2025 Toyota Camry | The Forever Car Done Right

[Music]

[Music]

I'm here in San Diego with Mark for the

launch of the 2025 Toyota Camry it is an

allnew Camry despite some of the

misnomers of this just being a reskinned

slightly evolved product we spent a lot

of time with the chief engineer who

walked us through how he improve this

car from a technical perspective it is

still on TNG AK however let's start with

Drive training first the Camry now only

comes with one drivetrain it is their

latest iteration or fifth gen hybrid

setup with a 2.5 l in ecbt starting with

a battery pack it has 68 modules now

weighs 25 kg it is a smaller lighter

more efficient pack same goes for the

electric motor setup they are more

compact they're a more efficient setup

for horsepower you can get this as

either a 228 horsepower front-wheel

drive model or have an OnDemand

all-wheel drive setup which boosts the

power to like 2 32 the estimated

manufactur miles per gallon is high 40s

they claim 51 we're seeing high 30s High

40s depending on driving conditions the

primary benefit is this is now a value

added to the consumer in the past the

base engine was a internal combustion

for popper now you only get a hybrid and

it gets more power better fuel

efficiency and the ecvt really is not

that bad to live with now let's talk

about the goals of this car starting

with Dynamics in the past the Camry was

known as the old man sort of Luxury Box

you bought it because reliable and it

was comfortable the thing the engineer

wanted to do and this is one of the

first times if not the first time a

Camry was led by an American engineering

team for an all new Camry at least they

had a miter model year change where he

led them in the past but for this

generation it is an American product he

wanted this to feel more Dynamic much

like a cords in the past so he focused

on how we can improve that sway bars

damper tuning steering tuning spring

tuning all of that works together to

make this a more engaging car now they

do do specific suspension tuning based

on sport or luxury trims sport trims in

the front-wheel drive models are close

to about 20% stiffer overall obviously

they run higher spring rates in the back

versus the front the sport Vehicles also

get a more sophisticated damper that can

deal with a higher spring rates it's

still a very compliant car the all-wheel

drive cars are about 16% stiffer when

they're sport versus uh a luxury trim

level the other focuses of this vle from

a technical perspective is reducing nvh

through aerodynamic tweets like on the

roof rails or the mirrors the doors the

other thing to talk about as well is

they run acoustic glass in the higher

trim levels the last Big Technical

Improvement is the way the brakes are

implemented they are not Brak by wire

however they added a brake booster

before the VSC module to basically

decouple the regen from the brake pedal

it also allows them to have better

control over some of the safety setups

and they feel that this is a more linear

and Progressive a brake battle field so

with that Mark's going to walk you

through all of the Interior

improvements thanks Jack and you know to

reiterate the fact that Toyota's

constantly trying to evolve the camria

they haven't given up on the sedan so a

lot of the improvements that have been

done on the American engineering side

are also from help of Toyota Japan the K

platform has been updated and you're

seeing it being used in the crown the

the primary difference here between the

BR and this car is you're getting the

brand new version of their hybridization

system so this is like one of the first

cars that gets it so you're getting all

of their modern technology chassis

improvements their new focus on Dynamics

at least in the Camry and you notice it

immediately when you get on the inside

of this car and the outside as well I I

feel like there's a level of cohesion

here that the last generation didn't

have the outside was aggressive but you

know some of the over styling on the

front and the rear end um and then some

of the materials on the inside didn't

really feel all that great or well

thought out this fixes almost all of

that even on the lower trim level like

that we're in you know the fabric Choice

the fabric seats or the fabric inlays on

the seats feel really good the seats

feel far more compliant and less stiff

than they used to and when you move up

in the trim levels yes you're getting

better quality materials but even when

you spend less like in this it's not a

penalty box all the HVAC controls are

physical the shifter physical the

placement of certain things for storage

are logical where you're not you know

trying to twist around to get at things

things aren't flying around in here you

still have space for a cup holder

because of Toyota connected and the

various iterations that they've done the

infotainment is far more integrated into

the dashboard than it has been in the

past it's not completely sticking up the

dashboard space is well utilized and

smaller um and unlike some of the crown

products the visibility in here is

better the door panel is lower so you

have more Side Glass and while it might

be a little bit noisier in terms of nvh

on the lower trim levels it still feels

way better than cars of the past and

overall the usability of this car is

such a highlight if you're one of those

people that is absolutely turned off by

the over technification of modern

commodity cars with overuses of screen

technology yes you have a big screen in

here but the infotainment largely Blends

into the background and it works the

gauge cluster is still more traditional

it's set in the dash you don't have the

threaded screen you're not overwhelmed

by a bunch of lighting in here it's a

great experience for someone that just

wants a car that is functional as an

appliance but also doesn't feel like a

total box and they they've blended

it all together here this is one of the

best Camas they've ever done but we're

going to briefly take this for a drive

well not so briefly and walk you through

what they tried to change with the

dynamic parts of driving

[Music]

