MARK TAKAHASHI: Hey, everybody.
I'm just outside of Park City, Utah
driving this, the 2020 Toyota Camry all-wheel drive.
It's been a long time since we've had an all-wheel drive
variant of the Camry--
1991 to be specific-- with the All-Trac back then.
You might be wondering why Toyota's even
bothering while so many shoppers are gravitating towards SUVs.
The fact of the matter is, small passenger vehicles,
like the Camry, sold 5 million units in 2019.
And the Camry has been a sales leader in that category
for 18 years straight.
So there's certainly an audience for it.
Today, I'll review the Camry on public roads,
as well, as this cool snow autocross
that they set up for us.
That should demonstrate how much more traction
you can get from all-wheel drive.
Before I get even deeper into the Camry,
though, do me a favor--
hit Subscribe below.
We have a lot of great videos coming your way.
When the Camry all-wheel drive goes on sale in March 2020,
it'll be offered in every trim level except for the lowest.
That means the lowest price of admission
will be the LE trim for $27,500.
That's a $1,500 premium over the front-wheel drive Camry.
If you ask me, that's a pretty reasonable cost.
There are a handful of very slight drawbacks.
The all-wheel drive will get about three miles per gallon
less than a front-drive version.
And there's a slightly larger hump in the rear seats.
Thankfully, though, trunk volume is unaffected.
Toyota has a lot of different all-wheel drive systems.
With the larger SUVs, you have a mechanical system.
Just recently, they introduced the Prius
with all-wheel drive e which adds an electric motor
and battery just for that rear axle.
They've said that this wonderful little snowy course for us.
Here we go.
OK, so a little bit of crabbing here and there.
But it left the line just fine.
And that was pretty deep snow, actually.
It's mostly just for acceleration up to 6 miles
an hour.
And it will fill in up to 43 miles an hour on the highway.
The Camry's all-wheel drive system doesn't have that limit.
And it just kind of comes in whenever
you need that traction.
Sadly, though, they will not be offering a V6 version
of the all-wheel drive Camry, mostly because the demand
simply isn't there either for the V6
or an all-wheel drive variant of it.
So let's go hit the road.
From behind the wheel, I'm really feeling no difference
between the all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive Camry's.
And that's a good thing.
Power distribution to the rear wheels is seamless.
I don't feel a thing.
You can get up to 50% of torque sent to the back wheels
when you need traction back there.
Otherwise on the highway and as I'm cruising right now,
it decouples so you can get better fuel economy.
And when you start laying into it,
it's really no sense that there's
any mechanical proportioning of power.
But there is a decent amount of road and wind noise
that we also noted in the front-drive Camry.
The interior of the all-wheel drive
is exactly the same as the front-wheel drive.
There's no difference.
Material quality is about average
for the class of cars which is midsize family sedans.
Otherwise, there's really no difference
between this and the front-wheel drive Camry.
For more in-depth information and drive impressions
of that Camry, we do have a separate video just for that.
The introduction of this all-wheel drive Camry
give shoppers one more alternative
in a really small group of all-wheel drive midsize sedans.
That includes the Subaru Legacy, the new Nissan Altima
all-wheel drive, and maybe others,
as an outlier, the Dodge Charger,
which gives a little more personality and excitement.
For the class, the Camry meets expectations
but doesn't impress us or really exceed expectations
not like how the top-ranked Honda Accord does.
But for the time being, there is no all-wheel drive variant
of the Accord.
The real test for this all-wheel drive Camry
will be when we can get it on some snow
where I'm headed right now.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, everybody.
So I'm on this wonderful little snowcross
course they set out for us--
demonstrate the abilities of the all-wheel drive.
And it's getting a little slushy.
But it is definitely slippery.
And there's no way a front-drive Camry would actually
even make it up this.
Now, driving it conservatively, it's really quite good.
I'm pushing it just, oh, well, quite a bit harder
than your average driver would.
Oops, there you go.
So a little slide a little, but it's very controllable.
But driving it like a normal driver, it's very composed.
There's no real squirm back and forth.
And I'm getting plenty of traction.
And I'm-- from the driver's seat,
I'm not feeling any of that transition between power going
to the rear wheel and coming back up front.
And they can send up to 50% of torque to those rear wheels
when you need it.
And like any other all-wheel drive system,
it'll proportionate left and right when needed.
Oops, there we go--
almost beached it.
But it's certainly probably the most fun
I've had in a Camry ever, because let's face it.
They're not the most exciting cars,
but they don't need to be.
These are purpose-built cars to get people from point A
to point B comfortably and reliably.
It slides-- it doesn't really rotate that well.
But you don't have to be too busy on the wheel
when things do get sideways.
I'm leaving all of the stability and traction control stuff on.
And it's well-tuned.
It's not just chopping the throttle off
when things get sideways.
It's allowing you to get a little more throttle to keep it
where you want it going.
Oh, crap, here we go--
got it.
[LAUGHS] I will not be denied.
It is getting really slippery.
Oh, that was a nice one.
Way to end it, Mark.
[LAUGHS] OK.
If you're looking for a mid-sized family
sedan with all-wheel drive.
The new Toyota Camry is a solid choice.
It goes along with my thinking that you
should begin with the smallest car that you actually need.
If you don't need a larger crossover, go with sedan.
For more information on the Camry, as well as competition,
head on over to edmunds.com.
To see more videos like this, hit Subscribe.
[MUSIC PLAYING]