Re: Camry Hybrid Traction Control and Winter MPG
thanks for writing in reply to my concern about traction control on the TCH. Days passed, threads, books, magazines, and other websites were read, and I’ve come around to thinking traction control is a generally useful, important feature to have. If my next vehicle doesn't have all wheel drive as my 1999 CR-V does, then it ought to have traction control, given where I live (very steep hills, with snow in winter), and the amount of miles I travel.
The Prius, the Camry, the Highlander, the Accord, the Civic, and the RX 400h, (and the tantalizing Tesla, if one is reaching for the moon, or the cool design of the new Toyota hybrid concept sports car recently unveiled)...all these current hybrids are appealing to me for various reasons, but none fill the bill in every way.
I’ve come to love my small SUV. I can see better in traffic than in a sedan. It is better than having a larger SUV, or ‘brute ute’. Someone referred to the Cr-V and others of its size as ‘cute utes’. Someone asked when seeing the CR-V for the first time if it was old enough to leave its mother! Just as some have complained about the Prius, and maybe others too, my CR-V gets buffeted a bit on highways with high wind, but I can live with that. I only have a few quibbles about the CR-V: comfort, mileage, and (dare I say it, being of somewhat Puritan stock,) luxury. The updated CR-V has some improvements, but not sufficient for me to just get the new one. I applaud Honda for having produced a car that has been for me completely reliable, wonderfully safe, just fine to drive, and still going strong at 147,000 miles. I’ve loved having AWD which has worked like a charm and enabled me to get to work and elsewhere even on the snowiest of days on the steepest of hills.
However, front seat is just not very comfortable the longer I’m in it. The mileage, while great for a small SUV, is around 23.5-24. Now that I can see the promised land of 35-75 mpg hybrids, I want to go there myself. My car, purchased with a lower priced option package, did not offer many little frivolous things that we’ve come to know and love in other cars we’ve recently owned. It is funny that when one doesn’t have an option, one doesn’t realize how much one will come to love it when it finally becomes a standard thing. My first car was a 1982 two door Chevette with no a/c, no power windows, little power, and difficulty keeping up steam when ascending the many hills in this area, but because it was mine, I adored it. Now power windows and a/c seem crucial to any new car purchase, and other things have taken the role of frivolous but desirable extras. I look forward to purchasing a vehicle with many of them, when I part with the CR-V.
I just wish there was a single vehicle that combined the best attributes of my CR-V and the hybrids which are highest on my potential to buy list. I wish there was a small-ish SUV that in addition to having great mpg (35 or higher), great safety features, great reliability, being more environmentally responsible, reasonably priced, having AWD or traction control, A/C, power windows and locks, a cd player, a power key, a one step process to get into trunk or hatch area, had the following
had the following things going for it: (in no particular order)
1.sunroof,
2.heated seats,
3.heated mirrors,
4.heated wiper blades,
5.greatly adjustable front seats
6.really comfortable front seats,
7.dual climate controls,
8.steering wheel controls for audio and cruise control,
9.satellite radio and cd player
10.is fun to drive.
11.is $30,000 or less.
12.hatchback for transporting pets to the vet without getting the passenger seats all furry
13.and finally, pizzazz (the wow factor). I know it is a matter of opinion, but I find almost none of the hybrids particularly exciting. They mostly just look nondescript and dependable. They provoke in me the same level of interest and thrill that a lot of sports cars and concept cars do.
I want my cake and eat it too, I guess. I recognize that mine are unrealistic expectations. I’ve never yet had the perfect car. I realize that such a vehicle may not exist on the planet. I really like the Prius, the Accord, the Civic, the Highlander, the RX400h, and the Camry except for…
The Prius – dashboard seems too austere to me, the seats are not much of an improvement for me over my CR-V, and the visibility out the back window would be irritating to me I think. I like the idea of the Prius more than I imagine I’d like the day to day reality of it.
The Accord, the RX400H, and the Highlander seem great except for the mileage (assuming the averages on this site of 30 mpg, 25, and 26 respectively are accurate). Their miles per gallon are all too close to what I’m already achieving with my existing vehicle. The RX400h and the Highlander are both a bit larger than I actually need too, so if there were smaller versions of these but still hybrids I’d be interested.
The Honda Civic Hybrid lacks traction control so owners depend on great winter tires instead, as far as I can tell based on reading posts on different websites.
All this brings me to the Camry, likely to be my next vehicle, unless I hold out another year to see what results from the Nissan Altima Hybrid, and the Honda Fit Hybrid, and any others that are in the news, but not yet available. Maybe there’ll be updated and improved versions of any of the hybrids I already mentioned. The Camry is a sedan not an SUV, has mileage that is great compared to my nonhybrid car, but still less than I’d get if I got the HCH or the Prius, and appears to dependable but flirting with boring.
Ultimately I believe, to paraphrase Martha Washington, that one’s happiness usually depends more upon one’s disposition than one’s circumstances. Once I make my mind up to be satisfied with whatever I get, I’ll probably come to love it. Now to try to decide how many more miles and years I’ll stick with my good old CR-V.
swvsings
See "Cheery Cherry TCH" in Greenhybrid log.
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