2026 Toyota Camry Road Test and Review

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady

People like to say the mid-size sedan is dying. But while the segment's sales have indeed slumped, plenty of car buyers are still happy to take home a Toyota Camry.

In 2025, nearly half the mid-size sedans sold in the U.S. were Camrys. It outsold the No. 2 Honda Accord by more than 2-to-1. It matched the sales of its three highest-selling rivals combined. And as the No. 8 best-selling vehicle overall in the U.S., it outsold every vehicle in America except for some full-size pickups, two compact crossover SUVs, and the electric Tesla Model Y.  

How does the Camry come by this dominance? And is it justified? To answer these questions, we just spent a week testing a 2026 Toyota Camry XSE to learn more about its pros and cons. Check out our full review to see if the Camry belongs in your driveway – or if the segment's underdogs deserve your first look. 

Priced From $29,100

The 2026 Toyota Camry isn’t the best seller because of its price tag. Starting at $29,100, plus a mandatory $1,195 destination charge, it has the highest base price of any car in its class. The base LE model does include some high-end features like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, a wireless smartphone charger, and automatic climate control. But this isn’t a decadently equipped sedan. 

You can also upgrade to the luxurious XLE ($34,300). Or you can get sport-themed versions of each of these trim levels – the SE ($31,600) and XSE ($35,300). The upgrades come with leather seats, a power driver’s seat, heating for the front seats and steering wheel, and a bigger touchscreen infotainment system. 

Our XSE test car added $1,525 for all-wheel drive; $4,760 for a Premium Plus Package (features that include a nine-speaker JBL stereo, a panoramic moonroof, ventilated front seats, the ability to use your phone as a key, and a head-up display); $975 worth of premium two-tone paint; and $319 for floormats. That came to a steep $43,974. 

We think the Camry makes the most sense in the SE grade. It’s dressier than the base LE and has upgraded upholstery, and it comes with a power driver’s seat. If we add keyless entry and starting, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a sunroof, and the destination charge, it comes to $34,765. That’s still not cheap. But it’s a well-equipped, sharp-looking sedan for $9,000 less than our test car. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Every Camry Is a Hybrid

One reason every Camry is so expensive is that every Camry is a gas-electric hybrid. Toyota discontinued the gas-only Camry when it redesigned its best-selling sedan last year. By contrast, the cheapest Honda Accord Hybrid costs $33,795. The Camry even manages to squeak under the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid ($29,200) to be the least expensive mid-size hybrid sedan. 

As a hybrid, the Camry pairs a gas engine with an electric motor. A small battery charges up as you drive, getting its juice from the gas engine and from friction captured by the Camry’s regenerative braking system. When it has enough charge, the electric motor seamlessly switches on to provide some of the car’s power. That means the gas engine doesn’t have to work as hard. And when you’re coasting or accelerating gently, you sometimes don’t need the gas engine at all – using no gasoline for those short stretches. 

The result is great gas mileage. Most 2026 Camrys get 47 mpg in the city, 45 mpg on the highway, and 46 mpg combined in EPA testing. The base LE model, which is the lightest and has the smallest wheels, gets an EPA-estimated 52 mpg city, 49 mpg highway, and 51 mpg combined. The class-exclusive AWD option costs about 1 mpg. But pairing AWD with the fully loaded XSE and its 19-inch wheels gets EPA estimates of 43 mpg city and highway. 

Our XSE AWD test vehicle averaged just 39 mpg during a weeklong test, mostly in frigid temperatures that are unkind to electrified vehicles. We averaged 45 mpg when we tested an identically equipped 2025 Camry a couple summers ago. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Sporty Flavor

The current-generation Camry hit the market last year as a heavily updated version of the model sold from 2018 to 2024. Its upright roofline and big windows stand out from the trend toward lower roofs and less glass. To some people, that means the Camry looks frumpy. To others, it’s a welcome nod to practicality over style. 

The redesign did usher in crisper, sportier-looking front and rear ends. The headlights and taillights became slim, sharply tailored LEDs. The SE and XSE models also have a few sportier details than the LE and XLE, such as exclusive wheels, large vertical slashes on the front bumper that house the optional fog lamps, and exposed exhaust tips. 

What’s more, in an age where most people are buying trucks and SUVs, any moderately dressy sedan looks sportier than the average vehicle. Our test car’s extra-cost Supersonic Red paint job, paired with an extra-cost black roof, dresses things up further. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Mostly Simple Dashboard

The Toyota Camry has a decades-long history of simple, easy-to-use controls. And by modern standards, the 2026 model lives up to that standard. It has physical buttons for its climate system. You twist a knob to adjust the audio volume. You slide a lever back and forth to choose your gear. And the buttons on the steering wheel have labels. This all might sound obvious if you’re used to an older car, but plenty of modern cars have chosen inconvenient reinterpretations of these basics. 

That’s not to say the Camry is ergonomically perfect. The Camry’s touchscreen infotainment system doesn’t let you customize what you see – for example, audio information next to a GPS map. You have to choose one at a time. The digital gauge cluster is more customizable, but it’s fussy to adjust and still doesn't have quite the combination of displays we were looking for. (Our favorite reserved a place of honor for a big “settings” icon.) Most Camrys have a 7-inch digital gauge cluster and an 8-inch central touchscreen. A 12.3-inch touchscreen is a widely available upgrade, while a 12.3-inch gauge cluster is included on the XLE and XSE. 