it new cam remark SE front whe Drive

hybird oh listen to her

sing

yeah hybrid only now you neither have

this as front wheeel drive all wheeel

drive like we discussed in the beginning

of this video we we touched on what they

their goals were after spending some

time with the chief

engineer they basically took the prior

generation platform and tried to improve

on the life of the car meaning they

wanted to give this thing a little bit

more personality and soul and I think

from a driving perspective particularly

in this in all the sport gra grades with

the better dampers and higher spring

rates it's surprisingly really pretty

good to drive I mean you and I both

spent time in this car the Topher drove

us out to this event in one yeah we so

we've been in it as a passenger we both

you and I both driven It Up This

Mountain Road what are your initial

thoughts well we I think it really helps

to understand what they were trying to

achieve and I think the the big thing is

because you know this is now more of a

North American commanded car I think

they had the opportunity to to strip

away some of the Camry some of the older

cars which was super reliable super

super boring not dynamically good and I

think the last generation was better

it's it it was still a better driving

experience than they had like the TRD

trim level and some of that but the

overall drivability of this car now is

you can really whip it around it's no

longer Like We complain about with the

sonatas and the k5s of the world where

they really ride well and they drive

okay they have no vehicle Dynamics any

sort of exactly this has really great

body control and it it's so well

controlled and isolated

while still not feeling like a boat so

you can whip this through corners better

and it still feels really compliant and

I think the point of making it really

good to drive compliant comfortable and

still feeling Nimble is really hard to

do at this price point at this price

point yeah and this is something Camry's

not been good at before and now that it

is and you know like I know everybody

hates the comparison but it's true the

the Accord was always kind of like the

driver's car sedan it did that but it

was always a little bit noisier so this

car kind of Now is really good

dynamically to drive it's not a snoozer

while still riding good and you know it

is noisy in the lower trims we found

that out on the highway it is there's a

lot of nvh a lot of tire noise but as

you go up the trim levels if you get the

acoustic laminated glass it quiets it

down quite a bit it's still quieter than

the prior generation vehicle a couple

seconds ago you said it Stripped Away

the Camry it hasn't Stripped Away the

things that made the Camry good in the

past which was usable car good value

proposition good fuel economy in the

hybrid trims now they're claiming the

front wheeel drive Vari get in the high

40s almost 50 MP gon right out of the

box for

$28,000 big sedan and because they've

been doing the the Hypertech for so long

between the long warranty for the

battery pack and the electric motor cuz

I mean you know you are if you are a a

prior generation Camry owner you're

moving from either the V6 which nobody

bought or the tried intrude naturally

aerated four popper into this product

and I'm sure there's some uneasiness but

at least they're going to stand behind

their car I do think in every objective

measurement this is a better vehicle

than it used to be well I think there's

there's a few things when I said strip

away the Camry is it's no longer a total

snooze you Hamry and it was a boring car

let's be honest it was like a total

Appliance this you there you can tell in

terms of exterior Interior Design This

is on a far they spent more time on that

than they ever have and I think just

taking the Dynamics of the previous car

and improving them and the evolution of

the car has improved so greatly uh that

they cared about what they wanted to do

with this not only from just the styling

perspective the driving perspective it's

more efficient right like having that

singular drive train now they can focus

all their energy out of refining that

out to the place where you're going to

get great fuel economy the performance

is just good enough and people are going

to Bone The Disappearance of the V6

which I somewhat agree because that was

so tried and true but we had that

conversation with the Topher that you

know they didn't really do much with the

V6 it was a V6 but dynamically it wasn't

that great to drive it didn't make it

ton of power and the transmission tuning

was so nerfed that it wasn't that

engaging of a vehicle so the loss of the

V6 honestly for this car is not that big

of a deal I think other than the

reliability yeah and some of the the

acoustic Warmness I'm going to be honest

they have quieted down this 25 with this

hybrid setup it's still droney sounding

as you can hear it but it's not as bad

as it used to be um most of the time

though right you know if you live in a

flatter Earth State you aren't in the

canyons you're not going to be Full

Throttle for like 20 seconds

um the to off between the hybrid and the

the gas is great is transparent like

it's the it's this iteration is by far

one of the best hybrid systems ever in a

commodity car in a commodity car because

it just it it works without being

annoying it granted no four-cylinder

really sounds like tremendous in in a

commodity car but they've really

isolated out the frequencies from the

engine and the transmission that would

be annoying in grading and it just kind

of disappears and it just works really

it just it works and when it goes into

EV mode and you're sitting there and

idle there's no like shuttering jutter

weirdness it just continues to work like

normal unlike some of the internal

combustion cars that have start stop

that shakes the entire car you feel like

the yeah it just it's so well executed

this car is such a joy to drive honestly

