The Camry’s interior strikes a great balance between technological integration and physical buttons for important and frequently used controls. My Nightshade Edition tester was a rarity among press cars, in that it wasn’t a top spec model fitted with all the features and gadgets. Instead, it was pretty representative of what the average Camry you’d see on the road, which was a nice change as a reviewer. That means there’s not much reason to dive into the 12.3-inch touchscreen’s menus with any sort of frequency, so I found myself hopping in, putting my phone on the wireless charger, and hitting the road.
There are dead-simple physical controls for climate settings, so they’re easy to adjust while driving, and wireless CarPlay worked great. The vast array of steering wheel–mounted buttons are another thing that makes the Camry easy to live with. They’re all large and clearly marked, and like a good fidget toy, operations were palpably discernable without looking away from the road.
Logan K. Carter/ Jalopnik
The 6-speaker sound system in my test car was the same one that’s standard across all Camrys, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it sounded great. I love listening to music when I drive, and I can be quite picky about my sound systems, so considering that this is the standard system that comes on even the cheapest Camry LE, I was thoroughly impressed.
As far as interior room goes, the Camry is short on headroom. Yes, I’m a bit taller than the average person at 6-foot-8, but I have very long legs and a more average-size torso, so I was surprised by how little headroom I found in the Camry’s driver’s seat. My tester didn’t even have a moonroof, which usually eats into headroom; even as a slicktop, the Camry doesn’t have great headroom up front, or in the back seats, for that matter. The sloping roofline can likely be blamed for the lack of rear seat headroom. If your family is known for its long torsos, the Camry won’t be a great choice for you. Legroom was fine in both rows, not outstanding in any way, but elbow room was great in both rows. Overall, the interior felt wide and roomy, but not tall.
Logan K. Carter/ Jalopnik
One feeling I couldn’t shake was that everything about the Camry seemed hollow. When I’d shut the door, it sounded like the sheetmetal popped in for a split second before returning to its convex shape. Combined with the fact that the interior sounded boomy when going over big bumps, I was left feeling like the Camry was well screwed together, but not the most solid or vault-like product.
