The 2025 Camry is a Better Driving, Hybrid-Only Hit | First Drive (POV)

Did I think I was ever going to laugh driving a Camry? Not out of enjoyment, that's for sure. Hey crew, I've got the key to that 2025 Toyota Camry XSE. We are going to take it for a drive, but first let's check out looks on the inside and outside. This is the all-new 9th generation Camry, and it's adopting some of the styling traits we've seen on the new Prius, like this hammerhead design to the LED headlights and DRLs, and that runs across the face. Then underneath, there's a gradient to the grille, so it starts off as solid on the outside, and then it's functional ventilation towards the middle. And speaking of functional vents, these side vents are fully pass-through, and that's on the XSE. At the side, we find on the XSE a set of 19-inch two-tone wheels wrapped in Bridgestone all-season tires, two 35-section fronts, and rear. There also is, on the XSE, this side skirt down low for some ground effects. This one's rocking a two-tone paint job of heavy metal and then gloss black. And here at the back, we've got a combo of LED taillights and incandescent turn signals. Popping open the trunk with the release here just underneath the lip, we find 15.1 cubic feet of space, and if you need more room, you can pull on these two tabs to fold those seats down. On the trunk is a gloss black lip spoiler. There's more gloss black badging for Camry spelled out there. There is a diffuser and two exposed exhaust outlets. This latest generation Camry has got to be among the best looking, but my question for you is, which is the best looking generation of Camry? Let me know in the comments, and let's check out the interior. Opening up and looking inside at this cockpit red interior with seat perforations. These are leather seats on the doors. We've got some injection molding and then harder plastics here. Leatherette padding there. More hard plastics down low and some red contrasting leatherette. One touch up down windows on the XFC. Stepping inside. Hey, cabin crew. Behind my own seat at six feet tall, I've got a decent bit of knee room here. The foot pockets are nice and large. Thigh support could be better. Headroom. Well, I mean, I am wearing a hat here, but without it, my head wouldn't be touching the roof, and I can make it back to that headrest. That's the thumbs up for me. In the middle, we've got air vents and two USB ports, one A and one C. If I want to make it into the middle seats, that raises me up a little too much, so my head is now pressed against the roof uncomfortably, but the drop shaft hump isn't too large. I think you could fit a smaller adult in the middle or just kids. Armrest comes down with two cup holders as well, but that's not held up, so arm's kind of at a downward angle there. Let's check out the front door close noise. A little bit of a rattle to it. Not bad, though. Smart keyless entry is for the front two doors. And looking at the front seats now, which are multi-way power adjusting, and they've got heating and ventilation. There's also, I didn't mention, a panoramic sunroof on the XSE. Looks really cool. I like the perforations on the leather trim here in red, and then we've got injection molding, leatherette padding, and harder plastics down low. You get power adjusting and power folding door mirrors, and a 10-speaker JBL sound system. In front of the driver, I've got a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster that is reconfigurable. There's also a head-up display on the XSE, and then here is a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, which is very easy to navigate, and it's got wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and importantly, a physical volume knob. They don't require you to hunt around in there or just using the steering wheel controls to operate volume. We've got a dual-zone auto climate as standard, then there are three more USB ports down there, one A and two Cs. There's a wireless charging pad as well. The gloss black trim, never a fan of that stuff, but it's here again, and it's already collecting a ton of dust. There's some nice storage here, two cup holders, and then your drive modes here, mechanical gear selector, leatherette top in the console, and inside is a ton of storage, like, really impressive for a midsize mainstream sedan. We've got a DC outlet there. The steering wheel is nicely small-diametered and feels great in the hands. Got paddles in the back, and it is a manual adjustment for the tilt and telescope. Headroom feels pretty solid for me. Visibility-wise, I can see out of the cabin very well. A little bit of a high cowl back there, and the C-pillar is a small blind spot, but there's standard blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic. Overall, this cabin has a really nice