and feel of the cabin. There are just enough soft-touch areas to feel premium coupled with the user-friendly 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen that’s found in other new Toyota and Lexus vehicles featuring wireless (or USB-connected) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. There’s a set of physical buttons and toggles for the dual-zone automatic climate controls just below the touchscreen, making it easy to quickly access them without much guessing, as you may in other vehicles that use the touchscreen for such controls.
While you have the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, which is somewhat confusing for its screen setup functions, the Camry XSE can be equipped with a color head-up display, as found in my test vehicle, as part of an extensive optional Premium Package. The Premium Package bundles up several desirable features, such as a panoramic view monitor (backup camera) that gives you a virtual view of what’s under the vehicle, a JBL premium audio system with 9-speakers, ventilated front seats added to the heating function, panoramic glass tilt/slide moonroof, digital key capability, and a traffic jam assist system allowing you to take your hands off of the wheel at speeds up to 25 mph.
The Toyota Camry now bundles up more standard active safety features as part of the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 suit, such as blind spot monitoring, lane departure alert with steering assist, lane tracing assist, pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, road sign assist, full-speed dynamic radar cruise control, and automatic high beams.
Being that the new Camry is now all hybrid, pricing naturally increased slightly for the base Camry now starting at $28,400. Though, pricing doesn’t get outrageous as my loaded-up Camry XSE AWD test vehicle with its attractive Reservoir Blue paint and optional 19-inch dark grey metallic wheels comes to an as-tested price of $43,194, which includes a $1,095 delivery, processing and handling fee.
