2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid Road Test

The best news about Toyota's new Camry Hybrid is that there's no news at all, or more precisely that it hardly looks or feels much different than the already impressive conventional Camry; recently revamped for the 2007 model year. An attractive chrome grille separates it from the base four-cylinder version, and the rectangular chrome and electric-blue Hybrid Synergy Drive badges attached to each front fender are discreet but nevertheless difficult to miss. At the rear, distinctive taillight lenses, even more jewel-like than the regular Camry's, join a chromed "Hybrid" designation to identify this car's unique advantage over traditional sedans.

And Toyota does make a compelling argument as to why four-door buyers should consider going green. Certainly the hybrid model enjoys fuel savings over a similarly equipped base Camry LE, with a government rating of 5.7 L/100 km in the city, where most of us drive, and an even greater advantage when comparing the model's rather robust V6, but there are tradeoffs, of course. Toyota has positioned the new car above the base LE and below the top-line XLS, both in its $31,900 entry price and 187 horsepower combination of gasoline and 105-kW electrified performance. Not surprisingly the Camry Hybrid doesn't jump off the line with the same enthusiasm as does the V6, but during side-by-side drag races held on a little-used runway on Toronto Island's airport, the hybrid, which enjoys the equivalent of almost 30 additional horsepower, proved more energetic than the base model time and time again.

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