Rented a 2026 Camry for a week in Oregon, turned it in yesterday morning. Drove around 800 miles.
The first thing you'll notice about this vehicle that it is low. Not quite as low as my co-worker's Model 3, but pretty low nonetheless. It felt like a significant stepdown even compared to my wife's Mach-E. I'm used to driving an F-150 (Lightning) that I have to step up into, so it's a pretty big departure.
Sitting down into the driver's seat, with the seat all the way down and back there is enough head room and legroom for Bubba sized adults like me, i.e., 6'7", 310 lbs. The tilt column not going up as far as it could is a common annoyance with recent Toyota vehicles, there is still space above the column for it to go up further, but the travel is limited. Nevertheless I was able to make it work acceptably, but would have preferred the column go up a little more, and it appears that it would be physically possible. I took a picture of this.
Upon starting the car, there is a bevvy of noises that would be more befitting of a child's toy, but I found that on subsequent starts that if I buckled my seatbelt before turning the car on, this minor irritation was avoided.
The driving dynamics of this Camry were better than expected. The ride was very compliant, but it didn't have excessive body roll and seemed to handle sharp mountain road curves well as well as off-camber corners and so forth. It also never bottomed out despite being so low and we took it on a lot of back country roads with very sharp turns and abrupt elevation changes, hairpins and so forth.
I reset the mileage meter before driving out of the rental car lot, just to see how it would do. With gas above $5 per gallon I was a little more attuned than usual to how my mileage was. I'm used to hybrids that get better mileage around town. This Camry actually gets better mileage on the highway. Even doing 75 on the Interstate, on flat ground the mileage went above 51. I noticed EV mode activation on the freeway at speeds of up to mid-70s MPH wise. Mileage tended to go below 50 around town to around the high 40s. The lowest it got was in the mid-40s going from Hood River, Oregon up to Timberline Lodge which is about a 5500 foot climb from 500 feet MSL to around 6000 and mostly uphill the whole way, but the mileage recovered to around 50 when we came back down to the valley level on the Portland side. This car does seem to do engine braking pretty aggressively coming down a steep grade if you set the cruise control, which my wife didn't like from a noise perspective, but I liked from a driving perspective of not having to ride the brakes down the mountain. We also went over the Coast Range to Tillamook and back and the story was similar there, mileage came down uphill and went back up downhill. Trip was concluded with the mileage meter at 50.1 at time of rental car turn-in, not hand calculated.
Filled up twice, once was nearly empty and tool about 8.5 gallons. The other time was just before returning and took about 5 gallons from a meter indicated half full. Filled up at Costco both times at $4.95/gal. Total gas bill about $75, IIRC.
The cruise control operation took a little getting used to, there is no button that is labeled Set, but I figured out eventually the activation button is kind of universal.
From a power perspective, this car is not a powerhouse but I would say the power is adequate for most driving situations. I never felt like I was lacking for power, at any rate. If you give it a lot of pedal there is a lot more noise, but I suppose that comes with the territory.
Did notice that the AC is more EV style, it does not appear to be coupled to the engine. We sat outside a winery for 30 minutes and for the first 20 minutes the engine didn't run to keep the car cool. Finally it started up after roughly 20 minutes but it only ran a couple of minutes and turned back off and the AC kept cooling after the engine turned off. This was an unexpected benefit.
I would say about the longest I was in the car was 2 hours driving at one sitting and the seats were pretty comfortable. They are a bit firmer than the seats in either of our cars, but well supported and comfortable for longer distances. I never felt like my backside was getting worn out by the seats.
Overall if you are looking for a sedan that is probably the hybrid mileage king for a reasonably sized sedan, I would recommend this vehicle. I certainly would not get something like the Prius or Corolla Hybrid over this to just eek out a few more MPG. The Camry for 2025+ is hybrid only and so you can get a lower end model like the LE for a reasonable price. I have seen the LE on lease offer for under $350 on Leasehackr.
I kind of wonder if Toyota is ready for a series hybrid with a little larger battery, given that this car activated EV mode at fairly high speeds and that the AC will run with the engine off. With their conservative push into EVs I wonder if that would be a good intermediate step for them, that their customers would appreciate. It would be more likely to find a spot in my driveway with 100 miles of EV only range, but anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Anyway overall liked the car, it wasn't perfect, but was pretty good. I can see why these are so popular. For a big bubba like me it's a little on the small (and low) side compared to a crossover, but I could probably live with it.
