These Are The Toyota Camry’s Best Years For Reliability originally appeared on Autoblog.
Like the Corolla, the Camry is an enduring benchmark for reliability
The Toyota Camry is one of the great motoring success stories. Since the early 1980s, it’s garnered a loyal following in the United States, and in 2025, it’s still the country’s best-selling sedan—and one of the best-selling models in any category. If you’re in the market for a used sedan from Japan, you’d probably want to know what the best Camry model years are. We’ve trawled through the available data to answer that.
How We Found The Most Reliable Camry Years
1999 Toyota Camry
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We consulted a number of reputable sources to find out what the most reliable Toyota Camry model years are, based on the number and severity of recalls and complaints. These sources include Car Complaints, J.D. Power, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Camry models from the 2021 model year and newer have been excluded, since these have not been on sale for long enough to get an accurate picture of their long-term reliability. Of course, this means the current, ninth-generation Camry is excluded entirely, as it was only launched for the 2025 model year. We have also excluded Camry models older than the 1995 model year, since reliability data for older cars is less accurate, and because even the most reliable car will need repairs or ongoing maintenance once it reaches a certain age.
As we’ll see, the Toyota Camry’s reliability ratings by year rarely fluctuated.
Related: Toyota Claims Insane Number of Vehicles On The Road
The Most Reliable Individual Camry Model Years
The Camry has been an exceptionally trustworthy sedan through the years, so it’s impossible to pick just a single model year as the most reliable. However, based on our research, these are some of the best years for buying a used Toyota Camry:
1995
2001
2006
2013
2017
2019-2020
These Camry models all have a lower-than-average number of complaints and recalls on Car Complaints and the NHTSA. J.D. Power also gave all of them a quality and reliability rating of over 80 out of 100, when this rating became available from 2007.
Even when there were recalls for these models, they were rarely serious. For instance, the 1995 Camry has five recalls to its name, but four were for missing or poorly illuminated amber reflectors. While that is a visibility concern, it doesn’t pertain to reliability in any way. The most recent Camry that forms part of the above list, the 2020 model, has a handful of battery-related complaints on Car Complaints. While annoying, this is easily solvable and doesn’t suggest the car won’t still last for a long time.
Most Camry models have simple, naturally-aspirated engines that wear high mileage well. When iSeeCars published data of the longest-lasting cars that are most likely to reach over 250,000 miles, the Camry was one of the only sedans in the top 30. The other one was another Toyota: the larger Avalon.
Related: This Is The Most Reliable Toyota RAV4 Model Year
The Most Reliable Toyota Camry Generations
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As with the individual model years, there are many reliable generations of the Toyota Camry that have a higher-than-average reputation for dependability. They include the following:
Seventh generation (model years: 2012 to 2017)
Eighth generation (2018 to 2024)
Fourth generation (1997 to 2001)
Fifth generation (2002 to 2006)
The seventh and eighth generations of the Camry have no red flags to be concerned about, with a low overall number of complaints, despite the many thousands of them that were sold. Watch out for the 2018 model, though, which has eight recalls—the most for any Camry produced since that period. At least one wasn’t related to reliability (an incorrect load carrying capacity label), but there were three recalls related to fuel pump failures alone.
Although it’s now quite old, the fourth-gen Camry’s 2.2-liter four-cylinder and 3.0-liter V6 engines will go on forever if properly maintained, and there are still manual versions of these available, so big transmission repair bills will be less likely.
The seventh-gen is much more modern, though, so this is a great generation for a used buy today. It has dependable 2.5-liter four-cylinder and 3.5-liter V6 engines, and according to Kelley Blue Book, 83% of consumers recommend it.
Common Toyota Camry Problems
Sedans don’t get much more trouble-free than the Camry, but no car is perfect, especially one produced over such a long period of time.
According to Car Complaints, the sixth-gen Camry produced from the 2007 to 2011 model years is the most problematic. The most reported problem is for the 2007 model, for excessive oil consumption, and the same applies to the 2008 model, with a worryingly high number of complaints for this issue. A high number of complaints on the NHTSA also relate to excessive oil consumption.
The problem appears to be a flawed piston ring design on the 2AZ-FE engine, a 2.4-liter four-cylinder unit. If you are buying a Camry from this generation, the V6 isn’t affected by this issue.
Other common sixth-gen Camry issues include melting dashboards, defective door locks, and other interior accessories that break. Automatic transmissions that shift slowly or harshly were noted across more than one generation, although this appears to be more of an undesirable driving characteristic than a reliability issue.
On RepairPal, the most commonly reported Camry issues are the following:
Hesitating automatic transmissions
Failed oxygen sensor
Poor automatic shifts at high mileages
Leaking power steering pumps
Excessive oil consumption is also listed here, but much lower down on the list.
The 2007 to 2009 Camrys have the most complaints on the NHTSA, too, so if it isn’t clear by now, avoid the sixth-gen Camry.
Final Thoughts
Almost any Toyota Camry model has a good chance of lasting far beyond 200,000 miles. These cars don’t have the most advanced technologies, the most powerful engines, or the fanciest designs, but by keeping things simple and focusing on the fundamentals, the Camry has garnered a well-earned reputation for solidity.
The sixth-generation is a bit of a lemon, at least by Camry standards. Its engine oil consumption issues, frequent transmission complaints, and high number of complaints/recalls leave it as the only Camry generation we’d caution against. If efficiency isn’t a big issue, go for the V6 model instead.
Ultimately, the Toyota Camry is a near-bulletproof sedan and has played a huge role in keeping the sedan segment alive.
These Are The Toyota Camry’s Best Years For Reliability first appeared on Autoblog on Aug 10, 2025
This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Aug 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
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