2018 HyCam amateur review and ongoing blog

I'm so spoiled by the Camry's 4x automatic windows. I just hit the buttons on the other vehicle and only one window went down because it only has 1x automatic window (the driver's). Holding those other 3x buttons down for a few seconds seems like a lot of work now...

 

So I've not posted a tank in a while. We didn't keep track during our vacation and I goofed up the first tank when we got back.

The current tank is running around 65 MPG displayed. The car is being driven normally on the way to work and conservatively on the way home. The new thing is that the AC has been left on the entire time. The AC is affecting the mileage but not nearly as much as it did in my old car (Civic Hybrid). I think if you ran both cars with the AC on the Camry might actually get better mileage, which is amazing.

 

I tried out "Sport Mode" for the first time while going down a big hill. You definitely gain the ability to control the level of engine braking. Normally in "Normal Mode" the car will speed up to 60 MPH while going down this particular hill. Sport mode allowed me to (variably and greatly) increase the level of engine braking thereby decreasing the maximum speed while going down the hill.

I couldn't tell if the engine was coming on. The effect was much smoother than the "Jake Brake" incident I posted about earlier:

HyCam noisy going down hill | PriusChat

...so the engine may not have been turning. It is a little annoying that the car lacks a tachometer so I can't say for sure.

The primary use for this would seem to be to save wear and tear on the brakes. Sport Mode seemed to generate less regen. Normally in "Normal Mode" the car would have a full charge at the bottom of the hill. I typically switch from ECO Mode with AGC to Normal Mode to increase the drag. In Normal Mode the engine does not turn and the generator causes all the drag and the battery ends up full most every time. In Sport Mode the battery was not full at the bottom of the hill leading me to suspect that maybe the engine was used to cause more drag resulting in less rather than more regen.

The "Jake Brake" incident also seemed to generate less regen.

 

So I used the "B" mode/ Sport shifting while going down the big hill and paid special attention to the needle on the left most gauge. The needle momentarily dipped lower (seemingly indicating more battery charging) with each "down shift" but then it went back to about where it would be in NORMAL mode shortly thereafter. Still not sure if it increases or decreases overall charging and still not sure if the engine spins.

 

New tank (finally, have missed a few)...

Lifetime displayed MPG 55.4 (was down under 55 during our vacation at highway speeds)
Trip 709.9 miles with 93 miles range left. The car could go 800 mile if I wanted to push it.
65.4 MPG displayed tank
$28.44
11.115 gallons

63.9 MPG calculated

This tank had the AC on the entire time so I was perfectly comfortable. Driving to work was done at normal speeds while driving home was more conservative.

I've done better than 80 MPG in my previous hybrid but that was with the AC OFF during the hottest part of the Summer and getting lucky with some traffic, lights and weather. This also involved leaving early for work so trips both directions were slow.

This tank in the Camry was impressive in that I didn't go to much trouble at all and still got good mileage.

 

Got a new phone, one that actually has data (unlike the previous phone). I'll be checking out the Entune system and reporting back. So far I'm not seeing anything I couldn't live without.

 

I don't have the energy to describe how bad Entune and especially Scout Link are. I used Scout Link once on a old road that has been there for at least 20 years. It told me to take a hard right (specifically a "hard" right) at a time when I needed to take a left to get home. Once I went left the thing went completely nuts and started naming off roads on the far side of the subdivision, this after I was already on my own street with a block to go before reaching my house. Terrible! Also no maps are available while on Bluetooth, just wacky and incorrect turn by turn directions.

 

There was an address mix-up that was partly my fault so maybe Scout Link isn't quite as bad as I was claiming.

 

I've got a Garmin which is okay but it is mounted a little low to be convenient. I leave it disconnected most of the time and will only use it if we are on vacation. I don't need it to get to work.

We tried Waze offline and didn't have much luck with it. Google Maps has a decent offline/wifi only mode. Waze might be fine with data.

I just got data on my phone so Google Maps or Waze should work well.

The biggest advantage of Scout is that it is right on the dash on a nice easy to see screen. That might be useful even if the navigation is terrible. One can just use it for the map and leave the navi part off.

Of course the best thing would be for Toyota to allow Android Auto to function. Pipe dream...

I love my car but I'm mad at Toyota for hamstringing the infotainment with their crappy apps.