xcel
11-25-2006, 08:15 PM
Working with the highway figures, that gives the hybrid model an edge of 5 mpg. (http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-sstom4986096nov24,0,362292,print.column?coll=ny-business-columnists)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_TCH2.jpgTom Incantalupo - Newsday - Nov. 24, 2006
Toyota's Prius was a triumph as the first hybrid gasoline-electric car sold in America that you wouldn't be afraid to drive on Long Island - unlike the tiny two-seat Honda Insight.
Although the Prius' estimates for fuel economy (especially the 60 miles per gallon in city driving) from the Environmental Protection Agency have turned out to be overly optimistic, its real world mid-40s mpg isn't too shabby. The five-passenger sedan, whose interior classifies it as a midsize car, makes an excellent commuter vehicle, if not the primary vehicle for an American family.
For '07 comes another milestone: a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry, America's best- selling passenger car - reliable, capable and common as dirt - the Toastmaster toaster of cars, easy to like and, yes, just as easy to forget.
It's another good hybrid in that it improves fuel economy, performs seamlessly and adequately and provides another way for American motorists to do their bit to reduce the nation's oil dependence with no painful changes in lifestyle.
But if your interest is strictly to save money on fuel, it is difficult to make the numbers work, as is the case with most hybrids, especially now that federal tax incentives on their purchase are disappearing.
The hybrid Camry starts at $26,820 with freight, pretty steep, especially when one considers that conventional four-cylinder Camrys start at less than $19,000 with freight and a stick shift and at just under $20,000 with a five-speed automatic transmission.
Toyota says the hybrid's equipment level approximates that of a conventional four-cylinder in the top-of-the-line XLE equipment level, but it's not exactly the same; the XLE has about $700 worth of equipment that's not on the hybrid, Toyota says. So, using Toyota's figures, the hybrid powertrain costs $2,200 extra.
The conventional four-cylinder Camry, whose engine is rated at 155 horsepower for '07, is EPA estimated at 24 mpg city, 33 mpg highway. Working with the highway figures, that gives the hybrid model an edge of 5 mpg. Let's assume we drive both cars 15,000 miles in one year. Let's assume, further, that current low gasoline prices don't last and that gas averages $3.25 a gallon for the next few years. At 33 mpg, the conventional four-cylinder Camry uses 454 gallons, costing $1,475. Getting 38 mpg, the hybrid uses 395 gallons to go the same 15,000 miles, costing the owner $1,283, for a saving of $192 for the year. So, it would take more than 11 years to recoup the $2,200 extra cost of the hybrid - less, of course, if gasoline is more expensive than we have guessed.
There's another unknown: those federal incentives mentioned above. The Internal Revenue Service said in late summer that Toyota had hit the production threshold - 60,000 hybrid vehicles - that Congress had imposed on fuel-sipping vehicles eligible for a tax credit. The tax credits for Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles were cut in half, from $3,150 for the Prius to $1,575, for example, and to $1,300 for the Camry hybrid.
The tax breaks will be cut in half again April 1 and reduced to zero on Oct. 1, 2007.
So if you buy your Camry hybrid before April 1 and your accountant says you can take the credit, your true added cost for the hybrid will be only $900, with a payback time, then, of about four and a half years.
The Camry hybrid's price also is about $4,000 more than a base Prius, which lists at $22,795 with freight.
As previously indicated, the Prius gets better fuel economy. The extra dough for the Camry hybrid gets you a wider cabin, with more shoulder and hip room, a car that's about 700 pounds more "substantial" for whatever that might mean for ride comfort and safety.
But front and rear legroom and headroom are virtually identical in the Prius and Camry though the Camry is more than a foot longer overall. And the Camry's trunk is smaller, at 10.6 cubic feet, versus 14.4 for the Prius.
The Prius can't match the Camry's quietness and its elegant ride, though; the Prius gasoline engine is harsh on acceleration, and the hard and narrow tires telegraph every road imperfection into the cabin.
And the Camry hybrid is a bargain next to the Honda Accord Hybrid, which lists for $31,685 with freight to start.
On the other hand, where the Camry hybrid is an adequate performer, the Accord's 3.0-liter V-6 gasoline engine plus 14-kilowatt electric motor puts out 253 hp., making it hot. But fuel economy is only 25 mpg city, 34 highway.
All hybrids pretty much work the same way. The gasoline engine does most of the propulsion, but an electric motor can move the car at very low speeds, such as in Manhattan-style stop-and-go traffic, and also help the car to accelerate or to pass another vehicle.
In the Camry, the powertrain delivers a combined 187 hp. - as much as some six-cylinder engines.
