Latest rental car from a trip to Minnesota was a 2022 Camry SE AWD (didn't even know they made AWD Camry - have never seen one down south). Put 507 miles on it over a long weekend to go to visit the parents at their lake house - was a trip from Minneapolis airport to Bemidji area so it was mainly freeway and state freeway driving - mainly 55-70 MPH speeds with very few stops.
Powertrain: Camry AWD has their Dynamic Force 2.5 that puts out I believe 202 HP and 180ish lb/ft torque hooked up to an 8 speed automatic. From what I gather the AWD is reactive and only hooks up the rear wheels if front slip is detected and can direct 50% to the rear. I didn’t really have any situation to test it so can’t really comment on AWD performance. Despite having extra AWD weight and drag this thing moves quite nicely from a standstill - testing shows it’s a mid 7 second 0-60 runner. The 8 speed auto in this thing is fantastic - it snaps off dual clutch like up shifts on WOT acceleration, the shifts are barely perceptible under pretty much all situations. Mind you this car had about 37k hard rental miles on it. Only bad is the engine does not sound good at high revs or even mid range revs, the prior generation 2.5 and competitors big 4 cylinders sound much better.
Fuel Economy: This car well exceeded its 34 MPG hwy number, hand calculating I ended the trip right at 37MPG (36.95 to be exact). Unfortunately the trip computer on this thing sucks it so I wasn't really able to see what the car calculated overall as it reset every time the tank was filled. Best result via hand calculation was on last leg before I had to fillup before dropoff at an incredible 42.42MPG.
Technology: Camry falls flat on its face in this regard. The trip computer sucks it hard - most other cars you can have a trip with all calculations (time, average mpg, average speed, distance) - Camry doesn't seem to offer this and the few options you can change you cannot do unless you are stopped. Infotainment screen was tiny (see photo below). The drivers assistants were just freaking terrible. Lane centering liked to hug the centerline, with a combined closing speed of anywhere from 120-130 MPH I like to hug the shoulder line - Camry did not like this and it just beeped incessantly at me. I honestly could not figure out how to shut off the lane departure warning so this thing beeped at me constantly for trying to hug the shoulder, the worst part is the lane centering was so terrible it would try to trace turn lanes then steer itself into a lane departure warning situation. Radar cruise was equally terrible in that even on its closest setting it left massive gaps so I had cars filling the gap constantly, if we slowed and the car it was tracing accelerated it took so long to accelerate it would open up a 15-20 car length gap before it started resuming speed. The drivers assistant systems caused more headache than anything and it seems you can't really turn the things off fully.
Couple observations: Camry interior was pretty decent quality but there was some weird cost cutting. The dome light looks exactly like the one that was in my 1991 Toyota Pickup, no rear reading lights, actual keyed ignition (can't remember the last mid-level rental I have had that you have to stick a key in), doors were very tinny, valvetrain tapping/slop was audible from inside the cabin on cold start and idling through the campground on the way out, brakes were warped, Kumho Kinergy GT tires roared like bad wheel bearings (or the Camry had some bad wheel bearings rearing their head). Oh and I drove a car with a fake exhaust outlet!!
Overall: My unpopular opinion is the Altima and Sonata would be my preference versus Camry. While the interior quality/feel of the Camry is better than Sonata the technology in the Camry feels about a full generation behind and the drivers assistant in the Toyota suck it hard core, Altima interior matches the quality and feel of the Camry but the Altima technology and drivers assistants are still better. Comfort the Altima is hands down the winner of the trio, Camry and Sonata are similar in comfort but don't hit Altima level comfort. Camry feels the smallest and most cramped of the 3. Don't get me wrong the Camry is still a fine car, unfortunately for Toyota it's competitors make very compelling and better alternatives.
Powertrain: Camry AWD has their Dynamic Force 2.5 that puts out I believe 202 HP and 180ish lb/ft torque hooked up to an 8 speed automatic. From what I gather the AWD is reactive and only hooks up the rear wheels if front slip is detected and can direct 50% to the rear. I didn’t really have any situation to test it so can’t really comment on AWD performance. Despite having extra AWD weight and drag this thing moves quite nicely from a standstill - testing shows it’s a mid 7 second 0-60 runner. The 8 speed auto in this thing is fantastic - it snaps off dual clutch like up shifts on WOT acceleration, the shifts are barely perceptible under pretty much all situations. Mind you this car had about 37k hard rental miles on it. Only bad is the engine does not sound good at high revs or even mid range revs, the prior generation 2.5 and competitors big 4 cylinders sound much better.
Fuel Economy: This car well exceeded its 34 MPG hwy number, hand calculating I ended the trip right at 37MPG (36.95 to be exact). Unfortunately the trip computer on this thing sucks it so I wasn't really able to see what the car calculated overall as it reset every time the tank was filled. Best result via hand calculation was on last leg before I had to fillup before dropoff at an incredible 42.42MPG.
Technology: Camry falls flat on its face in this regard. The trip computer sucks it hard - most other cars you can have a trip with all calculations (time, average mpg, average speed, distance) - Camry doesn't seem to offer this and the few options you can change you cannot do unless you are stopped. Infotainment screen was tiny (see photo below). The drivers assistants were just freaking terrible. Lane centering liked to hug the centerline, with a combined closing speed of anywhere from 120-130 MPH I like to hug the shoulder line - Camry did not like this and it just beeped incessantly at me. I honestly could not figure out how to shut off the lane departure warning so this thing beeped at me constantly for trying to hug the shoulder, the worst part is the lane centering was so terrible it would try to trace turn lanes then steer itself into a lane departure warning situation. Radar cruise was equally terrible in that even on its closest setting it left massive gaps so I had cars filling the gap constantly, if we slowed and the car it was tracing accelerated it took so long to accelerate it would open up a 15-20 car length gap before it started resuming speed. The drivers assistant systems caused more headache than anything and it seems you can't really turn the things off fully.
Couple observations: Camry interior was pretty decent quality but there was some weird cost cutting. The dome light looks exactly like the one that was in my 1991 Toyota Pickup, no rear reading lights, actual keyed ignition (can't remember the last mid-level rental I have had that you have to stick a key in), doors were very tinny, valvetrain tapping/slop was audible from inside the cabin on cold start and idling through the campground on the way out, brakes were warped, Kumho Kinergy GT tires roared like bad wheel bearings (or the Camry had some bad wheel bearings rearing their head). Oh and I drove a car with a fake exhaust outlet!!
Overall: My unpopular opinion is the Altima and Sonata would be my preference versus Camry. While the interior quality/feel of the Camry is better than Sonata the technology in the Camry feels about a full generation behind and the drivers assistant in the Toyota suck it hard core, Altima interior matches the quality and feel of the Camry but the Altima technology and drivers assistants are still better. Comfort the Altima is hands down the winner of the trio, Camry and Sonata are similar in comfort but don't hit Altima level comfort. Camry feels the smallest and most cramped of the 3. Don't get me wrong the Camry is still a fine car, unfortunately for Toyota it's competitors make very compelling and better alternatives.
Last edited:
