Edmunds: Prius vs. Camry Hybrid

Yes, the Prius has a 1.5L engine.

Tom

 

I also drove both in May. I debated overnight because the dealer was offering a below invoice price to move the TCH. (wouldn't happen now). The TCH gets around the same mileage as a Corolla, and the Corolla is thousands less -that tipped the scales for me and I took delivery of my 08 Barcelona Red Pri two weeks later. Both are excellent cars - but having driven both, the Pri is much more fun. BTW I match the TCH mileage in my 04 Passat. The TCH has many mileage and feature competitors.
David.

 

I drove a "regular" Camry for two years and decided I'd had it. Too much to handle around town. Got tired of trying to squeeze into too small parking spaces. I decided it was time to trade up to a smaller car.

It came down to a Corola or a Prius. The Prius won, hands down. More money up front, for sure, but over the next few years I figure I'll be ahead or at least even. "Most" of the time I keep cars until they get close to or over the 100,000 mile mark.

Bob

 

I have a 2001 Civic EX shift, which gets low 30's in town and approaches 40 on the highway.

It also has a 14 cu ft trunk, 4 more than the TCH. I'd keep taking it on trips, but a number of family members have expressed concern using it for marathon drives with an infant aboard. In looking for a replacement, tHe only advantage I could discern for the Camry is hiproom, for those times when three ride abreast in the rear. That's pretty rare in this household. The Prius has 16 cu ft of capacity in back. The 14 cu ft. in my currrent car is sufficient, but without much to spare. I had trouble imagining taking a grown woman, a teenage boy, and an infant girl on vacation with just 10 cu ft of cargo space, which is what both the HOnda Civic hybrid and Camry hybrid have to offer. Plus, the Prius can handle bulky items like Christmas trees.

I'd love to see the Honda Fit compared with the Prius. The Fit is smaller but has incredible interior space, over 20 cu ft with five passengers (well, four realistically). Right now, the Fit (either 2008 or the redesigned 2009) seems to be the most efficient choice in the non-hybrid space.

Also, Prius appears to have better reliability than any car on the road, including Camry. The Camry V6 got a less than typically Toyota reliability rating from CR.

 

We have an 05 Prius and an 07 Camry and for long trips the Camry wins hands down, it's much quieter, and if driven at 65-70 on the interstate, it will average 44 MPG. The Prius is a great around town car and fine for shorter road trips. The JBL radio in the Prius is terrible compared to the Camry and the Nav screen in the Camry is much brighter and better than in the 05 Prius. Both are great cars and no one should feel disappointed with either one.

 

The feature of the Prius which makes it a better choice than the Camry, and has only been touched upon in a few posts, is the tremendous cargo room of the Prius with the back seats down. I have saved over a hundred dollars in delivery costs in bringing home an assembled full size grill, a large TV, and a recliner at various times. My wife is confined to a wheel chair and throwing it into our Prius is a snap and our luggage on long trips, and her walker, all fit together as well.

 

I like both and would probably have gotten the Camry if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't hatchback (for the dog in the back) and it didn't qualify for CA carpool stickers at the time.

I think the Camry is hands down a better vehicle in terms of drive, comfort and interior materials.

If you don't need a hatchback, can live with a smaller trunk and willing to sacrifice some MPG it is going to be a better bet for sure.

 

Really, mid 40s? I though high 30s was typically about as good as you'd get in the TCH...

 

80-85mph on the freeway gets me 37mpg in our TCH. I don't know what speeds would net 44mpg. I've never averaged more than 42mpg for any significant distance.

As I wrote earlier, I find it much easier to exceed EPA estimates (significantly) in the Camry vs the Prius, though my tires may be costing me a couple mpg on the Prius.

 

Hmm... If I knew the TCH got 44mpg at 65-70mph (compare to ~50mpg at 65-70mph in the Prius) I would have considered a much closer look at it.

37mpg at 80-85mph is excellent, the Prius gets ~43mpg at those speeds.

The extra width in the TCH would be appreciated with two child seats in the rear - might have a chance at squeezing someone in middle. There's no chance of that happening in the Prius.

