2018 Camry Hybrid LE Two Year Review

Rather than do a full review I'm just going to talk about what is new. The car has been 100% reliable in the first 2 years.

If you like you can read the one year here: 2018 Camry Hybrid LE One Year Review | PriusChat

The original from when the car was new here: 2018 HyCam amateur review and ongoing blog | PriusChat

Perhaps the biggest news is that that Toyota has added the ability to update the Entune infotainment system to include Apple CarPlay. This is a great thing for people in the Apple universe, unfortunately I'm on Android and Toyota has yet to include Android Auto but I'm hoping they add it someday like they did CarPlay.

In the last year I drove more aggressively and used the AC more than I did the first year. I'm happy to report that the Camry Hybrid performs brilliantly in the warm summer months. The AC works wonderfully even when the engine is off and the mileage penalty is not that severe. It is very easy to meet or beat the EPA rating in the summer months even with daily AC use and fairly aggressive driving. In fact the car is almost perfect in the summer providing an excellent combination of power, comfort and frugality.

The winter months are a bit frustrating. The EPA rating is a pipe dream in the winter. Winter is just harder in general with stiffer lube, longer warm ups, etc. I've discovered that the engine will run just to make heat. The way the car gets such good mileage is that is turns of the engine when it is not needed and this does not happen so much in the winter because the car is trying to keep you warm. Fortunately you can monkey with the climate control and get the car to behave more like it does in the summer, which helps a bit. Winter is also when the sun is low in the sky and there are horrible reflections from the hood that stab you in the eyes. I added a $25 strip of tinting low on the windshield near the dash. The tinted strip helps a lot with the reflections.

Adding CarPlay should eliminate one of the biggest complaints about the car at least for Apple people.

I've got a couple little new complaints as well.

1) My wife can't lock her purse in the car since she carries a key to the car in her purse.

2) The radar never goofed up for the first year and a half of driving but it has put on the brakes a couple times that were not really appropriate during the more aggressive driving I've been doing. The issue seems to be when a vehicle (especially a truck) is parked off the side of the road in a curve. You are headed straight at the truck but the road curves so you are not going to hit the truck. Silly radar does not know the difference sometimes. Mostly it is a good system and it has activated appropriately most of the time, in fact it may have saved me from a fender bender. I think the sensitivity might be adjustable.

So that is it! The newest thing is that I love the car more than ever because I can be so comfortable with the AC on and still get fantastic mileage, love it!

 

Oh one more thing, I bought white which I like for heat rejection but a coworker bought gray/silver and her car looks much better. All the nice lines get washed out by the white color but they stand out with the gray. Huge difference!

 

Thanks Tideland, we will try the trunk next time.

I doubt the electric heater would be worth the trouble as I live in the South and it would only work one way. Coming home from work is going to be a cold start no matter what. I work evening shift so that night time start is cold. Oh the car runs rough when it is really cold before it warms up. Going to work is not so bad because the car is kept in a garage and it is warmer during the day.

 

Changing the DST on the clock is super easy because there is a DST ON/OFF toggle. Awesome idea!

 

It took 2 years for this to happen, twice in one day. I must have put the key in my pocket a weird way because the trunk popped open, twice. I noticed the first time but not the second so the trunk stayed open all night long till the next day. Good thing it was in the garage!

 

I was letting the dealership take care of this. One time they put in 36, another 32. The cold weather just triggered a warning which was interesting because all 4 were at about 30 PSI which I would have thought would have been close enough. Now they are all at 40 PSI by my hand.

So basically until recently I just didn't pay much attention to the pressure but after the low pressure alert I jacked them up to 40.

I've read the factory suggested is 35.

 

Oh I'm glad you remembered to bring this up. We tried the trunk and with the current settings the Camry would not lock with my wife's purse (and key) in the trunk.

I'll check out that setting, thanks!