2018 Camry SE transmission shifts extremely rough. And when you push hard on the accelerator it can’t decide what to do. So there is a delay before it decides. In the mean time the engine is revving up. The transmission is still thinking what to do. Like the old bugs bunny cartoon where the tortoise and the hare are racing. The tortoise winds up and his legs are moving really fast, but when he finally hits the road he is going really slow. Very frightening and hazardous in traffic in the real world.

I finally picked up my car after waiting forever for it to finally hit the dealership. I put a deposit on one in June of 2018 before even seeing it. I fell in love instantly in photos, and after my previous experience with Camrys and other Toyotas in general, I took the plunge.

I took Delivery on 10/20/2017 and was in love with ALMOST everything.

When the vehicle is cold, the colder the worse the issue. Shifting from 1st to 2nd is abrupt. It almost feels like its slipping between gears. Happens for a few minutes and then goes away. I talked to a friend of mine that is a New Car Sales Manager for Toyota in the DCMVA area, and he said his experience with the XSE V6 Demo he had was the same. I haven't brought it up to my dealer yet. I just noticed that its when it's cold - so I figure maybe I'll get a trans software update. I kind of chalk it up to having the first car of its kind in the area. there are bound to be bugs. But I may bring it in before it gets warmer. I work a LOT and not having a car is not conducive to such.... I also notice that when you floor it... the transmission is like "umm, lets see... what gear do I downshift to?" and you feel it search for the lowest gear. It'll down shift, then u feel it shift again, and then finally it takes off.

I come from a background of many different vehicles with different transmissions... and this is definitely not normal. My 2.0L Turbo Sonata was faster to downshift than this. Hopefully they have some sort of fix for it soon.

So I work for a Toyota Dealer here where I live. Thought I'd give Toyota a chance since I've worked here for quite sometime. I leased the 2018 Camry SE figuring it's a Toyota, cheap to maintain good resale value if I traded it in or kept it. I was told I have to get used to how the new 8 speed transmission shifted. 2,000 miles later and I know that this is a problem!! I have had our service manager look at it I printed the other 3 complaints that I am experiencing all but trans loss. We have customers calling in and complaining! I was told there is no fix yet figuring maybe software update. So I as an employee of a Toyota was told to call Toyota of North America for assistance? So i did no real help and was told they would put me on "the list" until more issues occur and there is a fix or recall. I said not good enough we have customers calling in about this and we couldn't even do anything with this issue? I asked to escalate the issue to possibly a BUY Back. That could take a few years of back and fourth as well as agony and still having to deal with this problem on a BRAND NEW CAR! And a TOYOTA of all things! But I see that the 2017 Highlander and Sienna with the 8 speed trans are blowing up so TOYOTA needs to deal with this immediately!! IF any of you that have made complaints or are going to have any new info on what their dealers are doing please contact me!! Or post on this site. But I experience, rough slam into gear in the morning/when cold, I also experience rough shifting, wont stay in one gear consistently and when accelerating it feels as though its in 3rd gear then drops to 1rst. i have had others here experience that as well. These symptoms are weather cold or warm in temperature. Still dealing with and working trading for another make of vehicle........

Avoid buying this car!! Please, I regret my decision making and will be trading in the car soon.

Test drove a 2018 Camry LE. My wife and I immediately noticed it had really jerky shifts between gears. The sales person informed us this was a brand new design for the Camry. When we told him about the bad shifting, he introduced us to the SE model. It did not suffer the same easily noticeable jerkiness. For the price, it appeared a great deal, and we purchased the car.

The next morning, when the outside weather dropped to about 30 degrees F. When I back the car out of the driveway into the street, and shifted into Drive, the transmission slammed hard into gear. It continued to do every morning. I brought this to Toyota's Service department.

They said Toyota just released a TSB about this exact problem. They had an update to the cars computer. I was thankful there was a fix. I was wrong. After several long hours, they contacted me and informed me that my vehicle has the update to the system already, and there was nothing they could do. Apparently, Toyota knows there is already a major problem with the 2018 Camry that is not even 6 months old. There software fix did not solve the problem. It's a defective physical design.

I was recently visiting family down in Florida, and a gentleman has the same car. We got to talking, and he experiences the same issues. They have not have the same cold weather. So it's not just a cold weather issue, it is a transmission issue. AVOID this car. Don't spend the rest of your time owning this car in the service department trying to convince the techs that your car has this issue in the morning. They have already tried denying the problem and trying get out of fixing it, and it's only been the first week at 75 miles. I truly regret buying this car. Please don't. I wish I would have read this beforehand.