I love it as a sedan and I'm glad

they're they're putting the money and

effort into it and when you push it in

these Corners right I mean is this you

know a tremendously engaging car no but

the steering works well you can sort of

get it in out of Corners if you lean on

the nose I mean basically it has a you

know a basic you know underst Steer

default but the limits seem high enough

and the body controls actually pretty

good with the bars it's not a Camry of

the past where you got into Corners like

this and you're immediately like riding

the brake you know you're not having to

prepare to slow down the car because the

body roll is so excessive this car the

again the body control is great it sets

and sticks and it gives you a lot of

confidence of driving it and it's still

relatively engaging to drive for a car

like this and it needs to be it's a

sedan so I'm glad that they put that

energy into it and made it a focus cuz

it really did pay off all right so the

Accord let's play the game I know this

isn't in comparison but cord looks worse

you and I both agree I think the seats

are better in the Accord I think it's

close I I mean it's going to depending

on your body and body size interior

styling of this is better than the

Accord I I think it is I think there's

more going on even in the vase trims

because you get the fabric overlay or

you get the soft touch textures the

physical buttons and switches are I mean

it's hard to argue the Accords they're

really great and clicky but I think the

traditional aspect of the ergonomics of

how the things are laid out in here are

a little bit better more intuitive and

the infotainment despite the Accord

getting the new Android automotive setup

I I feel like this is far better

executed overall I think base model to

base model this is quieter than the

sorry the Accord is quieter than this

yeah and I this is better to drive I I

personally think it's better to drive

and I think the hybrid system is is you

know you're talking about a first second

generation for the Accord this is this a

proven quantity yeah this has been out

forever I mean if you're going to if

you're going to compare them objectively

like that I I think this is a better car

in this generation yeah I'm leaning

towards uh what you're saying but I do

want to compare both of them the Hyundai

has a particularly the new Sonata has a

lot of style we haven't driven in yet

but you already know the deficiencies of

that brand they have to overcome some of

the negativity associated with their

older drivet drains we're not saying old

old we're saying like a generation or

two right yeah and then of course all

the stigma associated with the dealers

and all that but I guess before we head

on the final thoughts Mark I know this

is a long conversation but this is an

important car is there anything else you

want to talk about I'm just glad to see

a car like this in this price category

that's really good you know I mean you

know people complain constantly to us

like oh you guys are only covering

expensive car I was like every car is

too expensive every SUV this is at a

price point like 32 Grand it's 10,000

under the average transaction price in

this era

and it drives great it feels great you

feel like you're in a really good car

way more expensive than it is and it it

drives really and the inputs I I I want

to go back to the braking quickly

because this is something they improved

we talked to Topher he said there was um

you know he felt like he had to use more

break I think because of their their

advancements to the pedal it actually

feels really direct it feels like a

stiff pedal and the amount you modulate

is the amount you you actually slowing

in the car it feels more like a sports

San setup in brake field than say A you

know traditional luxury boat I would

agree with that I think what they did

with the pedal is interesting because

Toyota pedals on almost all their

commodity cars have been super soft you

can almost push them down to the the

back stop of the paddle and like push it

down to the ground that's how soft they

were and I think they were trying to fix

some of that so it wasn't so mushy and

the linearity of the pedal is uh it's

consistent all the way down no matter

how much force You can predict it easily

and then you don't have any of the regen

or the Blended regen in it to make it

feel inconsistent so again they're

trying to n all these things that make

this a better driving car and that's why

I really like it so that Mark let's head

on the final thoughts sounds good

Jack we're here the end of the Camry

video and things have turned around

quite a bent since we were out here we

started not knowing anything about this

thinking it was just basically a

reskinned old Camry and in some cases it

is but there's the devil's in the

details with most cars I think the

takeaway is what they set out to a CH or

the chief engineer wants to do is make

this a better driving car and in every

single regard which means you're going

to get the confidence to take this car

out and if you're in the mountains or

the Canyons or you have a bunch of

people in you don't have to settle down

and put yourself into nursing home mode

half the time you're driving it the

updated drivetrain the updated iteration

of the hybridization that they've done

here it feels smoother it feels more

refined they've isolated out the

four-cylinder far more which Toyota

struggled with in the past it's a car

that you're going to use as your daily

driver your family hauler with minimal

fatigue and all the technology is

finally working great as well it's like

all these things Toyota have struggled

with in the past has now come full

circle to this which is one of the

better looking Camry's inside and out

and one of the better driving ones so if

you thought sedans were on their way out

well this is proof that certain brands

still care about it thanks for watching

I'll see you next video

[Music]