2023 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Winning the space race. Arrive at a Middle Eastern airport, and you’ll see fleets of Camrys performing taxi duties. There’s good reason for this – they’re cheap and spacious. In terms of the latter, there’s power and lumbar adjustment for the driver, while those sitting in the back enjoy an SUV-rivalling 38 inches of rear legroom. It’s worth acknowledging that the fifth seat is best left to children, but at least their suitcases can join the adult ones in a trunk measuring just over 15 cubic feet.

In terms of value, Hybrids command a $2,200 premium over gas-powered Camry models, with the LE Hybrid starting at $29,450. There are five trim levels on offer, though LE’s comforts extend little further than dual-zone climate, radar-guided cruise control, and remote keyless entry. The SE and Nightshade Edition models are differentiated mainly by the latter’s matte-bronze alloy wheels, while XLE is the first to receive blind-spot warnings, a nine-inch touchscreen (replacing the miserly seven-inch one on lesser trims), and heated leather seating. The range tops out at $34,890 for an XSE, but it offers little to justify its higher cost.

What about the hybrid part? While the standard Camry just about manages 30mpg, the Hybrid sails past 50 on the combined cycle. That’s excellent economy from a big sedan, especially one whose 2.5-liter inline-4 engine is mated to a 118hp motor and a lithium-ion battery to produce a total of 208hp. Despite having a fair amount of weight to shift around, a well-sorted CVT box ensures progress is refined whether you’re trundling around town in electric guise or burning gas along the freeway. Wide, straight roads are the Camry’s natural habitat – it feels its size during tight turns, but it never becomes unwieldy or difficult to maneuver, while sound deadening is impressive.

Other running costs? Toyota bundles in two years of scheduled maintenance with the three-year/36,000-mile warranty, but Hyundai offers three and five years respectively on its Sonata. You’ll have to specify navigation as an option even on flagship models, which seems stingy when so many rivals bundle nav into mid-range trim levels. Ditto the nine-speaker JBL audio system that’s an option on the top two grades but not available even as an option lower down the Camry Hybrid range.

Safety first. The humble sedan has been beaten back by unrelenting waves of SUVs in recent decades. These are often marketed with the illusion of superior safety, yet the front-drive Camry is an impressively robust vehicle by any standards. It’s long held top marks from both the NHTSA and IIHS, while every model benefits from automatic emergency braking incorporating pedestrian detection, active lane control, auto high beams, and adaptive cruise control. The only causes for concern are blind spots, with monitoring on the options list for LE and SE buyers, and a Poor rating in new IIHS side crash tests. However, this will also catch some SUVs out when they’re tested in due course.

Final thoughts. The Camry Hybrid isn’t a car you’d brag about on a first date, and nor is it the set of keys you’d grab for a Sunday morning blast. Yet that doesn’t take away from the many virtues which have helped this unassuming car to become America’s best-selling sedan. For a low purchase price, it offers comfortable, easy, and dependable motoring, allied to impressive fuel economy and low overall running costs. Nobody’s going to run a key down the side of a Camry, or cast aspersions toward the driver – it’s too inoffensive to even catch the eye in some paint schemes.

Many of the Camry Hybrid’s virtues sound like we’re damning it with faint praise. It’s spacious inside (though perhaps not as much as you’d expect), and you can be confident nothing will fall off or disappear into the dash. Then again, you might wish those horrible buttons would – along with the seven-inch infotainment screen, they should have been left in the 2010s where they belong. The lack of advanced technology will appeal to people who don’t want their cars to self-steer or ventilate their backs, and the standard safety kit should – though it probably won’t – persuade more people to turn their backs on heavier SUVs.

Check Prices for the 2023 Toyota Camry Hybrid