With a face like a Ferrari, has the Camry gone from beige to bellissimo?

Should I be concerned?

Yes, I turn 26 next year, which means that if I were Leonardo di Caprio’s girlfriend, I should expect him to start flirting with the waitress the next time we go out. I’m also married and have two kids, and I have an air fryer on the kitchen bench. I already make noises when getting out of chairs. And a few months ago, I bought potting mix from Bunnings. For my lavender plants.

But this week, my age really caught up with me: I was left very impressed by a Toyota Camry.

You’ll have heard all the jokes about this car. Camry is practically its own adjective now: see also ‘beige’, ‘nondescript’, ‘Uber’, ‘something so bland, known to cause grey spots in vision’.

I also possibly made the mistake of taking photos of mine outside Hotel Realm on a Thursday morning, where more than one public servant, suitcase in hand, kept glancing between their phone and my car, wondering if I was their ride.

The fact of the matter is, the Camry has always been there, waiting for the moment each one of us grows into it.

And we will – it might not be the best-seller it once was (the RAV4 beats it there, which is just a higher Camry admittedly) – but nearly 14,000 Camrys were sold in Australia during the first nine months of this year. More than 94 per cent of these were hybrids.

That said, I like to think their target market is getting younger because the last model legitimately had fake vents built into the rear bumper, which my grandfather would describe as “not very practical”.

And if you Google ‘Ferrari Purosangue’, you’ll see a striking resemblance to the ‘hammer-head’ style front end of this new Camry. It looks good and sharp. Especially in ‘Jasper Red’.

Also, for 2024’s update, you have three models to choose from, and all of them are hybrids – gone is the standalone petrol. There’s the Ascent from $39,990, Ascent Sport from $42,990 and then a big jump to my top-of-the-line SL from $53,990.

This price gives you a panoramic sunroof, leather trim, heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a rear-view mirror that doubles as a camera and a nine-speaker JBL sound system – so it’s forgivable.

The screen graphics are also a massive leap forward. There’s still a lot going on the driver’s side, but it’s clean and tidy compared to the mess of hieroglyphics in older Toyotas. You’ll probably still need your glasses to read the information, but that’s a you problem this time.

As for the rest of the interior, it’s best summed up by the words ‘black’ and ‘plastic’. Solid and refined but dull. Although I suppose it’s also easy to clean when you spill potting mix in the back seats. Or, an important one for Uber drivers, if a passenger gets messy.

Toyota brought hybrid technology to the masses with the Prius in 1997, and the setup in this Camry is the brand’s fifth-generation version – a 2.5-litre four-cylinder and beefy lithium-ion battery, said to offer more power and better efficiency.

And it’s true – you put your foot down and it just gets the job done. No fuss, no struggle, no uncouth revving, no stamping in the footwell to get the engine online when you need it.

I feared the Camry would also be vague and boat-like to drive, but a blast along Mugga Lane proved it surprisingly direct. I may have smiled.

I’ve always been a bit sceptical of the massive fuel savings Toyota claims with their hybrids, but – apart from the fact recent real-world testing by the Australian Automobile Association has found them to only be out by as little as one per cent – I also normally blow half a tank driving between Canberra and Sydney, whereas this did it on a quarter. And then only slowly sipped its way to halfway over the rest of the week.

And it did it all so quietly and comfortably, and … damn – sounds like I’m describing a nice little sit-down here.

The car industry needs the Camry. In the same way an architect needs a ruler. It’s the plumb line. The four-quadrant chart we use to determine every other car’s place in the world. And now it just got a little better.

2025 Toyota Camry SL

• $53,990 (before on-road costs)
• 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid, 170 kW
• CVT, front-wheel drive (FWD)
• 4.0 litres per 100 km claimed fuel usage, 95 RON
• 0-100 km/h in 7.2 seconds
• 1625 kg.

Thanks to Toyota Australia for providing this car for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with Toyota Australia.

Original Article published by James Coleman on Riotact.