Not too long ago to get good fuel economy you had to make a lot of sacrifices – vehicle design, power and price. Toyota, however, has been working hard to remove those stigmas and one of the most efficient vehicles they sell is the Corolla hybrid. But for 2025, its big brother, the Camry, has gone hybrid-exclusive, so that raises the question: who wins in a 2025 Toyota Camry vs. 2024 Toyota Corolla battle?? Well, that’s what we are about to find out!
Pricing and Equipment
We’ve got a ton of things to cover in this comparison, but let’s start off by quickly establishing the pricing for these sedans.
Starting with the Corolla, for around $30 grand you’re going to get the top trim level: XLE. This version, even after destination, rings in at $29,200.
Corolla Hybrid (XLE FWD): $26,600 | Options: +$1,536 | Destination: $1,095 | Total: $29,291
While we always do our best to have similar prices, as you might expect, the Camry does come in more expensive than the Corolla. In its popular mid-level SE trim level, it starts at $30,700 and after a few options comes to a touch over $34,000.
Camry Hybrid (SE FWD): $30,700 | Options: +$2,705 | Destination: $1,135 | Total: $34,540
By the way, if you want to get the best price from local dealerships and access to invoice pricing info for these two models or any vehicle, we have a tool on our website to do just that. Click here for more information!
Exterior Design
Starting things out with the exteriors, both have large grilles, and the all-new Camry goes for a quite aggressive design. We’re not going to grade subjective matters such as style preferences, but even despite the prices, they both have premium LED projector lighting. Neither have fog lamps, and it’s interestingly only the Corolla that has LED turn signals, a feature Camry makes you get the higher trims for.
Continuing to the sides, both have nice designs, and unsurprisingly, the Camry comes in quite a bit longer than the Corolla. 11 inches to be exact and let that be a hint for interior space which will be discussed later.
Length: 182.3-inches (Corolla) | 193.5-inches (Camry)
Also different is the wheel sizing. The XLE Corolla still only comes with 16-inch alloy wheels, while the Camry has 18-inch blacked out alloys this year.
We will discuss how those wheel sizes impact ride quality later in the test drive for those concerned, but moving to the rear we have partially LED taillights on both and exposed exhausts on the Camry.
Additional Features
Moving along, both mirrors are heated and have blind spot monitoring built in, and both also have Toyota’s entire safety suite included as standard equipment.
That’s a big deal for most buyers, and the warranties are of course also the same. That means you’ll be nicely getting 2 years and 25k miles of complimentary maintenance as well.
More importantly, let’s see what these two are like on the inside.
Interior Design
So, approaching the sedans, you will find smart entry systems for both with a very similar key fob. Both include sensors behind the door handle to unlock, and opening up the doors, you’ll find two cabins that look quite different despite being siblings.
Now we’ll dive into all those differences individually, but for now, let’s start by talking about the seats themselves. The Corolla has a two-tone beige Sof-Tex faux leather seat with 8-way power adjustment and heating. The Camry also has a Sof-Tex faux heated leather seat with 8-ways of adjustment. Neither have memory seats, but it’s only the Camry that also includes lumbar support.
But let’s get into the major category of overall material quality. While low end Corollas have basic cabins, this top model has soft-touch plastic, leatherette, and piano black accents. Because of that, it pretty much matches the material quality you’ll find on this mid-level Camry. It uses soft plastics, piano black and leatherette to fill its cabin, so overall, there isn’t enough of a difference to score a point.
After you startup these hybrids, you’ll see gauges that look identical. Both the Camry SE and Corolla have a 7-inch partial digital setup, but keep in mind if you want to spend more money you can get a full digital gauge cluster and head up display on the higher end Camry’s.
Pulling back to the steering wheels, both are leather wrapped and manual adjusting, and only the Camry is including a premium heated wheel.
Storage and Technology
So up until this point, these two have been more similar than you might’ve expected. But when it comes to interior storage, the Camry takes a big lead over the Corolla with a larger center console that fits a class-leading 15 donuts, large cupholders, and also a big front storage bin.
Speaking of storage bins, they have wireless charging pads, and moving on to the shifters, you’ll find a traditional setup on both. Operation is easy, and when in reverse, you’ll find standard backup cameras. The Camry does have the advantage when it comes to resolution and having active trajectory.
Moving to climate, the advantages continue since the Camry has a dual-zone climate setup compared to a single zone on the Corolla.
The tides turn for audio, though. The Corolla has a 9-speaker JBL sound system, while the Camry at this price continues on with the more basic sounding 6-speaker setup.
Camry: 6-speaker audio
Corolla: 9-speaker JBL Premium audio
Alright, but let’s talk about the elephant in the room: in car technology. The Camry is all-new for 2025, and one of the big improvements is the display. It comes in at 12.3 inches this year which is a substantial 40% larger than the Corolla’s 8-inch display. I want to note here that Toyota has confirmed availability of a 10.5-inch screen on the Corolla for the 2025 model year but that won’t be released for a few more months and it’s still smaller than Camry.
