2018 Toyota Camry XSE – Redline: Review
Channel: Premium Cars
Date: 23/12/2017

The 2018 Toyota Camry is a new generation of the mid-size sedan that’s been the best-selling car in the U.S. for the last 15 years.

In an effort to banish the Camry’s bland image, Toyota gave the latest generation a more expressive design, used a more sophisticated suspension to improve driving and handling, and delivered better fuel efficiency than any previous Camry lineup. Five trim levels are offered: a base L, a mid-grade LE, and a better-equipped XLE, plus the sporty SE and upscale XSE. The Camry Hybrid has three versions: LE, SE, and XLE.

With buyers’ interests in sedans sagging in favor of all sizes of crossover SUVs, this latest Camry is critically important to keep Toyota's highest-volume passenger car at the top of a tough market. It faces stiff competition this year from a new version of its longtime rival, the Honda Accord, plus a major revamp of the popular Hyundai Sonata. Other competitors include the older Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, Kia Optima, and Nissan Altima.
The new Camry improves on last year’s model in styling, safety, features, and fuel economy, but it’s only average in performance, despite a new chassis. As for comfort and quality, we can’t comment fully because so far we’ve only driven prototypes. We’ll report back once we’ve had time behind the wheels of retail models—whose build quality we would expect to be excellent. We hope to drive production versions soon, to solidify our comfort and quality rating.

Overall, we rated the 2018 Toyota Camry at 6.2 points out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.) That rating may rise, by the way, once federal testers and the IIHS have issued crash safety ratings for the new Camry, in which we expect it to do well.

All Camrys sold in the U.S. are now built at Toyota's plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. The first 2018 Toyota Camry models will appear at dealerships in July 2017.