One Week Before Major League Baseball: More Spring Training

Girl power at Mets spring training

Two weeks ago, Toyota brought me to Florida to drive a few cars and take in a couple of spring training baseball games.

Not my usual sight on a run

I already wrote about driving the new Prius, and I'm spending a week with the snazzy C-HR. So this focuses on my time with the Toyota Camry.

But first, the road trip

We spent the night in Jupiter after going to a Mets away game, and drove to Orlando, where the Marlins play.

Greek salad

The Wyndham Grand Jupiter hosted us. The hotel is at Harbourside Place, a pedestrian area which has shops, restaurants and a walking / running path along the Intracoastal.

Warm goat cheese at The Woods

We walked to The Woods, Tiger Woods' restaurant. This deluxe sports bar has an impressive selection of bourbon and cigars, but it also has quite good vegetarian food. The tasty Greek salad, with no onions. And the warm goat cheese with bread had pear jalapeño jelly on the side for a kick.

Comfy bed at Wyndham Grand Jupiter

Toyota Camry

Pool and hot tub at Wyndham

The 2018 Camry punches way above its weight in luxury. Fully loaded, which is how I tested the car, it tops out at under $35,000. But it looks and feels sporty and the red leather interior looked sharp against the white exterior.

I didn't have a chance to drive the hybrid, which gets 47 miles per gallon, but the 39 mpg on the highway for the regular gas model is still impressive for a mid size sedan. It gets 28 in the city.

The Camry has a lower roof line, but the same amount of head room; you sit a little lower, and can almost pretend you are driving a sports car.

Back up camera and that red leather

Technology updates

But the Camry has advanced tech like a valet mode so when you leave your keys with a valet, you can get a notification if the car is driven further, or faster, than it should be.

[This is also a way to spy on your kids].

Cloud based services

GPS is great, but when a business closes, or a road asunder construction, you don't always get the most up to date info. The Camry has cloud based service that constantly updates.

With this kind of connection, a dealer can also let you know if your car needs service, or if there's a recall.

Maybe in the future, it can also keep you updated on the baseball score.

Note: I was a guest of Toyota, which covered my travel, food and accommodations. Opinions expressed are my own.