Toyota Camry Hybrid Test
Everyone in the world knows what a Toyota Prius Hybrid looks like, but the only way you’re going to be able to spot a hybrid Toyota Camry is via a couple of badges on the car – and the fact it doesn’t make any engine sounds when it’s parking.
It’s no secret that hybrids are big these days, and that’s just what Toyota wanted; a bigger hybrid. Many taxi companies run Prius hybrids, often more to show they’re thinking green rather than being able to charge customers lower rates but there’s only so much interior room in a Prius which is of course a small hatchback.
There are a few differences in the drivetrains between the two cars, notably that the engine is bigger, a 110kW (147hp) 2.4 litre four cylinder that, as in the Prius, has been adapted to run on an Atkinson cycle. One problem with Atkinson cycle engines is that they don’t produce much power for the given displacement, but since there’s also a 105kW (140hp) electric motor in the Camry acceleration is not an issue.
The Camry hybrid is designed to produce lower fuel consumption and emissions, but it’s also intended to give the vehicle the power drivers expect from a standard V6 engined car, which is why the electric motor assists the engine more often than the drive system in the Prius.
Like the Prius, there’s a special ‘B’ position on the gearlever that increases the regenerative braking effect, producing more energy through an electric motor that recharges the battery, but unlike the Prius the engine in the Camry also activates to provide more engine braking. Indeed the derivers manual states that driving the vehicle in ‘B’ all the time will actually increase fuel consumption.
In all other respects the Camry hybrid drives just like any other Camry, which means competent handling but a fairly boring drive. The CVT gearbox is smooth and seamless and the car is quiet even when the engine is working.
The one big difference is that no Camry in existence will do 7.6L/100km (30mpg) in constant urban driving, which is below even the official claim of 8.8L/100km (26mpg). More importantly, and especially for the city the engine shuts down when the vehicle is stopped in traffic, when it of course produces no exhaust pollutants whatsoever.
The downside is of course that hybrid technology remains expensive and so there’s an NZ$6500 premium over a standard Camry 2.4 litre, which will take plenty of mileage to make up for the extra purchase cost in fuel savings.
That’s why taxi companies are interested in the NZ$48990 Camry hybrid, as the cars cover so much distance every year that actual savings can be made while making that all important point that the taxi company cares about the environment.