When the car is coasting or braking, the electric motor becomes a generator, recharging the special batteries that power the motor. At very low speeds and at full stop, the gasoline engine shuts off, to further save fuel so that there is a slight stumble when the light turns green, the driver presses the accelerator and the gasoline engine restarts.
Unless one is in very slow-moving traffic, it's difficult to press the accelerator lightly enough so that the car moves on the electric motor alone.
In the Camry, as in the Prius, the automatic transmission is of the stepless or "continuously variable" type, which purportedly improves fuel economy over conventional trannies.
Wrapped around the Camry's gasoline-electric powertrain is a car so appealing - a not-too-big, not-too-small vehicle that does virtually everything right - that it's not difficult to understand its popularity. It is what the Camry has been since the first arrived in 1983: fairly priced, well designed and built with quality, if lacking spice.
For '07, the Camry got another redesign that made it a little roomier and more fuel-efficient, more powerful and safer, too. The suspensions have been retuned for a greater emphasis on handling prowess. That and this car's Lexus-like quietness mean super-legal speeds creep up silently; you're advised to watch that speedometer carefully until you get used to your new Camry.
Now standard in all versions are seat-mounted side-impact air bags for front-seaters, curtain-type air bags for both rows and a driver's knee air bag. The side and curtain bags were optional on the less expensive '06 versions, but the knee bags weren't available at all.
The '07 Camry gets a perfect, five-star, rating from the federal government for its protection of occupants in frontal and side-impact crashes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also rates the Camry "good" in both categories.
You can't go wrong with a Camry. But which Camry is right for you?
To get the most car for your money right now, not in four or eight years, do what most Camry buyers do - opt for the conventional four-cylinder version.
2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
Vehicle tested:
Engine/motor: 2.4-liter four-cylinder, 147 hp./105 kw, 40 hp., combined 187 hp
Torque, engine/motor: 138 pound-feet at 4,400 rpm/199 pound-feet at 0 to 1,500 rpm
Fuel: Regular
Transmission: Continuously variable automatic, front-wheel drive
Safety: Dual front, seat-mounted side, curtain type and driver's knee air bags; four-wheel disc brakes with Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (combines antilock, brake assist, stability control and traction control); tire pressure monitoring; daytime running lamps
Place of assembly: Tsutsumi, Japan
Weight: 3,680 pounds
Trunk: 10.6 cubic feet
EPA fuel economy rating: 40 mpg city, 38 highway
Price as driven: $27,909, including destination charge
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_TCH2.jpgTom Incantalupo - Newsday - Nov. 24, 2006
Toyota's Prius was a triumph as the first hybrid gasoline-electric car sold in America that you wouldn't be afraid to drive on Long Island - unlike the tiny two-seat Honda Insight.
Although the Prius' estimates for fuel economy (especially the 60 miles per gallon in city driving) from the Environmental Protection Agency have turned out to be overly optimistic, its real world mid-40s mpg isn't too shabby. The five-passenger sedan, whose interior classifies it as a midsize car, makes an excellent commuter vehicle, if not the primary vehicle for an American family.
For '07 comes another milestone: a hybrid version of the Toyota Camry, America's best- selling passenger car - reliable, capable and common as dirt - the Toastmaster toaster of cars, easy to like and, yes, just as easy to forget.
It's another good hybrid in that it improves fuel economy, performs seamlessly and adequately and provides another way for American motorists to do their bit to reduce the nation's oil dependence with no painful changes in lifestyle.
But if your interest is strictly to save money on fuel, it is difficult to make the numbers work, as is the case with most hybrids, especially now that federal tax incentives on their purchase are disappearing.
The hybrid Camry starts at $26,820 with freight, pretty steep, especially when one considers that conventional four-cylinder Camrys start at less than $19,000 with freight and a stick shift and at just under $20,000 with a five-speed automatic transmission.
Toyota says the hybrid's equipment level approximates that of a conventional four-cylinder in the top-of-the-line XLE equipment level, but it's not exactly the same; the XLE has about $700 worth of equipment that's not on the hybrid, Toyota says. So, using Toyota's figures, the hybrid powertrain costs $2,200 extra.
The conventional four-cylinder Camry, whose engine is rated at 155 horsepower for '07, is EPA estimated at 24 mpg city, 33 mpg highway. Working with the highway figures, that gives the hybrid model an edge of 5 mpg. Let's assume we drive both cars 15,000 miles in one year. Let's assume, further, that current low gasoline prices don't last and that gas averages $3.25 a gallon for the next few years. At 33 mpg, the conventional four-cylinder Camry uses 454 gallons, costing $1,475. Getting 38 mpg, the hybrid uses 395 gallons to go the same 15,000 miles, costing the owner $1,283, for a saving of $192 for the year. So, it would take more than 11 years to recoup the $2,200 extra cost of the hybrid - less, of course, if gasoline is more expensive than we have guessed.
