The Porsche 911 GT3 And 2025 Toyota Camry Is The Perfect Two-Car Garage

My esteemed colleague Ian Wright recently wrote a piece on why the all-new 2025 Toyota Camry is the most important car on the planet right now. His opinion piece is well worth reading, but the main focus is on the new Camry only being available as a hybrid. Despite being a leader in the hybrid space for nearly 30 years, this is a big move for Toyota. By making the top-selling Camry only available as a hybrid, Toyota is effectively stating that its technology is now so good that it’s willing to put its global reputation for affordability and reliability at risk.

I haven’t had the pleasure of driving the new Camry, but I’ve always been a fan of the car. It just does everything well, and what more could you possibly want from a daily? While pondering the new model on the way home, I realized it might just be the 50% of the ultimate two-car garage. It’s a game gearheads have been playing for years and is usually played using five cars, but I think two cars are more than enough, especially if you’re a pragmatist. It obviously depends on your unique circumstances, but I have a wife and two kids, and I would happily live out the rest of my life with a 2025 Camry and a 2024 911 GT3 in my garage. Allow me to explain.

• 

  2025 Toyota Camry

  Base MSRP

  $28,400

  Engine

  2.5L Inline-4 Hybrid

  Horsepower

  225 hp (FWD) | 232 hp (AWD)

  Fuel Economy

  53/50/51 mpg (best: LE FWD)

• 

  2024 Porsche 911 GT3

  Base MSRP

  $182,900

  Engine

  4.0L Flat 6 Gas

  Horsepower

  502 hp

  Fuel Economy

  14/18 MPG

What About An SUV Or Off-Roader?

While I understand the SUV and crossover craze, I have no need nor do I want to own one. And despite being CarBuzz‘s off-road specialist with more than a decade of experience traversing the toughest terrain, I don’t want to spend my weekends traipsing over complicated obstacles. I get enough of that at work to satisfy my wanderlust cravings. You also have to consider the research into how people use their SUVs. Capital One commissioned a study and found that 98% of 4×4 owners drive over rocks or in mud at most once a year, while 91% will drive on gravel only once a year. That same study shows that most people buy these kinds of cars because they want to display an adventurous persona to the rest of the world without actually having to partake in said adventure.

Being the official off-road guy, I’ve also been to many remote locations, and Africa has proven that a Camry is all you need. You can get the new model with all-wheel drive, but I’m not sure if it is necessary. To explain, allow me to get anecdotal. I’ve been to Namibia too many times to remember, but enough to pick up on the local habits. The rental cars for tourists are located right next to Windhoek International Airport, and all of them are Toyota Hilux models with aftermarket suspensions and a tent on the roof. This is all meant to be part of the “African” experience.

But the locals drive Camrys, and not just on tarred surfaces. Namibia has 40,266 miles of road, of which only 4,872 miles are tarred. So there you are, driving along in a Land Rover Defender on a well-kept gravel highway at 70 mph, only to get overtaken by a local in a 2008 Camry with more than 200,000 miles going 90 mph. And just so you know, the AWD Camry is not sold in Namibia. The locals just know how to deal with a bit of lift-off oversteer. They simply want an affordable, comfortable, air-conditioned car that can handle the harsh climate. And the Camry ticks all those boxes. If it’s good enough for Africa, it’s good enough for me.

But What About Luxury?

I think the Camry is a luxury car. Many people won’t agree because the definition of what luxury is has become convoluted over time. Think back to the OG luxury cars and what made them great: a large greenhouse to let light in, comfortable seats, low NVH levels, and a basic set of standard features that enhance the driving experience. The current S-Class is the perfect example of what I’m on about. It has a large hyperscreen constantly feeding you information and a personal assistant that you can talk to. These things aren’t luxuries. They’re technology meant to shock and awe. After thinking about it for a good five minutes, there are only five features I want in a car.

• Air-Conditioning
• Electric windows
• An infotainment system that can play songs from my phone, either via Bluetooth or Android Auto
• A sound system that can handle metal music
• Enough space for my family of four, and our luggage

The Camry hits all these targets and then some. Just look at all the features and space in the images below. This is the level of luxury we expected from an S-Class or 7 Series less than 20 years ago, just when these models peaked. What could you possibly want that this car doesn’t offer?

Don’t You Want Something That’s Fun To Drive?

Of course I do. That’s why my other car is a 911 GT3. Do I want my Camry to be fun to drive? It depends on what your definition of fun is. My current daily car has a powerful V6 engine, fun handling, and sharp steering, all of which are useless on my daily commute. I take the kids to school, and then I drive to work. Sometimes I go wild and use it to go buy groceries, but we do have two other dull, more modern cars for those things.