feel to it. The leather seats, the heating and ventilation up front, the flow. Don't agree with all the material choices, like the gloss black that I mentioned, but this is definitely a move upscale for the Camry. Now let's take the Camry XSE for a drive. All right, let's fire it up. It's a silent startup, apart from those chimes and the AC coming on, thanks to that hybrid powertrain. Hey, cabin crew. Again, here, I'm going to hit the normal drive mode and make sure we're locked in there. Pull back on the gear selector, and we've got a surround view camera system here off to the left, and then a wide-angle front view off to the right. If I go into reverse, that's going to bring up that backup view with trajectory lines. Nice high-res camera. And let's head on out. So this is the fifth generation of the hybrid powertrain from Toyota, and it's only, or it's the only powertrain, rather, in this new ninth generation Camry. What is the initial feel of the suspension over this pocketed road is really solid. Sound of that turn signal, gentle, unobtrusive. And what about the world-famous horn test we got for me, Camry? Sharp. And this eCBT transmission is sending that 225 horsepower from this 2.4 liter engine to just the front tires in this front-wheel drive model. There's also an all-wheel drive version that I will drive tomorrow that has a electric motor powering the rear wheels. Brings the power output up to 232 horses. Getting some whining from that CVT on this uphill, but pulling back from the throttle a little bit cuts down on those complaints. Now one thing with this new Camry they attempted to address was to have a more linear throttle, and so far I feel that. The resistance against my foot is appropriate for the power I'm getting from the car. I love the small diameter of the steering wheel as well. Makes it feel more maneuverable. They also tweaked the suspension system, and on the XSC it's got a specific sport-tuned suspension. Foot to the floor, plenty of poke. They adjusted the braking system as well for a more natural feel, and I'm getting that. Great sensitivity from the pedal. I'm going to try the sport drive mode now. See how that perks up the throttle response. Adds a little resistance to the steering. Well, hey, this is not half bad. Sprightly. There isn't heaps of feedback through the steering, but it's appreciable. It's a little heavily boosted in some places. Not the most natural buildup of resistance, but on the edges I do have a sense of what the tires are doing, of how much input is needed to direct the car. And I'll praise that braking once again. Not only in the slowing power, but also just, again, in the feel of that pedal. And that's so important because hybrids for years have struggled with pedal sensitivity. You not knowing how much you should be pushing your foot into the brake pedal versus how much the car is actually going to slow, and in some cases feeling like it's not going to slow at all. That's not the case here. Very compliant ride as well. Only in the beginning do we have really rough roads to go over, but that felt excellent and it feels nice as it navigates the undulations of this road. And definitely more entertaining to drive than the last generation. As I plop it now into the eco drive mode, and back off a little bit here, the throttle response dulls considerably. CVT still complaining. Wind noise isn't all that much. As the speeds have picked up here, I was listening in for that. I'm getting road noise of cars passing by. Tire noise is muted and that's impressive given the 19-inch wheels, as is the ride compliance. 19-inch wheels, lower profile tires, typically you're going to get a lot of punishment in through the road without that tire sidewall to cushion you. I don't get that here. So it seems only that the CVT is disrupting the quiet of the cabin because otherwise it's a very serene driving experience and the seats are very comfortable. I do want to see how quick it gets to 60, though. All right, I'm looking at a straight piece of road. I've got my race box set up here to record. I'm in the sport drive mode and with the coast now clear, pinning my foot to the floor. Close there. There's 60 in 7.24 seconds. Not bad for a front drive hybrid. With that test now complete, let's hop into the all-wheel drive version and see how it compares. All right, crew, I'm back in the camera in the exact same color profile as yesterday of heavy metal on the exterior and cockpit red interior with the premium package. The only difference this time is that we've got the all-wheel drive system to compare. So I'm going to go into drive, staying in the normal drive mode below 25 miles per hour. It's still going to put me in the EV mode. I don't even need to hit that EV mode button to do that. So we will creep our way out of here