Compare the2023 Toyota CamryVS 2023 Dodge Charger

Safety
Warranty
Reliability
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Passenger Space
Cargo Capacity
Ergonomics
Economic Advantages
Recommendations

Safety

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For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Toyota Camry have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The Dodge Charger doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Camry are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Charger doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Toyota Camry has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Charger doesn’t offer knee airbags.

The Camry has a standard Secondary Collision Brake, which automatically applies the brakes in the event of a crash to help prevent secondary collisions and prevent further injuries. The Charger doesn’t offer a post collision braking system: in the event of a collision that triggers the airbags, more collisions are possible without the protection of airbags that may have already deployed.

The Camry’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the Charger.

The Camry XLE/XSE offers an optional Bird’s Eye View Camera to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Charger only offers a rear monitor and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the front or sides.

Both the Camry and the Charger have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, rearview cameras, available blind spot warning systems and rear cross-path warning.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Toyota Camry is safer than the Dodge Charger:

	Camry	Charger
OVERALL STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
	Driver
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
Neck Injury Risk	20%	26%
Neck Compression	13 lbs.	41 lbs.
Leg Forces (l/r)	432/527 lbs.	582/440 lbs.
	Passenger
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
Chest Compression	.7 inches	.7 inches
Neck Injury Risk	21%	33%
Neck Stress	136 lbs.	155 lbs.
Leg Forces (l/r)	266/310 lbs.	267/469 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Toyota Camry is safer than the Charger:

	Camry	Charger
Overall Evaluation	GOOD	MARGINAL
Restraints	GOOD	GOOD
Head Neck Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Head injury index	157	222
Peak Head Forces	0 G’s	0 G’s
Steering Column Movement Rearward	0 cm	9 cm
Chest Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Max Chest Compression	22 cm	28 cm
Hip & Thigh Evaluation	GOOD	GOOD
Femur Force R/L	.5/.3 kN	3.7/3 kN
Hip & Thigh Injury Risk R/L	0%/0%	1%/0%
Lower Leg Evaluation	GOOD	POOR
Tibia index R/L	.35/.42	1.21/.58
Tibia forces R/L	2/.9 kN	3/4.7 kN

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Toyota Camry is safer than the Dodge Charger:

	Camry	Charger
	Front Seat
STARS	5 Stars	4 Stars
HIC	134	138
Chest Movement	.7 inches	1.4 inches
Abdominal Force	136 lbs.	212 lbs.
Hip Force	296 lbs.	372 lbs.
	Into Pole
STARS	5 Stars	5 Stars
Max Damage Depth	14 inches	15 inches
HIC	164	270
Spine Acceleration	35 G’s	48 G’s
Hip Force	622 lbs.	692 lbs.

New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.

For its performance in IIHS driver-side and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, updated side impact, headlight, daytime pedestrian crash prevention, and nighttime pedestrian crash prevention testing, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Camry its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2023, a rating granted to only 29 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Charger is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick.”

Warranty

Toyota pays for scheduled maintenance on the Camry for 2 years and 25000 miles. Toyota will pay for oil changes, lubrication and any other required maintenance. Dodge doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Charger.

Reliability

For smoother operation, better efficiency and fewer moving parts, the engines in the Camry have an overhead cam design, rather than the old pushrod design of some of the engines in the Charger.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Toyota vehicles are more reliable than Dodge vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Toyota above average in long-term dependability. With 34 more problems per 100 vehicles in the first three years of ownership, Dodge is rated lower.

Fuel Economy and Range

On the EPA test cycle the Camry gets better mileage than the Charger:

			MPG
Camry
	FWD	LE/SE 2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	28 city/39 hwy
		Camry XLE 3.5 DOHC V6	22 city/33 hwy
		Camry XSE 3.5 DOHC V6	22 city/32 hwy
		XLE 2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	27 city/38 hwy
		TRD 3.5 DOHC V6	22 city/31 hwy
	AWD	2.5 DOHC 4-cyl.	25 city/34 hwy
Charger
	RWD	3.6 DOHC V6	19 city/30 hwy
		5.7 OHV V8	16 city/25 hwy
		6.4 OHV V8	15 city/24 hwy
	AWD	3.6 V6	18 city/27 hwy

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Toyota Camry uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Charger Scat Pack requires premium, which can cost 20 to 55 cents more per gallon.

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Toyota Camry higher (5 to 7 out of 10) than the Dodge Charger (1 to 5). This means the Camry produces up to 47 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Charger every 15,000 miles.

Tires and Wheels

The Camry LE’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 55 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Charger SXT’s standard 65 series tires.

Suspension and Handling

For better maneuverability, the Camry LE’s turning circle is .1 feet tighter than the Charger Scat Pack’s (37.4 feet vs. 37.5 feet).

Chassis

The Toyota Camry may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 650 to 750 pounds less than the Dodge Charger.

The Camry LE/XLE is 6.3 inches shorter than the Charger SXT, making the Camry easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

As tested by Car and Driver, the interior of the Camry SE is quieter than the Charger Scat Pack:

	Camry	Charger
At idle	41 dB	52 dB
Full-Throttle	72 dB	87 dB
70 MPH Cruising	68 dB	71 dB

Passenger Space

The Camry has .3 inches more front legroom and 1.4 inches more rear headroom than the Charger.

Cargo Capacity

A low lift-over trunk design makes loading and unloading the Camry easier. The Camry’s trunk lift-over height is 26.8 inches, while the Charger’s liftover is 30.1 inches.

Ergonomics

The Camry XLE/XSE offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed, tachometer and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Charger doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The Camry’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Charger’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

If the windows are left open on the Camry the driver can close them all at the outside door handle. On a hot day the driver can lower the windows at the outside door handle or from a distance using the keyless remote. (This window function must be activated by your Toyota service department.) The driver of the Charger can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The Camry has a standard locking fuel door with a remote release located convenient to the driver. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank. The Charger doesn’t offer a locking fuel door.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The Camry’s headlights were rated “Good” to “Acceptable” by the IIHS, while the Charger’s headlights are rated “Poor.”

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Toyota Camry (except Nightshade/TRD) offers an optional wireless phone charging system (Qi) for the front seat. The Charger doesn’t offer wireless personal charging.

Economic Advantages

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the Camry is less expensive to operate than the Charger because typical repairs cost much less on the Camry than the Charger, including $731 less for a muffler, $90 less for front brake pads and $117 less for a fuel pump.

Recommendations

The Toyota Camry has won recognition from these important consumer publications:

	Camry	Charger
Consumer Reports® Recommends	TRUE	TRUE
Car Book “Best Bet”	TRUE	FALSE

The Toyota Camry outsold the Dodge Charger by almost four to one during 2022.