2026 Best Family Sedan: Toyota Camry

For the second year running, the Toyota Camry has been voted Best Family Sedan by AutoTrader’s jury of over 20 experts. The family sedan category may be shrinking, but the stalwart Camry continues to deliver on value, efficiency, comfort, and driving experience.

This four-door sedan also sashays through the automotive landscape with a dash of daring style – just look at that front grille. And we appreciate the availability of a few inspired colour options, including some two-tone treatments and the new-for-2026 Nightshade option that rocks with Midnight Black Metallic exterior detailing, unique 19-inch wheels, and gloss-black badging. 

The Camry is a hybrid-only sedan available with dual-motor front-wheel drive (one that drives the wheels, the other that feeds the battery) or tri-motor all-wheel drive (AWD), making 225 hp and 232 hp, respectively. Toyota has been doing hybrid powertrains for decades, and this fifth-generation system that incorporates a 2.5L four-cylinder engine and continuously variable transmission (CVT) delivers smooth and peppy performance along with heartwarming fuel economy. You’ll find yourself humming along in electric mode more often than you’d expect when cruising around town.

The front-drive Camry is rated at 5.0 L/100 km combined, where the AWD model is marginally thirstier at 5.1 L/100 km combined. In either case, you won’t be visiting the gas station much. In comparison, the front-drive Honda Accord Hybrid posts 5.3 L/100 km combined, and the front-drive Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is rated at 5.0 L/100 km combined.

The Camry’s cabin is artfully designed and nicely rendered, and the AutoTrader experts appreciate the fact that it sports a volume knob and an array of physical climate controls for the standard dual-zone system. An 8.0-inch central touchscreen is standard, along with wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and a wireless phone charging pad. Higher trims get a 12.3-inch touchscreen, head-up display, leather, and ventilated front seats, so this stylish family sedan can be kitted out to near-luxury spec.

There’s an interesting curved lower panel that stretches from the passenger door to the centre console (the trim is fabric or leather), and the cabin can get some zing in the upper trims with available red or pale grey leather. The front seats strike a fine balance between support and long-distance comfort, and rear seat passengers get 965 mm of rear seat legroom – not the roomiest in the segment (that goes to the Honda Accord), but still accommodating for two or three adults. The trunk, with its wide opening and cargo net, holds a useful 426 litres, and with the 60/40 split back seat folded, an IKEA run is entirely possible.

Safety is an important consideration for families, and Toyota doesn’t skimp here. All Camry trims get LED headlamps with automatic high beams, along with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which incorporates lane tracing assist, lane departure alert, adaptive cruise control, front collision mitigation, road sign recognition, and proactive driving assist. Also included are blind spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert. Moving to the XLE AWD and XLS AWD nets more driver assist systems.

With the exception of the third-level XLE AWD model, all Camrys run with a “sport-tuned suspension” that gives the sedan poise on the road without adding any undue harshness. It’s a fine setup that showcases the refinement and roadholding characteristics of Toyota’s tried and true platform. Indeed, the Toyota Camry can actually be fun on a spirited back road drive. It’s also an impressively hushed highway cruiser. AutoTrader Road Test Editor Dan Ilika says, “Credit goes to the sound insulation, as well as a hybrid powertrain that’s been refined this time around to generate less noise under heavy throttle load.”

The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling family sedan in North America for a long time, and this current generation is the most complete yet, delivering on a promise of functionality, user-friendliness, and above all, extreme frugality thanks to its excellent hybrid powertrain. The family sedan’s days might be numbered, but the Toyota Camry is hardly whistling past the graveyard. It holds the family sedan banner high and proud, and we at AutoTrader are happy to name it Best Family Sedan for 2026.