For functionality, both have standard wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and built in navigation.
Wrapping things up, we have an auto-dimming mirror on the Camry only, but surprisingly garage door openers on both.
Additionally, both are also including standard size moonroofs for these trims.
Rear Seats and Cargo
Now heading around to the rear, you’ll remember I said the Camry is about 11 inches longer than the Corolla. That extra length shows up in the rear spaces, as expected, with the Camry having nearly a 10% advantage in legroom and about the same headroom.
Camry: Legroom: 38.0-in | Headroom: 37.6-in
Corolla: Legroom: 34.8-inches | 37.1 inches of headroom
The advantages will continue for the Camry for features, too, with rear vents included in addition to the USB ports and center armrest both include.
The space trend continues as we head around to the trunks. The Camry has about a 15% advantage in overall cargo capacity, making it the more practical choice.
Camry: 15.1 cu.ft.
Corolla: 13.1 cu.ft.
Both have 60/40 folding seats, and only the Camry will include a spare tire.
Alright, we’re done with the interiors now, which means it’s time to test out the performance and specs of the hybrid powertrains!
Powertrains
When it comes to what’s under the hood, they have a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences. We’ll start with the similarities. Both these models are hybrids, with the Camry offering that exclusively and the Corolla offering a hybrid in addition to a traditional gas-only option.
Now for the differences. The new Camry is using Toyota’s latest 5th generation hybrid system utilizing a bigger 2.5L I-4 plus electric components to make 225 horsepower. The Corolla, on the other hand, uses a smaller 1.8L I-4 that makes about 90 less horsepower at 134. As expected, that translates to a huge difference when accelerating in the Camry’s favor.
Camry: 2.5L I-4 + 2 electric motors + battery: FWD: 225 hp
Corolla: 1.8L I-4 + Electric: 134 hp |156 lb. ft.
As we accelerated in both of them, you probably noticed the they both have eCVT’s. Power is routed to the ground via the front wheels of these testers, but both the Camry and Corolla have AWD as an available option as well.
Test Drive and Fuel Economy
Now even though both are affordable sedans, you still want good ride quality and premium noise insulation. The Corolla’s suspension is tuned very comfort-focused, and its smaller 16-inch wheels make for an excellent ride quality. While Camry is also nice riding, it’s not quite as comfortable with its larger wheels.
Here at Car Confections, we know that having a quiet cabin is important which is why we always take a sound level reading of every vehicle we review. We tested both at 55 MPH and the Camry came out on top by about 2 dB. We can’t award points, however, due to the Camry’s reading being unofficial since it was taken in California on a media drive. Here are the readings for reference, and it’s probably safe to assume that the Camry will be the quieter of the two.
Corolla: 57.1 dB @ 55 MPH
Camry: 55.4 dB @ 55 MPH
So the Corolla is comfortable, but what about driving dynamics? While not a sports car, the Camry takes the lead here and feels buttoned down with quick and responsive steering. That makes it a more pleasurable vehicle to pilot on the daily.
Lastly, let’s get to fuel economy. Both will surprise you in a good way coming in at impressive figures. The less powerful Corolla does get better fuel economy by about 6% coming in at 50 MPG combined while the Camry is at 47 MPG as equipped.
Camry SE Hybrid FWD: 48/47/47 MPG
Corolla FWD: 53/46/50 MPG
Resale and Reliability
In our reviews and comparisons, we are also adding in reliability and resale information to give you a better picture of the overall value beyond just the original MSRP.
Beginning with reliability, we developed the Combined Reliability Index, which takes into account several studies from trustworthy sources, and combines them in a way that gives a more realistic picture. Toyota is one of the highest rated brands coming in at 16 slots above average.
We also put Mason’s economics degree to work to develop a detailed Predicted Resale Value tool. After 5 years and 60,000 miles, Toyota has one of the industry’s highest predicted resale values of 64.50%.
We also can’t forget about the price difference at the original purchase. The Camry costs $5,249 more than the Corolla, which is honestly very substantial given the affordable price point. To account for this about 15% difference.
I want to emphasize that if money, reliability or resale value matter less to you personally, feel free to disregard these points. And if you’d like to check out all our data about reliability and resale values, as well as learn about our methodology, make sure to head to www.carconfections.com/resale and www.carconfections.com/reliability. Buying a car is a big decision, and this is a great place to compare all the makes you might be cross-shopping.
2025 Toyota Camry vs. 2024 Toyota Corolla!
So, there you have it; these two have a lot of similarities but also many differences. Let’s dive into who should be your winner!
Camry:
- Better technology
- More space (storage, rear, cargo)
- More powerful
Corolla:
- More affordable
- Better fuel economy
- More comfortable
Now we want to know your opinions, so make sure to head to the comment section and let us know which one you would pick!
Thanks for joining us for another Car Confections Comparison! We’ll catch you next time as we sample the latest automotive delicacies!
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