my random impressions after driving a HyCam for ~62 miles

For those who care, I got a HyCam as a loaner for a day while my Prius was in for an oil change, TSB and some warranty work. The dealer couldn't get the work done by the end of the day, hence the loaner.

Here are some random impressions vs. my Prius and a bit vs. the 07 NAH (which my mom has).

- Much smoother ride and quieter than the Prius.
- Definitely feels more powerful than the Prius, but to me the NAH feels more powerful (not surprising, it has a bit more power).
- I liked leather interior vs. my cloth Prius.
- Liked the power seat, heated seats and compass.
- I didn't get quite used to the differences in button and control placement along w/the left and right halves of buttons having different functions around the MFD.
- I was surprised to see that the quality of the MFD LCD was MUCH worse than that of my 06 Prius. It's as if they used the high res graphics on a much lower res LCD.
- The car felt a lot bigger than my Prius (not used to driving larger cars anymore).
- Turning circle of the HyCam is clearly a lot worse than the Prius.
- Handling didn't feel as nimble as the PRius.
- The power transitions between electric and ICE are a LOT smoother than the NAH. The NAH is pretty abrupt and also jerks a bit when you reach ~40 mph.
- I like the little trip computer in the speedo area esp. cruising range (distance to empty). I never did understand the Eco Drive screen. I also noticed a few times, after power down, it would say "Excellent!"
- I like the fact that the MFD's gas mileage history is in 1 minute increments and doesn't get cleared on power down.
- It was interesting to see that the emergency key has its pattern on the inside. Presumably, the type of lock they used is harder to pick or force open w/a screwdriver.
- It's a shame that the MPG gauge drops straight into the E mode band but doesn't give you any sense of how much regen you're getting. The NAH's killowatt gauge is neat because you can see the amount of regen and how close you are to max regen.
- The JBL stereo in the HyCam BLOWS away the JBL "premium" stereo in the Prius. Wow. If I only could swap it.
- I was wondering where the CD player load slot was and thought my car had no CD player at all until I realized the screen flips down to reveal the load slots.
- Consumer Reports is right about the lighting around the HVAC area being too bright. It is too bright along w/the lights surrounding the MFD.

Overall, I liked the HyCam a lot. If my Prius got totaled in an accident and I didn't want to buy a used one w/carpool lane stickers, I'd probably consider the HyCam or NAH. However, I'd probably buy the NAH due to the tax credit and power.

 

NAH is the Nissan Altima Hybrid. My mom's had one since Feb 08.

So far, it's been trouble free except for intermittent audio input jack problem. It also happened to recently make it in Consumer Reports' most reliable list.

Part of the the reason why I'd pick up the NAH over the HyCam is because of the $2350 tax credit (New Energy Tax Credit for Hybrids) making it cheaper since Toyota/Lexus hybrids are down to $0 tax credit.

I'm under no illusions that Nissan reliablity is up to Toyota levels. It's not, speaking from owning my Z and former 02 Maxima along w/seeing Consumer Reports reliability ratings.

 

Yeah, I did adjust the instrument panel dimmer. The problem was that it's just too bright compared to the gauges. Even with the gauges dimmer than I'd like, the HVAC area lighting was too bright.