Why I changed my order to a 07 Camry

I agree the packages cost enough, that adjustable seats should be thrown in, however I lucked out.... the lumbar support fits me perfect... better than my Jeep Cherekee...
I really don't mind not having electric forward and backward, but adjustable support for long trips is nice.

But Focusing on what they do rather than what they don't do...

1. They will fold "all" the way back into a bed... you can lay supine while traveling!...
2. The rear seats can fold down and make the whole back end a big bed while traveling for kids or "big kids!" while camping etc...
3. You can turn your car into sort of a tent and be quite comfortable and play cards or games!... they have tremendous versatility that I have never had in other cars. Turn the climate control on and you have the perfect tent or mini hotel room that will stay at perfect temp all night long while you sleep!.. the ICE will kick on as needed to charge the batt back up to maintain temp in the car.

Its so very easy to always focus on the negatives... but the positives are a wheel barrow full!

 

Whats the difference? Do they also do front?
Unless the battery is bigger or the KW electric regen is greater than 50KW, I'm not sure I follow.

 

If I needed a slightly bigger car, the Camry Hybrid would probably be the one.

Whatever you choose, it's the right choice for you.

I would probably hesitate a bit because it's the first model year, but would probably fold once I sat in one in the showroom!
And the test drive is always the clincher!

 

How much bigger is the Camry really though?

I went to see a Patriots game back in November and I told my friends I'd be happy to drive. They didn't think we'd have enough room for everything, but humored me anyway. Here's what we fit:

4 Adults
3 coolers (varying sizes)
A decent sized grill (not tiny, but not a full size either. Fairly compact
Table
2 Chairs
Others bags with food/chips..etc

I don't think we would have fit all this into a Camry. If we could have, it would have been more difficult, due to trunk shapes and such. It was a breeze to get it in and out of the Prius.

 

Aerodynamics is only one part of the equation.... keeping more weight moving down the hiway just flat out takes more energy.

A diff of 10mph or so seems like no big deal when we are playing with numbers, but think about it... for every one gallon of gas you use, you could have been 10 miles furthur down the road!... thats a long long way to walk!... and you get it for free with every gallon compared to the camry!

The Camry cannot go any faster?... only get up to speed a little faster.. but the top end is of no use unless you estimate that going faster than 115 mph is a valuable consideration for you!... better have a really good radar detector!

The Camry indeed has some advantages, but they come at the cost of losing other things that the prius has..... JMO....

The Camry is a nice car without debate... I just like the prius better at this point.

 

The Camry is heavier car... so it should prove safer in a crash. Mass is definitely good once you are in a crash. It may not help you prevent one... in fact, a lighter more nimble car may be a benefit in avoiding a crash. However... many car accidents are completely unavoidable... you cannot control what the other driver will do. In that case... higher mass is your friend.

/Jim

 

Drum brakes may seen so 1970's but they are appropriate for the rear wheels. During braking, the weight of the car shifts primarily to the front end and the front brakes do 70 to 80 percent of the braking, leaving only 20 or 30 percent for the rear. Drum brakes handle this easily. Disc brakes on the rear are therefore an unecessary expense.

 

And THAT, is precisely why the American car manufacturers are pounding sand...

h34r:

 

This is not necessarily true. Maybe if you were comparing solid mass objects. 2005 cadillac escalade is over 5000lbs. Yet, it only received a 4 star rating for front driver and passenger. Camry got 5 stars on both.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap...a&myModel=Camry

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap...yModel=Escalade

How the structure and crash safety is designed is more important

 

I took a second look....
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthre...294#post1074294

I don't like the "wasted" space in the trunk of the camry.. like someone said, its limited to its demensions and the instrument dash is "shorter" or rather less deep.. I like the extra dash space and the instrument controls on the prius.. they look much more high tech rather than the conventional look of every other car. Although the oak trim is very swanky on the camry.. if you wanted to kick back and put one of your feet in the dash "like my wife likes to do".. there just isn't as much room?

