Well, so far so good. I guess you could say that we have officially
transitioned from a Ford family to a Toyota family. And the truth is,
I feel better knowing it. I am not so unrealistic as to never expect
any problems with my vehicles. However, if I do experience a problem,
I want it fixed. I don't want to be wasting my time listening to a
techician tell me how difficult it is to troubleshoot or even worse,
that there's nothing they can do to fix it. Breakages will undoubtedly
occur eventually. It's how the company responds when they do, that
sets it apart from the others; either above or below the standards of
the competition. Toyota's reputation is not built on hearsay. It's
been growing over the years based on great customer feedback. Honda
holds similar records. Call me skeptical, but I elected not to trade in one headache for another. So this time around, we opted NOT to trade in
on another Ford, but chose to head in a different direction.
The primary focuses during this hunt, were fuel efficiency and
reliability. Since Honda and Toyota are the two top contenders for
longevity, we started there. Unfortunately, Honda's current hybrid
offering was a V6 which stated mileage in the low to mid-20s.
Apparently, Honda's idea was to keep the V6 and add an electric motor
to boost the performance, simulating a small V8 with a V6 mileage.
Uh... no thanks. Bad idea in my opinion. Apparently, everyone else
agrees with me too, because from what I've heard, Honda is scrapping
that version.
Toyota, on the other hand, chose to utilize the hybrid technology to
gain mileage (vs. power). The main engine is a 2.4L 4-cylinder, but
amazingly drives closer to that of a V6-equipped model. Don't get me
wrong, the Camry hybrid is not designed as a sports car. If you're
looking for 0-60 times in the sub-4 second category, then you shouldn't
be looking at hybrids in the first place. Well, I guess you could
always consider the Honda.
But, overall performance for a 4-cylinder engine is really quite peppy,
especially when you consider you're averaging 38mpg. So no complaints
there. When starting from a stop, there is a noticeable transition when the vehicle switches from electric to gas, but you quickly get used to it. When braking and bringing the vehicle to a stop, you can hear what can only be described as a "futuristic whine". It's hard to describe. I guess if you've ever heard a battery-powered golf cart come to a stop, it's akin to that.
The exterior styling of the 2007 Camry is much improved in my opinion. The new design is much sportier with a more aggressive stance, and virtually eliminates the overly-traditional styling of previous model years. And when you consider some of the first-year hybrid designs, and how futuristically goofy they looked, it's hard to imagine that the new Camry is even in the same category. Hybrid technology and vehicle design has come a long way since it was first released on the general public. With the exception of some inconspicuous badging on the outside of the vehicle, the average person would never suspect this vehicle of being a "green machine".
The on-road performance (we'll get to the off-road performance in a bit
), is also quite good. Of course, I'm probably not the best guy to be judging suspensions considering I'm used to taking a regular beating both on- and off-road. But compared to other cars I've ridden in, this seems comparable. It's relatively smooth, takes corners and bumps well, and is very comfortable overall. The one potential negative I found was the amount of road noise seemed a bit excessive considering I'm driving a car. Again, I haven't had a lot to compare it against, but I guess I was expecting an ultra-quiet cabin and it falls a bit short of the mark. It hasn't rained yet since we picked it up so I can't gauge the effectiveness of the stock tires, but when it does, I'll post my findings. There's nothing worse than stepping on the gas, getting halfway into an intersection and having the tires spin. The old Honda Accord did that to us constantly until we changed out the tires.
This is the first vehicle we've ever had with a navigational system built in and we're still pretty dumb when it comes to operating the thing. But neither one of us have had any time to sit down with the manuals yet to figure it all out. I'm hoping that between the manuals and playing around, this new feature will prove it's worth in the end. The owner's manual for the nav system is just as thick as the manual for the entire vehicle, if that's any indication as to the complexity of this little doo-dad. So far, we've found it useful in finding restaurants nearby and assisting us at one point when we were lost on Friday. Other than that, however, we've been spending our time caught between touch-screen button tapping and telling the on-board computer voice (who happens to be a woman) to shut up. Sorry computerized voice, but the position of "Head Nag" has already been filled.
The only other negative I can come up with so far, is that Toyota decided to locate the battery pack for the electric engine in the trunk, rather than under the rear seat or some other out-of-the-way location. Given the lack of cargo/storage space in most cars nowadays, this seems like a poorly-thought out design. Not only does it use up precious trunk space, but it also blocks all but a small amount of the potential pass-through space between the trunk and the rear seats (when folded down). It's an obvious, but relatively minor flaw in what overall, appears to be a very well thought-out and well designed vehicle.
I'm sure I'll have more to add as the months go by. But suffice it to say, so far both of us are very happy with it.