silently. Once again, I'm just going to target the potholes because I know how good this ride quality is. Just soaking things up. Okay, it's time to move out of EV and onto the power. And that transition is only really heard. You don't feel the gas engine check in. And that just goes to show that this fifth gen of the hybrid system is so much more sophisticated now. And the Camry will go out of EV mode by default if you put in too much throttle or if you're above, I think it's 30 miles per hour, or if it's just drain the battery and it needs the gas engine. Really impressed with that transition. Now in this all-wheel drive version, I have that electric motor powering the rear tires, but it's really in standby mode most of the time. It only checks in in a low traction situation or if you're just accelerating out of the hole or, and this is not something you'd commonly say about a Camry, you want to have some fun behind the wheel. So I'm going into sport drive mode and I'm going to peruse these curves with pace. I mean, it's not a huge power delta between the 232 horsepower in the all-wheel drive versus the 225 in the front drive. So in a straight line, don't really notice extra uphill speed here. But let's see about coming out of curves. Okay. I feel a little difference in the distribution of the power. Bit of shove from the back end. A little more confidence while pushing it. That long sweeper is actually telling me a lot here. It's not a dramatic difference, but it is enough that I can feel where I can not just play with throttle liftoff, but where I can apply the throttle mid-corner to help the car work through a curve. Along a different trajectory than I would the front drive version. And combined with steering feel that's quite a bit better than the last gen Camry. This is certainly the most athletic version of the non-TRD Camry I've ever driven. The most enjoyable. I am so happy with the differences to the braking feel as well. So much more assured as I go to the pedal to slow the car down that it's actually going to happen. Heck, even the chassis composure through these corners with the adjustments they've made to the suspension system are appreciable. Did I think I was ever going to laugh driving a Camry? Not out of enjoyment, that's for sure. But the question remains, is the all-wheel drive Camry quicker to 60 than front drive? We're about to find out in sport drive mode and sport transmission setting. And putting my foot down. And there's 60 in 7.08 seconds. So seven extra horsepower and all-wheel drive traction off the line bought us less than two-tenths of a second. Not a big difference but if you're lining up at a stoplight against a Honda Accord maybe those two-tenths are all you need. Thought just occurred to me. I've yet to show the turning circle for this new Camry so let's see if we can do that right here. Move myself a little bit of margin off to the side. Hit the camera button. Look at the front-facing view. Make sure we're clear. Can I get it in one go? Yeah, that's decent, right? It's a front-drive based vehicle so front tires having to turn it and get power to it kind of pushes them out to the edges so the turning circle isn't amazing but it's just fine in this new Camry. And now to talk about the fuel economy. So that's a big deal. This being a hybrid-only vehicle going forward fuel economy is clearly one of the concerns the Toyota had when introducing this ninth-gen Camry. So the most fuel-efficient version of this vehicle the LE front drive is going to be rated at 53 mpg in the city 50 on the highway and 51 combined whereas the least fuel-efficient version which is probably this one right here all-wheel drive loaded with luxury XSE, XLE probably is rated at 44 combined. So that's a bit of a delta 44 to 51 but still when you're working in the mid to high 40s to low 50s for fuel economy of a mainstream sedan with a starting figure that's $400 less than the last-gen Camry that's wild. And I think Toyota is going to have no trouble selling a ton of these as they always have before but for even more reason now with this new-gen Camry and all the extra standard features the extra ride requirements the handling the power it's all looking pretty rosy here. And I mentioned the price is a little less than the last generation but what is the starting figure for the LE front drive it's going to be at $29,500 with destination for the XSE all-wheel drive which is the most expensive version we're looking at $37,220 and this one as tested with the $4,000 premium package is around $41,000. So to kind of summarize here we're looking at better design better comforts better ride refinement better dynamics better fuel economy for less money. Toyota's got a hit here and I hope you guys have enjoyed this POV first drive I will see you again next time.