The extra/deeper dash space and the hatchback, gives the feeling of much more space... almost like a house built with open concept, rather than walling in everything.

You will not be carrying any 10 foot boards, ladders or anything else in the camry without trashing your car. You cannot arrange it as friendly for you kids.
I like being able to look over my backseat to access or just check on what I have in the back.. In a trunk things can crash around etc and you will never know till you open the trunk. The hatchback of the prius is also much more usefriendly for installing high power speaker systems... much better acoustics and room. With even "hidden" cubby holes for mounting amps etc.

After looking, I still concur the camry is a very nice car, but I feel even stronger now, "the prius is more than a car!"

 

Flareak,

If I understand the front crash tests correctly (and I think I do)... these crash test numbers are very misleading. They are crash tests into a solid barrier. So it is quite possible to build a great 3000 lbs car (Prius) with exceptional crush zones that does well when driven into a solid barrier. At the same time... it is quite possible to build a 5000 lb car with mediocre crush zones which will fare worse than the 3000 lb car when driven into the same solid barrier.

However... if you were to take the exceptional 3000 lb car... and have it do a head-on collision with the 5000 lb car... it is highly likely that the 5000 car would be light years ahead of the smaller vehicle. F=MA still holds true.

My engineering background trains me to think of things in the limit. An exceptionally well designed insect... hitting the front of a poorly designed Mack truck... doesn't stand a chance.

/Jim

 

The Camry hybrid... it's so exciting!

 

you won't get more battery charge using 4 wheel regenerative as opposed to 2 wheel regenerative braking. You will get more charge because your stopping more mass.... but then you will use more energy to get that mass rolling again.

 

The regeneration doesnt come from the breaks anyway, it comes from the electric motor and they are both front-wheel drive cars. Correct me if I am wrong, John?

 

SloopG's wife doesn't like the Prius seat. That trumps MPG difference or anything else. End of story.

 

Yes, I was wondering where this assertion that it has "4-wheel regenerative braking" is coming from. That would only really make sense if was 4-wheel drive like the RX400h.

Further to that, I thought the limiting factor on regeneration in the Prius was how fast you could charge the battery, not how much current MG2 can generate.

 

That is so true...it's just that, as men we can't admit to who's running the show... :lol:

 

I was in the same situation and as a 4 time Camry owner since 1990, I considered it 'my' car. The 4c Camry's have been absolutley bulletproof for 15+ yrs at 30000 to 50000 miles / yr.

But I purchased a Prius at the end of Nov anyway. My comfort with Toyota was one reason. The size, comfort, ultra efficiency and environmental impact matched my needs better.

I think the styling and new content make the '07 the best Camry ever - then to make it a hybrid - Wow!.

Your reasons for waiting for the new TCH go to something I have been saying for a while. The Prius ( Lat. 'to go before' ) is/was a precursor to mainstreaming hybrid technology into the market via the quintessential American family sedan. I think this was the longterm strategy since well before 2000. Major product/technology shifts dont appear like mushrooms. I'd be willing to bet that in the mid-90's when Toyota discovered that their hybrid system was a viable powerplant the product planners decided that it had to be part of the Camry line and it had to be in a good package. But how to get such a strange idea into the public's consciousness. Get an influential, concerned market segment to adopt a vehicle unique to itself, a prophet if you will. With the acceptance from this leadership group, and barring any major errors, the rest of the market will see the benefits and be willing try this revolutionary ( for autos) system.

While the typical Camry buyer probably will still be looking for economy and reliability in a 4c power plant there are a lot of potential 'conquest sales' that will only consider a V6. Give a late 90's Taurus/Sable or Intrepid owner a stylish new vehicle with more power than what they've had for 8 yrs and then give them 40 mpg - in a Toyota!!! ... and in a Camry at that!!! 46000 units may not be half enough production.