Toyota Camry Is Our Midsize Car Best Buy of 2025

Standard hybrid powertrain nets 51 mpg
All-wheel drive is available
Spacious and comfortable
Impressive tech and safety features come standard
Pricing starts at $29,835 | Price yours
On sale now | See listings near you

What’s it take to unseat a champion? Something that’s even better, of course. In the case of our Best Buy Award winner among midsize cars, the new champ is the 2025 Toyota Camry, and it just unseated the Honda Accord, which has won the Best Buy Award an astonishing nine out of the past 10 years the awards have been in existence.

But not this round. For the first time in the history of our Best Buy Awards, the Toyota Camry is our winner in the midsize car segment, unseating its longtime archrival.

Rivalries don’t get much better than this one, and the contest was close. But in the end, the all-new Camry’s blend of features, value, and efficiency propelled it to best-in-class status.

First Win for Familiar Name

You know the Camry, of course. Toyota’s midsize sedan has been around for over 40 years, and in that time has become a bedrock of the automaker’s lineup and among the easiest recommendations in its class. Cars just don’t get much more sensible than the Camry.

It still retains that trait for 2025, but adds so much more to its winning formula. This year marks a complete overhaul for the Camry and the sedan’s ninth generation on American roads. One of the biggest changes for the sedan is both radical yet not surprising, given who makes it: All 2025 Toyota Camry models are hybrids. That means that no matter which of the four trims you choose, you’re going to get exceptional fuel efficiency — up to 51 mpg combined.

While the Honda Accord also offers a hybrid powertrain, it is reserved for higher — and pricier — trims. With the Camry, it’s standard — and wonderful.

It should come as no surprise that Toyota is arguably the best out there when it comes to making hybrid cars. It certainly has deep experience making such models, including creating the Prius around the turn of the millennium, which went on to practically become synonymous with the word “hybrid.”

Toyota has long made hybrid versions of its Camry, too, to go along with past models’ 4-cylinder and V6 offerings. You won’t miss either of those former engines in the all-new 2025 Camry. Yeah, even the V6. Put the latest one in Sport mode, mash the accelerator pedal, and you’ll be grinning as your practical and efficient sedan blasts down the freeway on-ramp.

You do get a choice when it comes to traction. Another feather in the Toyota’s cap is that it offers all-wheel drive (AWD) in lieu of the standard front-drive setup. In addition to the enhanced traction that all-wheel drive offers — a boon for drivers who regularly deal with slick, wintry roads — these models also get a bit more power. All-wheel-drive Camry models make a combined 232 horsepower, seven more than front-wheel-drive models. Regardless of which you choose, we love that because of the Camry’s electrified powertrain, it always feels like there’s extra power on hand. All use a continuously variable automatic transmission that feels astonishingly similar to a traditional automatic.

Wherever we drove the 2025 Camry, be it on freeway commutes, grocery runs around town, or even a favorite winding road, we always got out impressed. Yet for all its newness, the Camry retains perhaps the most important trait it’s always had: It is just stupendously easy to live with.

All the Latest Features

As an all-new model, the Camry brings the best of Toyota’s current technology — and Toyota’s is among the best in the business. Of course, the 2025 Camry comes with features like automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, and adaptive cruise control, which are becoming standard issue in many new cars.

Yet the Camry has an ace up its sleeve, and a feature not available in any other midsize sedan — or any other vehicle that’s not from Toyota, for that matter. It’s called PDA, and not the kind you think. That’s short for Proactive Driving Assist. It’s an ingenious system that can run in the background to make driving safer and less stressful. It will automatically slow the car as it enters a curve, comes to a stop, and much more.

Beyond robust safety systems, the Camry is stocked with tech like wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a crisp 8- or 12.3-inch touchscreen, and available goodies like a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and head-up display.

It’s Stylish, Too!

The Camry’s 2025 revamp brought exterior styling that is just enough daring and eye-catching without going overboard. Compared to more conservative rivals — yes, including the Accord — the Camry is sure to turn some heads, especially if you opt for a two-tone paint color with a contrasting roof.

Inside, the Camry is roomy, sensible (there’s that word again), and has seats that are all-day-long comfortable. And sun lovers will be happy to know a panoramic moonroof is optional.

Shockingly Good Value

Sealing the deal for the Camry’s win is the factor that, for many shoppers, will seal their deal: the price. At $29,835 including the destination charge, the Camry starts under $30,000 yet brings all its wonderful Camry-ness. That base price is just $390 off a base Accord, but the massive caveat is that’s not a hybrid Accord. While one of those starts at a higher trim level, it costs $34,805 — about $5,000 more than a Camry hybrid, which for 2025 is just called a Camry.

Add it all up, and it’s easy to see why the 2025 Toyota Camry now rightfully wears the crown.

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2025 Toyota Camry

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