Pricing, Fuel Economy Revealed for Toyota Camry AWD


An all-wheel-drive vehicle will reappear early this spring after a decades-long absence, tempting those who demand a sure-footed sedan with untold amounts of badge and nameplate loyalty.
While the Toyota Camry AWD might arrive too late to tackle our current winter, the future is a blank slate, ready to be filled with instances of snow-flinging fun. Perhaps a dirt road race against a Subaru Legacy driver is in the cards.
As the Camry AWD heads to dealerships, Toyota has revealed pricing and fuel economy for the intriguing model.
As reported by Motor1 following a first drive event, adding AWD to either the LE, XLE, SE, or XSE trims is a $1,500 proposition, though changes in content actually makes the difference $1,400 when directly compared. A base Camry LE AWD starts at $26,370 before destination. The sportier (in appearance, mostly) SE starts at $27,570, with the lineup topping out at the $31,405 XSE.
Generally, the AWD models are a carbon copy of what’s offered in FWD; the only difference being a small “AWD” badge and, obviously, the underbody driveline components gathered from the RAV4 and Highlander. The same 2.5-liter four-cylinder and eight-speed automatic can be found in all trims (no V6 option here), though the XSE version makes an extra 3 horsepower (205 hp total) thanks to a dual exhaust.

When announced, Toyota claimed it didn’t expect much of a fuel economy penalty with AWD. An electromagnetically controlled coupling on the front of the rear axle severs the link to the propshaft when the rear wheels aren’t required for motivation, aiding the model’s thirst. That said, the system does automatically engage when starting out from a stop, as that’s when front-end slip would most likely be detected. As well, all AWD models see a slight (0.2-inch) boost in ground clearance.
Figures put out by Toyota now show that the MPG loss isn’t exactly miniscule.
The automaker rates the LE and XLE versions at 25 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, and 29 mpg combined. SE and XSE models see a 1 mpg drop in combined economy, to 28 mpg. In contrast, the FWD Camry LE and SE earn an EPA rating of 28 city, 39 highway, and 32 combined. That’s a 3 mpg combined drop for the base AWD model and a 4 mpg drop for the SE.
The FWD XLE and XSE are rated at 27/38/31, meaning a 2 and 3 mpg combined drop for their AWD counterparts, respectively. If highway cruising’s your bag, LE and SE AWD customers will notice the greatest fuel economy drop — a loss of 5 mpg on the open road.
[Image: Toyota]
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- Jeff S The question is how long will Ford offer the Mustang as a pony car? Dodge is sun setting the Challenger at the end of this year and it is doubtful if the Challenger will come back as an EV. Rumors are the Camaro name will be used on an EV and that will mostly likely be a crossover. There is not enough market for a Detroit muscle or pony car. It is sad to see not only the last of the cars like the Camaro and Challenger go but to see most cars go. Soon this site will have to change its name to The Truth About Trucks (TTAT).
- Oberkanone Does GM build anything to compete with this? Does GM build any competent hybrids?
- Dukeisduke So, it'll be invisible, just like all other Gen 6 Camaros?
- Alterboy21 The gov't has already mandated control of your vehicle. 10 years ago they required cars to have ABS and traction control.I am not sure I agree that automatic breaking is ready for primetime, but taking control of a cars driving behavior is not new ground for the NHTSA.
- Parkave231 Collector's Edition hood ornament or GTFO.
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EPA number decreases and MPG losses, are only tangentially related. Along the lines of EPA numbers = MPG +- 0-20%, depending on how obsessively the tuning has been done specifically to look good on EPA tests. No amount of EPA tweaking a Tundra, will make it match a Prius, but +- 3-5mpg is perfectly achievable by optimizing for EPA.
Observation: Rack up sales increases like Subaru has been doing, and even Toyota will notice. http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-data/subaru/