The 2025 Camry comes with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine with 225 horsepower (FWD) and 232 horsepower (AWD).Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Most Canadians these days, about 80 per cent, buy SUVs or pickup trucks, but Toyota still sees a future for its popular Camry. The Japanese carmaker has overhauled its mid-size sedan with a sleeker look and more safety technology for 2025 and for the first time it’s only being offered as a hybrid.
“Despite a shrinking market for sedans, the Camry is still a volume product for us,” said Scott MacKenzie, director of corporate and external affairs at Toyota Canada Inc. “We sold a significant number of models – about 8,500 last year.”
That number makes Camry the current best-selling mid-size sedan in Canada. The first generation came out in 1983 and quickly gained a reputation as a reliable and dependable vehicle.
For the first time, the Camry will only be offered as a hybrid.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
The 2025 Camry, which starts at less than $35,000 for front-wheel drive, pairs the fifth-generation Toyota Hybrid System with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine. Available in front- or all-wheel-drive configurations, the front-wheel drive has a combined horsepower of 225 (17 more than the last model); while the all-wheel drive adds a few more ponies, 232, to be exact. That’s 30 more than the outgoing AWD gas model. And it’s also more fuel efficient, owing to the hybrid’s lighter and more compact electric motor generators, which weigh 17 pounds less than the last version, but produce more power and electric torque. The FWD averages a meagre 4.6 litres per 100 kilometres combined city and highway driving, while the AWD rates at 5.1. The AWD system uses a separate 30-kilowatt rear-mounted electric motor to send power to the rear wheels – it’s the same motor found in the Prius AWD.
On our drive from San Diego toward the Mexico border, the all-wheel-drive Camry felt solid and composed and soaked up degradations in the road. But when pushed, accelerating onto the highway, the continuously-variable transmission whines. At cruising speeds, it mellows out and the cabin is quiet with little engine or road noise seeping inside. There are three driving modes – normal, eco and sport. Sport is my preferred setting – the steering feels stiffer.
At highway cruising speeds, the dynamic radar cruise control worked well. Part of the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 package, it’s an adaptive cruise control that uses vehicle-to-vehicle distance control to maintain a preset safe distance from the vehicle ahead. The driver doesn’t touch a pedal. It makes the drive less stressful and isn’t jarring when the system applies the brakes or throttle. The Safety Sense 3.0 package also includes other features such as a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, which is designed to detect a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist in your path. It’ll provide an audible and visual warning if it detects a person and if you don’t respond, the automatic emergency braking kicks in to hopefully avoid an accident.
The new Camry is designed at Toyota’s Calty studios in Newport Beach, Calif. and Ann Arbor, Mich. This 2025 model is the nicest looking Camry to date. Compared to the last generation there’s no change in the wheelbase, but it has a 30-millimetre longer front overhand and a five-millimetre longer rear overhang. It has tasteful and elegant touches including slim LED headlamps, a big front grille, which differs depending on the trim, a rear diffuser and functional airducts on higher models. At the rear are C-shaped taillamps and a bigger Camry badge plastered across the trunk. For the first time, a panoramic roof is also offered on a Camry hybrid.
The front seats and dash of the 2025 Toyota Camry, which comes with an eight or this 12.3-inch touchscreen, depending on trim.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
The back seats of the 2025 Toyota Camry.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Likewise, the interior has gone upscale and sophisticated. There are larger cupholders and lots of storage spots throughout the cabin. For better visibility, I prefer the larger 12.3-inch touchscreen on the higher trims over the base eight-inch touchscreen. New tech options are offered like a digital key, which allows you to enter and unlock the front doors and trunk and start the vehicle using your smartphone (a subscription is required), and an Intelligent Assistant, which allows you to say phrases like “Hey Toyota” to get directions or search for a destination. But the system didn’t work too well when I tried – it didn’t understand many commands when asked.
The 2025 Toyota Camry arrives in Canadian dealerships this spring.
Tech specs
2025 Toyota Camry
- Base price: $34,300 (FWD); $37,950 (AWD) (plus $1,860 for destination and delivery)
- Engine: 2.5-litre 4-cylinder with 225 horsepower (FWD) and 232 horsepower (AWD)
- Transmission / Drive: continuously-variable transmission / Front- or all-wheel-drive
- Fuel consumption (litres per 100 kilometres city and highway): 4.5/4.7 (base SE FWD); 5.1/5.1 (base SE AWD)
- Alternatives: Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Hyundai Sonata, Chevrolet Malibu
Looks
Style wise, one of the nicest looking Camrys to date. It’s sleeker with long lines, but it still won’t stop traffic in the streets. It’s a Camry after all, it’s not meant to do that.
Interior
Thoughtful and intuitive interior with traditional buttons and dials for regularly used items like the heating and ventilation systems. But the volume knob is in an odd spot – directly left of the centre touchscreen and not in the driver’s direct field of vision.
Performance
Smooth and pleasant road manners; soaks up degradations in the road. But the CVT whines when pushed.
Technology
Excellent list of standard features including Toyota Sense 3.0, with safety items such as lane departure alert with steering assist and automatic high beams plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, and five USB ports.
Cargo
The trunk has 428 litres of cargo space.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
With 428 litres of space, there’s plenty of room for grocery bags and hockey gear.
The verdict
A confident, comfortable sedan that’ll likely continue to be Toyota’s best-selling sedan thanks to its new hybrid powertrain, improved styling and extra safety technology.
The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.
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Petrina Gentile