A Road Trip for Fudge Costs a Steep Premium
By JOSEPH B. WHITE

Toyota Motor Corp.'s new 2012 Camry hybrid looks good on paper: It's more fuel efficient, has faster performance and costs less than last year's model.


So how good is it? I took a 569-mile road trip from Detroit to the Mackinac Bridge in northern Michigan to get the answer—and a piece of Mackinac Island's famous fudge. The trip illustrated the appeal of hybrids—yet underscored why more people don't buy them.

Starting out on Interstate 75, I soon encountered a city-style traffic jam because of a detour around a closed bridge. This is the kind of driving where the Camry hybrid shines. As I was inching along, a light on the dashboard informed me that I was moving on battery power alone. (Look, Ma, no petroleum!)

To amuse myself in the flat farmland near Saginaw, I tuned in to a comedy station on the car's satellite radio, one option in the car's premium audio and navigation system, with AM, FM, HD and an iPod port as well. Next I listened to Hank Williams on the CD player, but switched back to radio to catch the end of the Detroit Lions' come-from-behind victory over the Vikings.

I also played around with the screens accessed using a button labeled information "apps." One function shows how energy is being shuffled around between the battery pack and the gasoline engine, as well as my real-time fuel consumption.

The new Camry's infotainment system is slick, but that isn't what sells hybrids. The 2012 model comes with a 156-horsepower motor that replaces the old hybrid's 2.4-liter, 147-horsepower gasoline engine. It also delivers significantly better mileage. The least-expensive LE hybrid is rated at 43 miles per gallon in the city, up from 31 mpg, and 41 mpg on the highway, up from 35 mpg for last year's model. The loaded XLE I drove is rated at 40 mpg city, 38 mpg on the highway. Behind those gains: new software that manages fuel consumption and lighter materials that drop the car's weight some 200 pounds compared to the outgoing model.

The bottom line is fuel efficiency. On long trips, range—the distance between fill-ups—is almost as important as mileage. With a 17-gallon fuel tank, the hybrid Camry can, on paper, travel as many as 680 miles. I ran out of nerve and refueled as the gas gauge dipped below a quarter after 482 miles in Bridgeport, Mich.

Less inspiring was the Camry's electric power steering. This car isn't designed for aggressive drivers. It's a commuting machine. Overall, the Camry felt numb and disconnected from the road. There are some performance-oriented hybrids on the market—Toyota offers some in its Lexus luxury line. But the Camry is tuned for efficiency.

Heading north from Grayling, where I-75 abuts Huron National Forest, the traffic cleared, and I got the Camry up to 75 miles per hour. This sort of freeway driving is where the car's nearly 200-pound battery pack becomes largely a liability. In fact, this car's freeway mileage rating is lower than the city estimate, the reverse of most cars.

Still, I averaged about 37 mpg over the course of the road trip. That's remarkably close to the official estimate.

The Camry hybrid is exactly the sort of midsize car the federal government is calling for in its drive to boost the average fuel efficiency of U.S. cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Yet despite recent gas-price shocks, hybrids remain marginal to the U.S. car business.

Overall demand for hybrid cars and trucks has fallen to less than 2% of the total market this year, according to sales figures compiled by Autodata Inc.—and that's with more hybrid models on the market than ever.

Some rivals are downplaying the "hybrid" label. General Motors Co.'s Buick brand will offer battery-boosted versions of its Regal and Lacrosse sedans rated at 36 mpg on the highway. But after hearing from consumers that "hybrid" suggested unwelcome trade-offs in performance, vice president of Buick marketing Tony DiSalle says the company is calling its system "eAssist."

Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it will discontinue the hybrid version of its Escape compact crossover vehicle and instead offer three efficient gasoline engines, including a turbo charged "Ecoboost" motor that Ford says will exceed the 31 mpg highway mileage of the old hybrid.

The consulting firm IHS Automotive counts 29 different hybrid vehicles on the market, including battery-pack toting versions of mainstream midsize sedans such as the Ford Fusion, Nissan Altima and Hyundai Sonata. But nearly half of the hybrids sold are one model: the easily identifiable Toyota Prius.

Despite the additional hybrid models on the market, "we're seeing no increases in demand," says IHS auto industry analyst Rebecca Lindland. "The reality is hybrids have never gotten over 3% of the market. Which means 97% of people are picking something else."

The reason: the cost, at $25,900 for the base LE model and $27,400 for the better-equipped XLE. Even though Toyota has dropped prices for the 2012 hybrid Camry by $800 to $1,150 compared to last year's model, the hybrid Camry XLE still costs nearly $2,700 more than a comparable, conventional Camry.

Overall, I saved about $21 in gas costs by driving the Camry hybrid compared to a conventional Camry. To recoup the $2,700 hybrid price premium, I'd have to make the equivalent of 126 trips from my home in suburban Detroit home to Mackinac Island for a piece of fudge. I don't like the stuff that much.