From what I've seen, Camry Hybrid has a 33 city / 35 Hwy EPA estimate for 2011 model year, last year of its 1st gen. 2nd gen CH LE, 2012+ now has 43 city / 39 hwy. All this while going from 187 to 200 HP (and losing a couple hundred lbs). Fuelly also showing Camry Hybrid gained solid 4 MPG average from 1st to 2nd gen. Impressive.
I have a 2012 TCH XLE. Those EPA numbers are pretty accurate in the warmer weather. Last June I made a trip from PA to Maine and averaged 44 MPG.
I would like to do some official hybrid car tax "penalty" calcs to discuss with politicians in Virginia. I am thinking to complare: 2012 CAMRY Hybrid vs. non-hybrid trim 2012 CAMRY. Does this make sense? Does anyone have a feel for the trim versions I should compare in order to show how much extra the Hybrid costs? Then I need to ask someone in the local gov't to estimate annual property tax difference each year for both vehicles say 5 years out.
I thought the 31 MPG city might have been for the XLE model, but .gov site doesn't specify. I vaguely recall seeing 33 MPG for what might be LE (?) model, but not sure. Still, the gains made with Camry hybrid are impressive. It's a $3.4k cost diff between LE gas only to LE hybrid, but 28 avg to 41 is a nice jump!
The only calculations that you really need is F=MA. M = How heavy is the brick with the word "IDIOT" painted on it, it has less letters than Politician, and it will get your point across succinctly! A = How hard you loft said brick, and the trajectory angle. F = How much you really need to emphasize your point of view!
...so I think possibly 20% after 5 years, so 0.2 x $ 3400 = $680 extra tax on a hybrid CAMRY (sales + property tax). Meanwhile the Hybrid CAMRY "robs" the state out of $28 per year less gasoline tax to the state at the pump, or $28x5 = $140 tax loss to state. So VA state makes maybe ~$700 more in sales+prop tax on CAMRY hybrid. But the state is upset that the CAMRY hybrid driver saves $140 in gaso tax over 5 years. So to fix this the idea is charge $500 more to the hybrid driver ($100/year). So now the hybrid driver is paying $700+$500 = +$1200 more taxes (but saves $140 due to less gaso tax)
134 or 200? .044 or .058? 9.8 or 7.8? noisier or quieter? 2 or 2.44 GP100M? $25k or $27k? the latter, not going to worry about 2/3 cup of extra gas every 10 miles, geez.