The bigger touchscreen essentially takes the 8-inch unit and stretches it a little wider, providing extra white space rather than extra information. Fortunately, both screen sizes work wirelessly with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, letting you hand the screen over to your phone’s apps. 

The Camry’s dashboard flows away from the touchscreen into a decorative strip that hides the passenger side’s climate vents. But it looks less dressy than a similar effect in the Honda Accord, which uses a honeycomb pattern versus the Camry’s swath of shiny black plastic. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Toyota

Roomy Interior

SUVs have taken over from sedans as family cars. But if you’re looking at the Camry to carry people in the backseat – whether they’re your kids, your carpool buddies, or your ride-hailing passengers – it still delivers comfortable seating for up to five people.

Up front, the Camry’s seats are big and supportive without being too hard or confining. You sit lower than in an SUV, of course. But the Camry is wide enough that you’re not bumping elbows with a front passenger. And the supportive rear seat has ample legroom and headroom, as long as you skip the optional panoramic roof. It lets in more light, but it cuts into rear headroom for the tallest passengers. 

The competition has more trunk space, though. At 15.1 cubic feet, the Camry is a little behind its top rivals. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Easy to Drive

As we mentioned, every 2026 Camry is a gas-electric hybrid. If you’ve never driven one before, don’t worry. In most cases, it drives pretty much like any other recent-model four-cylinder Camry (just more efficiently). Most Camrys pair a 184-horsepower four-cylinder gas engine with a 134-hp electric motor for a combined output of 225 hp. AWD models like our test vehicle add a second 40-hp electric motor to power the rear wheels – boosting total output to 232 hp. 

The Camry accelerates in near silence when you’re driving ultra-gently in electric mode, and it’s energetic when you put your foot all the way down. Our biggest complaint comes somewhere in the middle – in moderately gentle driving, the engine’s noise seems out of proportion to its speed. But it all settles down nicely at speed, and even the sport-themed XSE has a comfortable and generally quiet ride as you cruise down the highway. 

The steering and handling aren’t buttoned-down and precise like a Honda Accord’s. The Camry feels more like a simple, comfortable car than a polished sports sedan. On the other hand, its low center of gravity makes it more agile than a typical crossover – all while keeping a cushy ride. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Toyota

Highest Safety Status

The 2026 Toyota Camry earned the highest possible Top Safety Pick+ designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, along with five out of five stars in each test from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Honda Accord did just as well, and the Hyundai Sonata came close. But the Camry’s safety ratings are comfortably above the Kia K5 and Nissan Altima, as well as the discontinued Subaru Legacy and Chevrolet Malibu. 

The Camry also comes standard with most of its available safety features – a forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring with a rear cross-traffic alert, and a lane-departure warning with lane-keeping steering assistance. However, few Camrys upgrade the standard backup camera to a surround-view camera or add rear automatic braking. These items are restricted to the XLE or XSE with the $4,760 Premium Plus Package. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Camry vs. the Competition

The Camry has just four surviving rivals among mid-size family sedans: the Honda Accord, the Hyundai Sonata and Kia K5 corporate cousins, and the Nissan Altima. As we mentioned, all of these have lower starting prices than the Camry.

The Altima is the most Camry-like in many ways – it has a gentle ride yet relatively agile handling, and a straightforward interior without a lot of flash. But it doesn’t have a hybrid option, so while it gets great gas mileage on the highway, stop-and-go driving burns a lot more fuel. Plus, as we mentioned, the Camry has better crash-test scores. 

The Accord is the Camry’s most famous rival. It feels more expensive and fun to drive than the Camry. But its seats and ride quality are firmer, more like a European sports sedan than the relaxed Camry. And while the gas-only Accord costs less than the Camry, upgrading to the Accord Hybrid means spending at least $33,795. 

The K5 is a little like a discounted Accord, but with more flash, high-end amenities, and optional horsepower yet less driving sophistication, worse crash-test scores, and fuel efficiency. Finally, the Sonata is a cushy luxury sedan with an available hybrid that costs about the same as the Camry. The Hyundai has a more richly finished interior and a bigger trunk than the Toyota, and it’s more widely available with deluxe amenities like ventilated seats and a surround-view camera. But the Camry has a more composed suspension with more agile handling.

And while all but the Accord offer all-wheel drive, only the Camry pairs AWD with a hybrid system or offers the system on all trim levels.   

2025 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

The 2026 Toyota Camry is a spacious, comfortable, safe, easy-to-drive, and easy-to-use sedan with great gas mileage. It has a hint of sportiness without sacrificing functionality or comfort. We can see why it’s a best-seller. 

We wouldn’t recommend defaulting to the Camry without considering some excellent competitors. You can find alternatives that are more fun to drive, more opulently finished or luxuriously equipped, quieter, quicker, and/or less expensive. And if you drive primarily on the open highway, you won’t take full advantage of its mandatory gas-electric hybrid powertrain; a gas-only sedan will be nearly as economical cruising at 70 mph. 

But as you saw in our comparison against the Camry’s competition, none of them notches a clear win either.

And while the Camry has a high starting price for a sedan, it’s still less expensive and more economical than the typical compact crossover SUV. Even in an SUV world, the Camry still deserves its big fan base – even if some of those fans might be wise to cross-shop the competition as well. 

2026 Toyota Camry XSE ・ Photo by Brady Holt