 

I found the comparison to be leaning toward the HyCam from the beginning. Standard "bigger is better", "faster is better" sort of stuff. Go to a comparison site and see if the "advantage" isn't given to the vehicle that has the greater roof height, largest turning circle, longest overall length (regardless of interior space).

And the "Camry controls are just like every other car you have driven" is a piss poor reason to decide it is a better car. How many of you get out a crank, stick it in the engine and about break your arm starting your car? How many mess with manual chokes? If everything has to be the same as whatever you've seen before, there will never be any improvements.

I personally think many of the things they didn't like about the Prius are what makes it the BETTER vehicle.

1. The gauges at the dash/windshield line instead of hidden behind the steering wheel and my hands. The angle your eyes leave the road is less and the focal length is still 'far'. You'll notice the benefit of this when you get the the point of needing bifocal or multi focal glasses
2. Most used controls on the steering wheel. I find those and the touch screen to be much easier to use than sliders and dials to control things.
3. The "joystick" shifter that takes no space on the console. This allows the cup holders to be farther forward and more accessible with more arm rest room.
4. The shifter that returns to "home" so getting to any given "gear" uses the same motion no matter what 'gear' it is currently in. No wasted motions, no going through reverse to get to drive.
5. The 2 second difference 0-60 MPH. Who cares? Anyone that gets excited about 0-60 times would think 8.4 seconds is a joke anyway. No one NEEDS to get to 60 in 8.4 seconds let alone 5 or 6. BTW, I lived in LA near I-5 where they have traffic signals at the top of the on ramps. I was driving cars that would make 0-60 in 10 seconds look like greased lightning so don't start with the "I need it to get on the freeway" line. Use your turn indicator, merge behind the car you are next to and the person behind will likely let you in instead of racing you for 'their' space because you are a pushy SOB.

I do agree that a more adjustable front seat would be a good thing. And if you need to put 3 in the back with any frequency, the extra 2 inches of hip room in the HyCam would be useful.

Interesting that they found 41.5 MPG to be "impressive" in the HyCam but didn't say the same about the 51.9 for the Prius in their test. I guess because the HyCam number was higher as a percentage of the EPA ratings.

The HyCam should be getting about the same mileage as a Prius as it isn't much bigger. Putting in a much larger than necessary ICE to gain the 2 seconds 0-60 costs 25% to 30% in MPG.

If I said you could buy gas for $4.00/gallon or $2.80 to $3.00 per gallon, which would you choose? That is the difference 25% to 30% makes in $ per mile driven.

 

Typical Prius apologist conclusion. An objective, neutral, well-balanced article that doesn't conclude the Prius is superior to every car on the road is automatically slanted from the beginning.

Many of your arguments are laughable. How many times did you go back for additional Kool-Aid?

 

I think the real reason fuel economy is lower is because:

1. It's 25% heavier. The HyCam weighs about 750lbs more than the Prius. This will kill city fuel economy since it will take 25% more energy to accelerate to speed, and you need to have much beefier electronics to try to recover all that energy during braking.

2. It's coefficient of drag is slightly higher - and it has a bit more frontal area due to it's width. Means lower fuel economy on the freeway.

The bigger engine does not help much, but thanks to the hybrid system, it probably doesn't hurt as much as you think (note how the 2010 Prius is getting a larger engine and will still get better fuel economy than the current Prius).

Fix #1 and #2 and that could get the fuel economy up significantly. Fixing #1 would also mean you could downsize the engine significantly further saving a bit of weight and improving efficiency.

 

On pricing, go to the Toyota website. The base price of the Camry hybrid is currently $27490. The Prius base price is $22160., $24110 with option packages. Many dealers are selling these cars at list price. There is a considerable waiting time on orders.

 

That's a recent, and large price increase. It was $26,310 before this recent increase.

A few weeks ago I priced a Camry Hybrid with Nav and leather, against a Touring Prius with leather and package 6, and the difference in price was $1300 ($29,960 vs $28,605).