The base model Nissan Kicks my wife and I drove in Puerto Rico felt sort of refreshing.
It was also a good reminder that, 90% of the time, I can actually live without all those creature comforts.
What’s wrong with me? Why am I going to miss this car? It’s just a rental. A base-model sedan to boot. No frills–and certainly more than a few scuffs. But one week with a 2025 Toyota Camry LE left me pleased with the experience.
When I arrived at JFK, an overly cheerful rental agent walked me to the Camry. “Here you go. Enjoy!” she said in the most annoyingly enthusiastic voice possible.
I had been up since 3 a.m. It was close to 11 a.m. I was tired. I was hungry. And yes, I was cranky.
“It’ll do,” I muttered softly.
V6? No, a four-cylinder hybrid. Stick shift? Of course not, just a CVT. Leather seats? No, some good ol’-fashioned cloth. Well, it’ll do what a Camry does best: get me from Point A to Point B.
After my bleary eyes refocused, I gave the car a more detailed look. Yes, it’s a big sedan, but it’s got some beautiful, modern lines. It not only shares some design cues with the handsome Prius, but it’s also a hybrid. Only. All Camry trims in the U.S. now get the hybrid.
The interior seems like a throwback to the early 2000s as far as materials, with just a small screen integrated into the dash. Comfortable and functional but far from luxe.
You know what no power seats and no sunroof equals, though? Plenty of headroom for this 6-foot-4 driver. I’ll take not having those luxuries if it means more room–any day.
After I navigated the narrow and confusing labyrinth of construction surrounding JFK, I hit the automotive battleground known as the Belt Parkway. Here, your best defense is your offense. My offense is often my right pedal. As I hit the accelerator, the drivetrain seemed to deliver all 225 horsepower. “Wait, that was in Eco mode?” I questioned and then confirmed via the screen.
Yes, it has a much-maligned CVT (ECVT, technically), but it didn’t seem as noisy or unresponsive as some other cars I’ve driven. The car didn’t hesitate when I hit the accelerator–instead, it went above and beyond to serve the desires of my heavy right foot.
Admittedly, I didn’t use the Sport mode too much. I hit the Sport button on occasion when entering the curvy New York state parkways with short entrance ramps, but it seemed unnecessary. The Eco mode could deliver all I needed and do so while saving gas.
While the advertised 51 mpg seems optimistic, 45 mpg is real–whether chasing red lights or riding clear on highways. Both types of driving seemed to deliver the same mpg. Sport mode knocked that mpg down to the high 20s–still better than many other vehicles.
Yes, the base Camry weighs 3450 pounds and measures 193 inches long. It is heavy. It is long. But it’s still quite sporty and nimble.
With size comes other advantages. The trunk swallowed our luggage with no problem and a lot of room to spare. The rear seats took my tall wife and my brother to the Long Beach boardwalk with no problem. My 78-year-old dad didn’t mind hopping into the front seat, either.
Really, my only complaint is that the rear of the car would bottom out occasionally. The 205-wide tires also looked a tad too narrow.
Other than that, the car did all the common deeds we do on a daily basis well, and for a price under $30K. But it didn’t come off as just an appliance. It was actually a joy to drive, too, and one could still take pride in it as their daily driver.
“A car is not a car if it’s not fun,” Toyota President Koji Sato said last month. “That’s why we will never allow our cars to become commodities.”
That spirit is certainly encapsulated in the new Camry–even its base model. However, we can’t help but think: When will there again be a TRD edition? After all, wouldn’t Morizo, aka Akio Toyoda, want that?
The base model Nissan Kicks my wife and I drove in Puerto Rico felt sort of refreshing.
It was also a good reminder that, 90% of the time, I can actually live without all those creature comforts.
As much as I love driving the top of the line sports cars, there is something enjoyable about driving a car that is just a car. Like Colin said, the Nissan Kicks is a great example.
I rented two Camrys this past year and I didn't feel super impressed as I did back in 2006-ish when I had to rent one. I'm now older and more sophisticated than I was 20 years ago.
I had a similar experience with a rental Camry, a base model hybrid. I started in downtown DC, where the electric propulsion was perfect for stop-and-go traffic. I found that it had plenty of power to maintain 70 - 80 all the way back to Pittsburgh, even through the hills of WV. I got home in under 4 hours with 250+ miles of range left to go. Consider me pretty impressed.
Wifey had a 2023(?) Camry XSE V6. Not as crisp as the Accord V6 she had before that, but still a pretty nice car. We will miss V6 engines in midsize sedans.
J. A. said "You know what no power seats and no sunroof equals, though? Plenty of headroom for this 6-foot-4 driver."
I get the point about the sunroof, but do power seats really rob headroom? This is a new idea for me. Help?
In reply to Stealthtercel :
I found many times power seats, especially cars with heated/cooled seats, rob headroom space. It takes more electronics to do those things, and they often go below the seat, raising it up.
I do like a base model vehicle.
My Hummer is a base. No sunroof. No leather. No frills. I love it.
The Suburban I just bought is an LS. It's supposed to be the base trim, but it's as gussied up as the Bentley was. Power everything, heated everything, screens everywhere. The only thing missing is a sunroof, and I'm glad it isn't there. Interestingly, the difference 24 years can make.
I've had a few base model Hybrid Camry rentals. They are really good cars.
The responsiveness of the hybrid powertrain has come a long way from the 1g Prius I used to have. In Sport mode, its actually quite "punchy".
If I needed something for just basic transport of humans, a Camry would be high on my list.
In reply to TravisTheHuman :
"Punchy" is perfect at describing modern hybrids.
I wouldn't call most hybrids fast, but they don't feel slow off the line.
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