CD Article: 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid

[CD_Editor]

Test Drive:


Winter weather took a toll on the Camry Hybrid's fuel economy, says Editor-in-chief, Greg Wilson. "Outside temperature, wind, sunlight or lack of it, rain and snow, have a noticeable effect on the Hybrid powertrain's efficiency," he notes.

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Read the article | View the photos | All The Test Drives

[rrocket]

But even a "normal" car's economy is affected by the weather.  Even my Echo gets worse gas mileage when it is cold out.....

[quadzilla]

^^^^ But the Camry went from 6 to 10l/100...I'm sure you Echo doesn't change that much.

A few days later, the weather cleared, the temperature rose to 5C and I got out onto the freeway, and the fuel consumption dropped to 8.4 L/100 km. The next day the temperature rose to 7C, and the instant fuel economy readout showed 6.3 L/100 km.

I can get that in my 6-wgn if I keep it <= 125kph.

[johngenx]

I think overweight, oversized hybrids are useless.  My C230 never gets worse than 10L/100km in the city and handily gets 7L/100km, and can get 6.5L/100km on the highway.

[Cord]

But even a "normal" car's economy is affected by the weather.  Even my Echo gets worse gas mileage when it is cold out.....

I doubt you paid extra for the sole purpose of getting better fuel economy.

[rrocket]

Even with the decreased consumption in cold weather, I'd LOVE to own that car...

[Cord]

Owning it is the easy part. It's the paying for it that a lot of people have trouble with.

[UmroAyyar]

I have the 4-cyl 2007 Camry minus the hybrid motor and other nifty features. I'd buy the car for those features, good fuel consumption in the city would be bit of a bonus.

Average fuel consumption is about 11-12.3L/100km in the city and 7.5-9 L/100km on the highway (warm-cold).

A mix of close to 10L/100km overall.


Interesting observations in this article.
"there was no snow and the temperature was 3C, but I could only manage 10.4 L/100 km in slow, city driving during the first few days. During this time period, I drove only short trips where the engine didn't have a chance to warm up. As a result, the Camry Hybrid wouldn't run on battery power alone, and the idle-stop feature didn't operate. I sat in traffic a lot of the time with the gas engine running. With the headlights on, the wipers going, the rear defroster on, the heated seats on, and the automatic climate control and air conditioning operating, power seemed to drain from the battery causing the 2.4-litre engine to do most of the work."

[Eric Green]

Looking under the hood- G*d help you if the front end of that thing gets stuffed into something in an "accident".

I could see the entire vehicle being written off. The cost of trying to reconstruct this car appears unlimited.

[jww]

My big concern with hybrids, is the fact that they are still, imo, un-proven as long-term vehicles. What happens when something goes wrong with the hybrid components when they are out of warranty? And then there's the labour costs for repairing these parts which I suspect will be ridiculously high. It seems to me that hybrid ownership will become very costly down the road.

[G35X]

Expensive repair cost is not limited to hybrid cars.  I just paid $1300 for front brake rotor and pad replacement. About five years ago I had to pay $2400 for heater/AC box under the dash of my Isuzu Trooper. Automobiles are getting more and more complex and their repair requires special skills and longer labour time. It seems now that next to doctors, lawyers and plumbers auto mechanics can command high labour rate.  If you cannot afford high repair cost, become an auto mechanic.

[rrocket]

My big concern with hybrids, is the fact that they are still, imo, un-proven as long-term vehicles. What happens when something goes wrong with the hybrid components when they are out of warranty? And then there's the labour costs for repairing these parts which I suspect will be ridiculously high. It seems to me that hybrid ownership will become very costly down the road.

Absolutely false.  These have been used in Vancouver as taxi vehicles since the 1st version of the Prius...early in 2000.  As you know, taxi service is some of the most brutal service a car can be subjected to.  And the Prius has been supremely reliable.  After 400,000kms, the taxis go back to Toyota to study.  To date there have been NO expensive battery problems.  One error that did pop up on the original Prius taxi use was that some of the instrument cluster would go bad and need replacing at about 250,000-280,000kms.  Another thing noted, this time on the positive side, was brake pads were still fine, even after 200,000+kms of hard use.  IIRC, only ONE Prius required a new set of pads in its 400,000km "life".

I won't say that they can't fail...but so far if the testing of the Prius taxi fleets of the world are any indication, the Prius hybrid is very, very reliable..

[Leviathan]

My big concern with hybrids, is the fact that they are still, imo, un-proven as long-term vehicles.

This link  and this link say that Escape Hybrids have racked up over 175,000 miles each in duty as NYC cabs. Seems like some pretty reliable & proven to me.

[sailor723]

Is it fair to say that hybrids are best suited for urban driving with a lot of stop and go or commuters who spend a lot of time in traffic?

[airbalancer]

Is it fair to say that hybrids are best suited for urban driving with a lot of stop and go or commuters who spend a lot of time in traffic?

I would say Yes
I would never consider one, as 90% of my driving is on the highway, and we live in a town were rush hour is at 3:00 pm when all the mother are leaving the bingo hall to make it home before the school bus gets there

[safristi]

the OLDE TAXI gag thing is just that OLD.......any car even those old POS Checkers Ran fer ever...if ya never shut it orff .........cold start it 1 Million Times....freeze it to death or Overheat it inna desert climate....half a MILL in NEW JERK is a breeze even fer a HYUNDAI PONY...so stop wif the BS.........

[johngenx]

1st Gen Prius was 97-99, Gen 2 was 2000-2003 and the last 2003-.  The technology is over 10 years old, and proven highly reliable.

[Leviathan]

the OLDE TAXI gag thing is just that OLD.......any car even those old POS Checkers Ran fer ever...if ya never shut it orff .........cold start it 1 Million Times....freeze it to death or Overheat it inna desert climate....half a MILL in NEW JERK is a breeze even fer a HYUNDAI PONY...so stop wif the BS.........

Checkers didn't have battery packs that have been gone through charge/discharge cycles and regenerative braking  so please stop with the hand waving 

[Minou]

My big concern with hybrids, is the fact that they are still, imo, un-proven as long-term vehicles. What happens when something goes wrong with the hybrid components when they are out of warranty? And then there's the labour costs for repairing these parts which I suspect will be ridiculously high. It seems to me that hybrid ownership will become very costly down the road.

Absolutely false.  These have been used in Vancouver as taxi vehicles since the 1st version of the Prius...early in 2000.  As you know, taxi service is some of the most brutal service a car can be subjected to.  And the Prius has been supremely reliable.  After 400,000kms, the taxis go back to Toyota to study.  To date there have been NO expensive battery problems.  One error that did pop up on the original Prius taxi use was that some of the instrument cluster would go bad and need replacing at about 250,000-280,000kms.  Another thing noted, this time on the positive side, was brake pads were still fine, even after 200,000+kms of hard use.  IIRC, only ONE Prius required a new set of pads in its 400,000km "life".

I won't say that they can't fail...but so far if the testing of the Prius taxi fleets of the world are any indication, the Prius hybrid is very, very reliable..

Too bad they didn't test those Priuses in the famous Montreal potholes, road salt and cold.  Would have been nice to compare with the Vancouver experience.

[Leviathan]

Too bad they didn't test those Priuses in the famous Montreal potholes, road salt and cold.  Would have been nice to compare with the Vancouver experience.

Indeed - that is why the NYC cab results are interesting.