Over the last few months, I’ve driven a variety of Toyota automobiles, with some featuring updates that are more substantial than others. Here’s the rundown, while we wait for a new 4Runner or something more mountain-friendly that you’ll probably find more appropriate. 

The most changed model I sampled was the 2025 Camry, which has now become a hybrid-only vehicle and is one of three hybrids I’ll touch on here. The good news is that Camry’s fifth-generation, 2.5-liter hybrid setup produces at least 44 mpg anywhere, city or highway, and while the system is rated for only 232 horsepower, it feels like it has 100 more than that at all times.

The XSE trim that I drove, priced at about $44,000, was also equipped with all-wheel drive, though Camry’s low and sleek shape does not exactly set it up for deep snow days. This XSE model was outfitted with a red leather interior, aluminum pedals, 19-inch wheels and sport tuning that made it look and feel very much like an F-Sport Lexus, complete with dual 12.3-inch screens.

The same can be said for the Nightshade trim of the still-unusual 2025 Toyota Crown that I also drove, priced a little more steeply at $50,000. Unlike the more powerful model I last drove a year and a half ago, the blacked-out Nightshade edition comes with Crown’s standard 236-horsepower hybrid powertrain but gets a better combined 41 city/highway mpg, and still has electronic, on-demand AWD.

Compared to that 340-hp, 30-mpg Hybrid Max version, which packs 400 lb-ft of torque thanks to an extra rear electric motor, the more simple Crown is not quite as instantly powerful, though it can still be pushed hard to keep up with Front Range freeway traffic.

The Crown remains a very distinctive, family oriented vehicle, with a tall roofline. On a closer inspection, its overall proportions and passenger room are nearly identical to Camry, and it’s heavier as well, which doesn’t help with its fleet-footedness. 

The purest hybrid of this bunch is still the much-improved 2025 Toyota Prius, as we also had a chance to drive its more versatile Prime edition. That’s the plug-in hybrid variant, priced at about $34,000 for a front-wheel-drive SE trim.  

Here, the 2.0-liter hybrid system produces only 220 horsepower, but the Prius’s scale and size puts that to more speedy use than even the standard models. The plug-in aspect gives the Prius as much as 44 miles of all-electric range, and the combined system produces an impressive 127 electronic mpg, or still 52 mpg using just the gasoline-powered engine. The XSE Premium even includes solar panels to help passively recharge the car.

Yes, it’s not quite the family friendly size you’ll find on Camry or Crown, but comfortable and adaptable enough. The car’s much-improved looks, here done up in a solid dark blue, actually made it look a bit like a scaled-down Lucid Air or a Tesla something-or-other; the cockpit is still a funky mess and it’s necessary to drop the steering wheel into your lap if you want to see Prius’s odd array of instruments.

Lastly, and probably the least likely to be seen in a Summit County snowstorm, is the 2025 Toyota GR Corolla’s Premium Plus edition, retail priced at about $48,000, minus delivery charges. It’s curiously the most powerful of this bunch, with a tiny 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbocharged to a screaming 300 horsepower and an increased 295 lb-ft of torque. 

The GR Corolla bears zero resemblance to the civilian Corolla and is instead a totally dedicated racing machine, with a permanent all-wheel-drive system that would make it a fantastic ice-racing machine in Georgetown, with some crazy studded winter tires.

I had ultra-slick summer tires on mine last fall and the car absolutely and relentlessly goes like hell, with further updates to its suspension and even a launch control system. The biggest change for 2025 is a new eight-speed automatic transmission. While I appreciated the six-speed manual on the model I previously drove, I tended to keep the GR Corolla in third gear at all times rather than use the heavy clutch every three seconds; the automatic transmission allows you to use the undersized paddles to do the same and instead concentrate entirely on high-speed cornering and emptying the tank in less than an hour. Mission accomplished.  

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.