2025 Toyota Camry Up Close: Still Kicking, Now With Even More Style
It’s hard to get excited about a new Toyota Camry, the car that people love to rag on as “an appliance” or “the car you buy because you’ve owned six.” But for the last few years, Toyota engineers have been doing something to the Camry you might not have noticed: They’ve made it look good. And for the 2025 model year, they’ve gone even further, making the Camry a genuinely attractive-looking car and giving it an interior that’s going to make a lot of jaws drop. There are even sporty versions with sport suspensions, purposeful aerodynamics, low-profile tires and a hot red leather cockpit.
What’s not to like about all this? Well, the powertrain, perhaps. I took a look up close at the 2025 Camry ahead of the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Related: More 2023 L.A. Auto Show Coverage
Looking Good
For people still interested in a family sedan over an SUV, the Camry provides a truly stylish possibility. I dare say it looks more racy and appealing than the latest Honda Accord, which while attractive in its own way, still looks rather hulking and thick; the Camry, by contrast, looks lithe and sinuous, with its new “hammerhead” grille shape flanked by LED headlights. The overall look isn’t that different from the outgoing model, but it’s fresher and more in tune with the rest of Toyota’s changing showroom.
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Those good looks extend into the interior, but the standout star of the lineup isn’t the top-of-the-line XSE trim with its optional Cockpit Red leather interior. No, it’s the XLE with its new quilted-pattern dash and doors, which really grab your attention. Toyota calls the new interior look an “open-style cockpit,” and while I’m not really sure what that refers to, the new designs are certainly attractive.
For sure, the interior is more visually interesting than what’s found in the Accord, and it’s nice to see well-integrated touchscreens coexisting with hard buttons, too. As before, there’s plenty of room in front and back, and with the new larger seats Toyota has created for the Camry’s front occupants, it’s even more of a nice place to spend some time.
Hope It Lives Up to the Looks
In a world where the latest Tacoma pickup truck makes well over 300 horsepower from its new hybrid four-cylinder powertrain, the fact that a Camry doesn’t do better than 232 hp is a little disappointing. Here’s hoping the new Toyota Hybrid System 5 with its two electric motors and optional all-wheel drive is tuned to be sprightly and exciting, else the dynamics of the new Camry aren’t likely going to match up to the performance that its new looks promise. An Accord Hybrid has a 0-60 mph time of about eight seconds with just 204 hp, a testament to the tuning the car has with its electric assist systems; Toyota had better have some similar performance in the cards for the Camry or the new 2025 model is likely going to be just a pretty face (and cabin).
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