The first thing you'll notice about this vehicle that it is low. Not quite as low as my co-worker's Model 3, but pretty low nonetheless. It felt like a significant stepdown even compared to my wife's Mach-E. I'm used to driving an F-150 (Lightning) that I have to step up into, so it's a pretty big departure.
Sitting down into the driver's seat, with the seat all the way down and back there is enough head room and legroom for Bubba sized adults like me, i.e., 6'7", 310 lbs. The tilt column not going up as far as it could is a common annoyance with recent Toyota vehicles, there is still space above the column for it to go up further, but the travel is limited. Nevertheless I was able to make it work acceptably, but would have preferred the column go up a little more, and it appears that it would be physically possible. I took a picture of this.
Upon starting the car, there is a bevvy of noises that would be more befitting of a child's toy, but I found that on subsequent starts that if I buckled my seatbelt before turning the car on, this minor irritation was avoided.
The driving dynamics of this Camry were better than expected. The ride was very compliant, but it didn't have excessive body roll and seemed to handle sharp mountain road curves well as well as off-camber corners and so forth. It also never bottomed out despite being so low and we took it on a lot of back country roads with very sharp turns and abrupt elevation changes, hairpins and so forth.
I reset the mileage meter before driving out of the rental car lot, just to see how it would do. With gas above $5 per gallon I was a little more attuned than usual to how my mileage was. I'm used to hybrids that get better mileage around town. This Camry actually gets better mileage on the highway. Even doing 75 on the Interstate, on flat ground the mileage went above 51. I noticed EV mode activation on the freeway at speeds of up to mid-70s MPH wise. Mileage tended to go below 50 around town to around the high 40s. The lowest it got was in the mid-40s going from Hood River, Oregon up to Timberline Lodge which is about a 5500 foot climb from 500 feet MSL to around 6000 and mostly uphill the whole way, but the mileage recovered to around 50 when we came back down to the valley level on the Portland side. This car does seem to do engine braking pretty aggressively coming down a steep grade if you set the cruise control, which my wife didn't like from a noise perspective, but I liked from a driving perspective of not having to ride the brakes down the mountain. We also went over the Coast Range to Tillamook and back and the story was similar there, mileage came down uphill and went back up downhill. Trip was concluded with the mileage meter at 50.1 at time of rental car turn-in, not hand calculated.
Filled up twice, once was nearly empty and tool about 8.5 gallons. The other time was just before returning and took about 5 gallons from a meter indicated half full. Filled up at Costco both times at $4.95/gal. Total gas bill about $75, IIRC.
The cruise control operation took a little getting used to, there is no button that is labeled Set, but I figured out eventually the activation button is kind of universal.
From a power perspective, this car is not a powerhouse but I would say the power is adequate for most driving situations. I never felt like I was lacking for power, at any rate. If you give it a lot of pedal there is a lot more noise, but I suppose that comes with the territory.
Did notice that the AC is more EV style, it does not appear to be coupled to the engine. We sat outside a winery for 30 minutes and for the first 20 minutes the engine didn't run to keep the car cool. Finally it started up after roughly 20 minutes but it only ran a couple of minutes and turned back off and the AC kept cooling after the engine turned off. This was an unexpected benefit.
I would say about the longest I was in the car was 2 hours driving at one sitting and the seats were pretty comfortable. They are a bit firmer than the seats in either of our cars, but well supported and comfortable for longer distances. I never felt like my backside was getting worn out by the seats.
Overall if you are looking for a sedan that is probably the hybrid mileage king for a reasonably sized sedan, I would recommend this vehicle. I certainly would not get something like the Prius or Corolla Hybrid over this to just eek out a few more MPG. The Camry for 2025+ is hybrid only and so you can get a lower end model like the LE for a reasonable price. I have seen the LE on lease offer for under $350 on Leasehackr.
I kind of wonder if Toyota is ready for a series hybrid with a little larger battery, given that this car activated EV mode at fairly high speeds and that the AC will run with the engine off. With their conservative push into EVs I wonder if that would be a good intermediate step for them, that their customers would appreciate. It would be more likely to find a spot in my driveway with 100 miles of EV only range, but anyway, that's neither here nor there.
Anyway overall liked the car, it wasn't perfect, but was pretty good. I can see why these are so popular. For a big bubba like me it's a little on the small (and low) side compared to a crossover, but I could probably live with it.
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