Toyota Camry SL 2025 Review

At $53,990 (all prices are before on-road costs), the Toyota Camry SL is a few big steps beyond its entry-level Ascent sibling, which retails at $39,990 but is identical under the skin (as is the slightly glammed-up, $42,990 Ascent Sport version).

Despite the circa $10k price gap, it’s hard not to align the top-spec Camry with the entry-level Lexus ES300h Luxury, which asks $65,540. So much so, that the Toyota often mirrors its more fancied family member on spec and luxe appeal.

Yet, the question is, does the Lexus badge compensate for the value difference between the two similarly sized and sophisticated vehicles? It’s hard to escape the thinking that suggests the Toyota-badged car is something of a bargain.

Australia’s once thriving family-sized sedan market has contracted considerably since its heyday, with only the likes of the Skoda Octavia, Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata propping up the segment. However, they don’t come close to challenging the Camry’s popularity – even if you combine all three’s sales.

You can, of course, include the premium-focused Lexus as a competitor, but it plays in the $60k-plus range. Other contenders, like the Mazda6 and Volkswagen Passat, are about to fall off the radar in Australia, while the BYD Seal stands as an EV alternative.

This is only a part of what’s offered in the 2025 Toyota Camry SL that draws comparisons with the Lexus ES 300h Luxury, but it’s significant, nonetheless. From its power-adjustable steering column to the auto-sliding, comfort access driver’s seat, the SL Camry comes with many Lexus ES familiarities.

The Camry SL’s part-leather-trimmed cabin bristles with goodies.

Some of the highlights include heated and cooled front seats (with memory for the driver), panoramic sliding sunroof, digital internal rearview mirror, heated exterior mirrors, an air-purifying Nanoe-X generator and a powered rear-window sunshade are all consistent with normal expectations of a luxury car.

Of course there are things the Lexus has, that the Camry doesn’t. But mostly they are part of the ES 300h Luxury’s $8260 Enhancement Pack.

The warranty for both is Toyota’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre plan, with servicing intervals spaced at 12 months or 15,000km. The Lexus offers extra cosseting with complimentary roadside assist, the provision of loan cars during servicing and various VIP benefits including event invitations and fine-dining experiences.

Roadside assist might be an added cost in the Camry, with two arrangements set at either $99 or $139 per annum, but maintenance bills are in its favour. Toyota offers a fixed-price five-year servicing plan costing a total $1275, while the Lexus ES’s fixed-price plan is set at $2975 for five years.

The 2025 Toyota Camry SL runs with a five-star ANCAP safety rating, which was achieved in 2024.

It features the usual array of primary and secondary technology including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) in forward and reverse, pedestrian avoidance, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, front and rear cross-traffic alert (the former not provided in the entry-level Camry Ascent) and road sign recognition.

There’s also LED headlights, a head-up display, parking sensors and a 360-degree parking camera.

The Lexus ES lacks the Camry’s driver attention monitoring system but comes with 10 airbags compared to the Camry’s eight, plus fixed side-lighting, on both the left and the right, which activates to provide improved illumination on bends at night (a half-way attempt at fully active corner lighting).

The 2025 Toyota Camry SL comes with a 12.3-inch centre screen as well as a mix of touch-control functions and physical buttons. Inbuilt GPS features, too, as well as wireless smartphone charging and premium nine-speaker JBL audio.

As already mentioned, the Camry SL comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is now also reflected in the updated Lexus ES300h. Plenty of USB ports abound, plus there’s Bluetooth, DAB+ digital radio and voice activation technology.

While the Camry does utilise brand-name audio, it can’t match the Lexus ES, which brings a 17-speaker Mark Levinson system to the table. It’s certainly more majestic in its sound delivery than the excellent nine-speaker JBL system employed in the Camry.

There are few differences in the Toyota Camry and Lexus ES hybrid drivetrains.

Both employ an Atkinson-cycle 2.5-litre four-cylinder normally aspirated engine, electrically supported, but
with slightly different technology. The Toyota uses a more-efficient lithium-ion battery pack than the ES300h’s nickel metal hydride system and produces slightly higher power and torque, as well as improved fuel efficiency.

The Camry’s 170kW combined power betters the Lexus by 10kW (no combined torque outputs are given for either Toyota or Lexus) and the Camry’s combined fuel consumption is claimed to be 4.0/100km, thriftier than the 4.8L/100km Lexus.

Our review Camry SL scored 6.0L/100km over a week of combined use.

The 1625kg 2025 Toyota Camry SL is more than 100kg lighter than the Lexus ES and its added power and torque help both off-the-mark acceleration as well as highway hustle. Zero to 100km/h takes a claimed 7.2 seconds for the Camry, while the ES3000h is significantly slower at 8.9 seconds.

In terms of driving characteristics, the Toyota and Lexus are similar. The relatively quiet 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine is accompanied by torquey electrical energy, which is particularly noticeable at lower speeds where it's prioritised over the petrol unit. When both power sources combine, the Toyota is a stronger performer.

The Camry received significant updates to the steering, suspension and regenerative braking behaviour in 2024. It’s a positive evolution, too, returning a balanced mix of responsive handling and ride comfort. The ES300h is similarly composed on the road, with its passengers slightly better off with the cushy and supportive Lexus seating.

Both have MacPherson strut front suspension but vary at the rear end with a multilink system for the Camry and wishbones for the Lexus.

With a more considered multi-coloured presentation including touches of ‘bamboo’ trim and a slightly more lavish presentation to satisfy upmarket buyer tastes, the Lexus unsurprisingly edges ahead of the 2025 Toyota Camry SL.

However, there’s little to separate the general functionality, comfort and available passenger space. In terms of cabin size, the dimensional similarities conjure up two cabins that do a really good job of comfortably accommodating up to five passengers.

The Lexus is flashier with a more elaborate cabin design but, at flagship SL level, the Toyota Camry is a much cosier place – especially against the entry-level Ascent model with its relentlessly grey trim and cheap-plastic steering wheel rim.

The Camry SL’s ambience is helped by the part-leather, power-adjusted, heated and cooled front seats (with memory settings for the driver), leather-clad multifunction steering wheel and copious soft-touch trim. Build quality has never been an issue for the Camry

The Toyota’s split-fold rear seat allows easy configuring of overall storage space, the 524-litre boot a good starting point. At 454 litres, the Lexus ES boot is smaller than the Camry’s by 70 litres and does not offer a space-expanding split-fold rear seat backrest, just a central ski port. Like the Camry, it does have enough room to contain a space-saver spare wheel.

If the Camry’s basic, long-standing tenet is that it’s inoffensive, durable and well put together, the SL version takes all that a few steps further with an injection of luxe appeal. It’s one that should have buyers questioning if they really need to step up to a more fancied badge.

The intent of this review isn’t to determine if the 2025 Toyota Camry SL is a better buy than its Lexus counterpart, no matter how strongly they overlap. Nor are we out to irrelevance for one or the other.

However, given they do share so much, it further proves how good the Camry deal is – and why it remains successful in a market segment that’s largely been forgotten.

The bottom line is that the top-spec variant is more than its bland reputation might suggest. The Toyota Camry SL might not be viewed as having premium-class cachet, but maybe it should.

2025 Toyota Camry SL at a glance:
Price: $53,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric
Output: 138kW/221Nm (electric motor: 100kW/208Nm)
Combined output: 170kW
Transmission: CVT
Fuel: 4.0L/100km
CO2: 91g/km
Safety rating: Five-star 2024

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