This review from Road and Track which was linked from the Camry forum on www.greenhybrid.com led me to go Camry over the Civic:

http://toyotanation.com/forum/showth...38#post1189638

While the Civic's EPA mileage is better, the Camry was almost as good in R&T's test (within 10%).

While getting a bit more mileage is great, I prefer the styling and more power of the Camry.

If I never read the R&T report, I would have stuck with the Civic (and I still might, I will find out for sure soon).

Anyone else struggling with this decision? It would be interesting to here how others are weighing the differences.

Note I am comparing the base version of the Camry with no Navi vs. the Civic with Navi. The Camry is still ~$2500 more expensive. That price difference is tolerable for me.

I think a question to ask is whether you can trust the EPA mileage rating on the Camary. I'm not bashing the Camary or Prius by any stretch, but it just seems there has been a lot of discussion on how accurate the EPA numbers are for it.

GH has the Prius II data ranging from 45-50 MPG, 48 average. This from the 60/51 (55 average) it advertises. If the Camary (40/38, say 39 average) does the same, real world could be 33. GH HCH II average right now is 48. 15 MPG is nothing to sneeze at. This is all speculative of course (and please, no need for Prius owners to lecture me on how they get 60 MPG) - this is just an observation.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

I appreciate the comparison and I just looked at the data. I totally agree that 15 MPG is significant.

Unfortunately there will be no data for the Camry by the time I need to decide (on the order of days).

Thus I fall back on the Road and Track comparison.

If there were another professional comparison done, that would really help but I have not seen one.

Deciding on this has been very difficult. The better (my opinion) styling and bigger engine on one hand vs. the presumed better mileage that may be quite significant.

These two cars are really not even in the same class of vehicle. The Accord would a better comparison (which is really not a comparison). I think the Civic is smaller than the Camary.

Support the Troops - Drive a Hybrid!

There's no question based on everything I've seen that I'd much rather have the Camry than the Civic. I agree with all the posts that the actual gas milege is the crux of the decision between the two. If it turns out that it really gets 40 mpg real world driving, though, I'd say it's a hands down winner. It looks better, has a better stereo, has more room and power and everything about it justifies the nominal price differential.

I'm keeping my CHCH because I only drive ~8,000 miles a year and have 2.9% financing on it. If I drove more, I might care more about what I drive and would probably get the Camry until the next thing comes along. But as it is, I'm stuck waiting for the day when I can get a sportier (in terms of styling, not speed) hybrid.

have to agree with this statement. and actually, the accord is a v-6 with more horsepower and torque so the camry is kind of in between the civic and accord.

The Civic is about the same size as the Camry, or at least it appears to be when sitting in the car. And trunk space is about the same, being roughly 10'.

Both cars' base models are very well equipped, and in fact they're almost identically equipped, though the Camry has SKS and it has more options available. So that at least makes it easy to compare the cars by price ($22700 vs $26480, or a $3780 difference).

The Civic gets at least somewhat better mileage (we'll have to wait to get good data) but it doesn't feel like a true hybrid the way the Prius or Camry does. And the Camry is significantly faster and smoother. Plus its gas tank is 5 gallons larger, though the significance of that depends on what its actual mileage is, which again we'll have to see later.

When going uphill in the Civic, the battery drains instantly and the engine needs to rev very high and it really feels like the car is straining. When doing the same thing in the Camry, it feels very confident and I wasn't even aware of the uphill climbing I was doing. The HCH makes you very aware of climbs.

here's the actual specs in a comparison table from edmunds for everyone:
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/nvc/edmunds/VehicleComparison;jsessionid=GjCJtPtW9vlZKXP1dJxhS 5QtCGvm6RDZGyh1yRKJzZNnYSPDsZ8P!863197610?styleid= 100668136&styleid=100660627&styleid=100701540&maxv ehicles=5&refid=&op=3&tab=specs

as you can see, the camry is right in between the civic and accord and is closer to the accord in interior space and weight, etc.

actually, it's a good market for toyota. if honda would put a 4 cylinder on par with the camry then more accords would probably sell - or at least tune the ima to favor fuel efficiency over power.

cheers,
neil

I must say the Camry looks like a great car. I'd say it just about boils down to extra power vs extra mileage (of course with the price difference thrown in as well). How important is the extra mileage to you? It might just come down to that.

Actually it is 45.5mean and 46.5median. Only the HCH 1 with MT is at 48. The HCH 2 has never hit 48 but it might if summer can pull it up.