I test drove the Camry hybrid and I like everything about it, everything but the small trunk. I was about to buy it last week but then I realized I can buy a tricked out non-Hybrid Camry for almost 5 grands cheaper.
I really don't see buying a TCH making a lot of financial sense at its current EPA rating. I am thinking I will trade-in this car anyway in two years time to get a more efficient hybrid ( 90+ MPG ?!).
I am wondering if anybody was concerned about this before buying this car and ended up buying it?!

ty!

Hi Boho! What in life does make any financial sense?? The trick is like the others here to buy rite for around the same price as the wee 6 cammer.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Bono,

Please give a listing of how each car is equiped so we can see what you mean when you say a tricked out non-hybrid for $5,000 less.

Everytime I equip the cars, the non-hybrid and the hybrid are much closer than $5,000.

I'm shopping right now for a TCH so I've done some reading and research and everytime I run numbers the hybrid wins out. You get all of the regular Camry features + the increase in gas milage to help offset the cost of operation.

And with the price of gas moving up to a consistant $3.00 / gallon mark - the Hybrid makes even more sense.

Will be a TCH owner soon!

Everything is relative. A new car doesn't make financial sense if you think about it. Why buy a new car when you're going to lost 20% of the value when you drive it off the lot (I made that figure up, but you get the point.) If you really want a Camry, get a used Camry from a Toyota dealership with the automatic extended warranty that it comes with.

I went through the same thought processes that you are going through. Should I get the TCH? Should I get a regular Camry? Should I get the V6? V4? Moonroof? DVD navigation system (which I knew I would rarely use).

Finally, I just decided, to heck with it. I'm going to get what makes me happy, and what made me happy was the heated leather seats in the winter time, and the fact that the car was geekier than I am. Ipso facto, ergo, and there 'ya have it I made my decision.

Then my wife promptly swiped my car, but that's another story in another thread.

Benny.

This is what I am looking at on carsdirect.com for zip code 94102

Camry Hybrid
$28,069 -> Options: Nav system, leather heated seats and sunroof

Camry LE

$23,110 -> $20,609 Options: Auto transmission and moonroof. The options for the nav system and leather seats won't show up but I confirmed I can get them for around $2,500 more.

I mostly agree with you! I just wanted to see what you guys think.

One thing that helped my decision to go the with the hybrid was the federal tax credit. I'm not going to get into the discussion as the whether or not the tax credit is a tax credit for everyone (due to the alternative minimum tax) because that isn't an issue for me—I'll get the full $1,300 credit on next year's return. Some others on this forum bought when they could get the $2,600 tax credit, and when you factor that in, the cost differential narrows. I came to the Toyota Camry Hybrid from a 2003 Toyota 4Runner, and I was getting around 19 miles per gallon. My fuel costs have—and this is real-world, not theoretical—been cut in half. I'm spending half of what I used to spend on gasoline every month. I also really like the tech stuff in this car; I like using the nav system and I've used the 5.1 hack so I can override it.

For what it's worth, I think they've got the federal tax credit backwards. Seems to me the credit ought to go up (or stay the same) for more hybrids sold, not less. Then maybe GM, Ford and other manufacturers would get off their asses and get competitive with Toyota.

End of rant.

I'm not going to argue the financials between the two cars (well not directly), but that is because I finally got through the whole dealer thing about a week ago. There are some other things to take into consideration, these ended up being very important to me and may sway you one way or another. The little things like how quiet the hybrid is, especially running in electric mode, I find the transmission incredibly smooth and actually enjoy that quite a bit (my trade in was a ten year old manual), a little goofy, but I love the smart key thing, I get a kick out of opening the doors and starting the car with the key just in my pocket. Now these little pieces certainly have a financial aspect to them and you could run numbers, but when it comes down to it I get a big grin every time I think about heading out somewhere.

Or take into consideration the little things and assign a monetary value to them. I suspect that the difference between a decked LE and Hybrid isn't nearly a big as first glance.

Of course both are camry's so I don't think you can go wrong with either decision, I just know that I am really happy with my TCH.


-MT

Caution, the federal tax credit (which I think has expired???) won't apply if you are in AMT. --benny