Toyota Camry Hybrid

A Common Sense Hybrid
You'll never get accused of recklessness for buying a Toyota Camry. It's safe, comfortable, dependable, relatively attractive and altogether predictable. And based on the sales numbers—more than 430,000 sold in the United States in 2005—Americans are happy with a reliable and affordable set of wheels for the family. The Camry has been America's top-selling passenger vehicle for eight of the past nine years.


As long as you're being practical, then why not invest a few extra dollars for the Camry with a hybrid drive that offers an EPA rating of 40 miles to the gallon, and gives you around 700 miles between visits to the gas station?

In the Toyota Prius, the hybrid system was a bold move into unknown technology. The hybrid option on the Camry seems like a common sense choice for an era when one storm—meteorological or political—could send gas prices even further past $3.

The Camry is not the first attempt at offering a hybrid in an ultra-popular model. In late 2004, Honda introduced a hybrid version of the Accord—America's second most popular car behind the Camry. Honda fell short on its push for hybrids into the mainstream by using the hybrid technology for performance rather than fuel economy.

In the Accord lineup, the hybrid is the fastest and the priciest. The Camry Hybrid is neither. Those dubious honors go to the fully loaded sporty Camry SE—with a 3.5-liter engine delivering 268 horsepower, a 40 percent jump in acceleration over the 2006 model. The choice between speed and fuel economy is quite clear. Consumers who care about fuel economy can choose between the standard Camry's four-cylinder combined highway/city mpg rating of 28 mpg; the V6's mpg rating of 26; or the hybrid's 40 mpg.

Hybrid Details
The first half of the Camry Hybrid drivetrain is a 147 horsepower version of the standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine. The second half is a 105-kW electric motor and 244-volt battery pack that delivers a peak of 45 hp. The battery pack consists of 34 nickel metal hydride modules, each of which contains six 1.2-volt cells. Run it all through a continuously variable transmission, and it adds up to 192 horsepower, versus the standard Camry's 158 hp. For a point of comparison, the Camry Hybrid moves from 0 – 60 in about 8.9 seconds, nearly a second faster than the Toyota Prius.

The Camry Hybrid is loaded with cool standard features including a tire-pressure monitoring system (very helpful for optimizing fuel economy), halogen headlamps, Bluetooth connectivity, a 440-watt premium audio system (MP3 and WMA compatible, with auxiliary input for iPod), smart keyless entry, push-button starting, and dual climate control. The list of options includes a moonroof, voice-activated navigation system, leather-trimmed interior, and heated seats. The in-dash multi-function trip computer display is standard on the hybrid.

Toyota employs the full regimen of safety features for the Camry Hybrid, from the standard Vehicle Dynamic Integrated Management (VDIM) system, which orchestrates antilock brakes, traction control, stability control, and steering boost—to the Whiplash Injury Lessening (WIL) seat design found in the Prius.

2007 Camry Redesigned
On the outside, the redesigned 2007 Camry trades a conservative image for what Toyota calls "a more stylish, athletic, modern image." That means a pinch of Lexus styling added to the same old Camry: a sleeker shape, two-inch longer wheelbase, fancier instrument panel, and other features like a tilting-telescoping steering wheel. The hybrid gets dressed up a bit more with a matte-chrome grille, blue-tinted headlight reflectors, LED tail lamps, and the hybrid badges.

Toyota earned its reputation for quality by its attention to detail. Expect the same with the engineering and layout of the 2007 Camry. For example, they reduced internal friction and enhanced the Camry engine block's rigidity to improve fuel economy and reduce noise and vibration. In the hybrid version, they added wheel spats and underbelly pans to improve the aerodynamics (down to an impressive 0.27 drag of coefficient.) They also managed to retain the 60/40 rear-seat folding split, which is lost in Honda hybrids to make room for the extra hybrid components.

The 15th Percentile
Toyota set the price for the Camry Hybrid at $25,900. The first set of Camry Hybrids were all produced in Japan. In October, Toyota's began producing approximately 4,000 Camry Hybrids per month in its Georgetown, KY, plant, where it currently turns out Camrys at the rate of 30,000 per month.
Toyota plans to sell 60,000 Camry Hybrids, or 15 percent of all Camry sales. Naysayers believe gas-electric hybrids will reach the limit of their market potential when the East Coast and West Coast fringe have bought their Priuses. The Camry Hybrid will test that premise like never before. Are 15 percent of mainstream American buyers willing to invest in a technology that will help the United States wean itself off oil, reduce our environmental impact, and protect us against price shocks at the pumps? Are you in the 15th percentile?