If I had a Camry, it would take over all daily duties. In that scenario, I only want two things, both of which Mr. Ian Wright addressed in his first driving impression.

That’s all I want from a daily car. The powertrain should be so smooth that it simply fades into the background. I don’t want to think of or feel gear changes. As long as the car is moving forward when I want it to, I’m good. And the Camry’s 225-horsepower output (232 hp in the AWD model) is more than ample. A daily car should be comfortable, and ideally, it shouldn’t feel like it wants to fall over. That’s all the boxes ticked as far as I’m concerned.

Fun doesn’t always mean 0-60 mph in three seconds or the ability to attack a sharp bend at 130 mph. After a long day at work, the most fun car is one that irons out the bumps, keeps exterior noises out, and plays Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore albums through a decent sound system.

The Other Half Of The Garage

With the Camry taking care of 95% of my automotive needs, I only need one other car. I’m going to go with the best sports car I’ve ever driven, which is the 2023 Porsche 911 GT3. Keep in mind that this is my opinion. If you ask our entire staff to name the best sports car ever, you’ll likely get a long list of cars. I spanked the GT3 around the Las Vegas Speedway’s outfield road course for a few hours, and it blew my mind. There are multiple reasons why this car is so epic, and I shall attempt to summarize them below.

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Possibly The Best NA Engine Ever Made

I love naturally aspirated engines and Porsche’s 4.0-liter flat-six is arguably the best ever made. It only produces 502 hp and 346 lb-ft of torque, but it’s the way that it goes about its business that matters. At lower RPM, you get an earful of induction noise, but as you keep pushing toward the 9,000 rpm rev limiter, your ears are treated to one of the best noises to ever escape the rear of a car. Porsche even removes some sound dampening from the standard 911, so you can enjoy the GT3’s soundtrack more. Having 9,000 rpm to work with makes a huge difference to the driving experience. If you approach a certain corner in a BMW M4 CSL, you have to shift up because you might hit the limiter halfway through. In the GT3, you can cling to a gear all the way through the corner, and the power never tapers off.

Porsche Has Perfected The Handling

This generation 911 GT3 is the first to be equipped with a double wishbone setup at the front, borrowed from its Cup racing cars. You also get rear-wheel steering, sticky rubber, and a remarkably neutral chassis for a car that has its engine hanging over the rear. You can make mid-corner adjustments without upsetting the car. Heck, the seven-speed PDK (Porsche removed one gear from its eight-speed to save weight) even allows you to shift in the middle of the tightest corners, and the car barely notices.

Having said that, it is a car you have to learn to trust over time. At first, I was scared to trail-brake it into a corner, but I soon found out that you can get away with it easily enough. The GT3 merely shakes its hips for a split second, and then it grips again. The same goes for feeding more throttle while in a corner. You think you’ve reached the limit of adhesion, but you continue to feed more power, and the rear tires dig in, while the front just turns harder.

You Can Have It As A Touring And With Rear Seats

Okay, so Porsche won’t sell you a GT3 with rear seats, but you can get it as an aftermarket accessory. I know for a fact that you can fit a seven- and 10-year-old in the back of a standard 911 comfortably, which has always been one of the 911’s lesser-known selling points. Personally, I’m in a constant state of indecision when it comes to having a GT3 with or without a wing. This week, I’m leading towards Touring specification. What I do know is that it will be purple with bronze wheels.

Cost And Conclusion: A Match Made In Heaven

The list price of the Porsche 911 GT3 is $182,900, which is ridiculous. Most people know that you have to comply with a certain set of non-official regulations to be considered to even buy one of these things. Realistically, the only way to buy one is to buy a low-mileage used model for roughly $260,000. To be fair, it’s cheaper to buy a model with 2,600 miles on the clock at an inflated price than it would be to buy all the Porsches you’d need to purchase to get on the invite list…

A top-spec Camry costs around $40,000, so my dream garage works out to a nice round $300,000. Do I have the money for it? No, obviously not. If I did, I’d be driving my 911 right now and not dreaming about driving it. But I do have a point to make, however. People often think you must spend much more than this to build the ultimate garage. The go-to sedan is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class plus a mid-engine Ferrari like the 296 GTB. In that scenario, your dream garage is closer to $500,000, and I guarantee you won’t have more fun. That S-Class will depreciate faster than a pound of burger meat left in the hot South Carolina sun, and modern supercars like the 296 GTB have become too fast for public roads.

My other point is that the new Camry is a damn good car, objectively speaking. You can add whatever sports car or supercar takes your fancy on the other side of the garage, but for a car built for everyday use, the new Camry appears to be a winner.