There's another unknown: those federal incentives mentioned above. The Internal Revenue Service said in late summer that Toyota had hit the production threshold - 60,000 hybrid vehicles - that Congress had imposed on fuel-sipping vehicles eligible for a tax credit. The tax credits for Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles were cut in half, from $3,150 for the Prius to $1,575, for example, and to $1,300 for the Camry hybrid.
The tax breaks will be cut in half again April 1 and reduced to zero on Oct. 1, 2007.
So if you buy your Camry hybrid before April 1 and your accountant says you can take the credit, your true added cost for the hybrid will be only $900, with a payback time, then, of about four and a half years.
The Camry hybrid's price also is about $4,000 more than a base Prius, which lists at $22,795 with freight.
As previously indicated, the Prius gets better fuel economy. The extra dough for the Camry hybrid gets you a wider cabin, with more shoulder and hip room, a car that's about 700 pounds more "substantial" for whatever that might mean for ride comfort and safety.
But front and rear legroom and headroom are virtually identical in the Prius and Camry though the Camry is more than a foot longer overall. And the Camry's trunk is smaller, at 10.6 cubic feet, versus 14.4 for the Prius.
The Prius can't match the Camry's quietness and its elegant ride, though; the Prius gasoline engine is harsh on acceleration, and the hard and narrow tires telegraph every road imperfection into the cabin.
And the Camry hybrid is a bargain next to the Honda Accord Hybrid, which lists for $31,685 with freight to start.
On the other hand, where the Camry hybrid is an adequate performer, the Accord's 3.0-liter V-6 gasoline engine plus 14-kilowatt electric motor puts out 253 hp., making it hot. But fuel economy is only 25 mpg city, 34 highway.
All hybrids pretty much work the same way. The gasoline engine does most of the propulsion, but an electric motor can move the car at very low speeds, such as in Manhattan-style stop-and-go traffic, and also help the car to accelerate or to pass another vehicle.
In the Camry, the powertrain delivers a combined 187 hp. - as much as some six-cylinder engines.
When the car is coasting or braking, the electric motor becomes a generator, recharging the special batteries that power the motor. At very low speeds and at full stop, the gasoline engine shuts off, to further save fuel so that there is a slight stumble when the light turns green, the driver presses the accelerator and the gasoline engine restarts.
Unless one is in very slow-moving traffic, it's difficult to press the accelerator lightly enough so that the car moves on the electric motor alone.
In the Camry, as in the Prius, the automatic transmission is of the stepless or "continuously variable" type, which purportedly improves fuel economy over conventional trannies.
Wrapped around the Camry's gasoline-electric powertrain is a car so appealing - a not-too-big, not-too-small vehicle that does virtually everything right - that it's not difficult to understand its popularity. It is what the Camry has been since the first arrived in 1983: fairly priced, well designed and built with quality, if lacking spice.
For '07, the Camry got another redesign that made it a little roomier and more fuel-efficient, more powerful and safer, too. The suspensions have been retuned for a greater emphasis on handling prowess. That and this car's Lexus-like quietness mean super-legal speeds creep up silently; you're advised to watch that speedometer carefully until you get used to your new Camry.
Now standard in all versions are seat-mounted side-impact air bags for front-seaters, curtain-type air bags for both rows and a driver's knee air bag. The side and curtain bags were optional on the less expensive '06 versions, but the knee bags weren't available at all.
The '07 Camry gets a perfect, five-star, rating from the federal government for its protection of occupants in frontal and side-impact crashes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also rates the Camry "good" in both categories.
You can't go wrong with a Camry. But which Camry is right for you?
To get the most car for your money right now, not in four or eight years, do what most Camry buyers do - opt for the conventional four-cylinder version.
2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
Vehicle tested:
Engine/motor: 2.4-liter four-cylinder, 147 hp./105 kw, 40 hp., combined 187 hp
Torque, engine/motor: 138 pound-feet at 4,400 rpm/199 pound-feet at 0 to 1,500 rpm
Fuel: Regular
Transmission: Continuously variable automatic, front-wheel drive
Safety: Dual front, seat-mounted side, curtain type and driver's knee air bags; four-wheel disc brakes with Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (combines antilock, brake assist, stability control and traction control); tire pressure monitoring; daytime running lamps
Place of assembly: Tsutsumi, Japan
Weight: 3,680 pounds
Trunk: 10.6 cubic feet
EPA fuel economy rating: 40 mpg city, 38 highway
Price as driven: $27,909, including destination charge