The HCH gets at least 50 mpg at 70 miles per hour, though not at 75 miles per hour, but keep in mind that figure was only for a level stretch of road. Actual highway driving often involves going up hills which costs more than you gain going down, and it often involves short spurts of acceleration due to traffic, where you slow down maybe 5 miles per hour and then speed back up, repeatedly. Plus that's not even counting accelerating onto the highway in the first place.

Well I'll definitely post detailed results when I get the car, but it could be as long as two more months (though hopefully less). I'm trying to hold out for the exact color I want, Barcelona Red.

The Camry also has a lot of additional features that I'd like to have that the HCHII does not.

Did you head north on I-5, and how far did you go on the freeway? I took the loop around the back side of the auto park, and down to Palomar Airport Rd., then back past the outlet stores. There were a zillion people waiting to drive it. I thought the car was extremely quiet, even at higher speeds, and for sure as quiet as my Lexus. I was unsure between the Barcelona Red and Magnetic Gray, now I'm leaning toward the Gray, but the Red is exceptionally nice. I LOVE the new Camry.

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

I drove on I-5 south for perhaps 5 miles or so, starting from Cannon. Then on the way back I got off at Palomar and did what you did.

Then, why EPA highway number is so low, 38mpg?
Something is wrong here.
The EPA test is done up to 60mph, non stop for 10 miles.

Ken@Japan

Didn't you get your 06 HCH only four months ago? Why are you trading so soon?

The EPA test is not at 60 miles per hour. It's between 24-60 miles per hour, averaging 48 miles per hour, with frequent speed changes. Then it is reduced to a smaller number than the actual result based on the weight class of the car and on a constant they apply to all cars since the tests still measure too high. When the HAH changed weight class, its EPA mileage went from 30/37 to 25/34, yet the real-life mileage hadn't changed at all. EPA is not realistic.

But for whatever reason, the values for this car do indeed appear realistic. Road & Track test-drove a Camry Hybrid and they got 38.3 mpg going "75-80 miles per hour mountaineering around LA" (i.e. lots of climbs, up to over 4200 feet from sea level). Motorweek test-drove the car and the averaged 38 mpg though they didn't say what types of driving they put it through.

Also keep in mind my short test-drive didn't change the previous tank average of 29.1, due to acceleration and hill climbs.

Similarly, my 2006 HCH gets 60 mpg cruising on level roads around 60 miles per hour, despite its EPA score of 51 mpg highway.

I picked it up November 16th, so a bit less than six months ago. I'm trading it in because I'm displeased with IMA. I always get better results with HSD than IMA between comparable vehicles (well, Prius vs Civic really), HSD has electric-only mode, and it's seamless and smooth. It's also very fast in the Camry. Plus the Camry has a large fuel tank.

There are other little things about the Camry, such as the smart key & push button start, and ambiguously folding 60/40 rear seats, but the above are the main reasons I want it. My car is slow, jerky, and doesn't really feel much like a hybrid, especially when it fails to do something as simple as auto-stop, i.e. in bad traffic.

I still like the 2006 HCH better than the Prius; I don't regret buying it. But I longed for HSD to be put in a good car, and with the Camry it appears it has. It's not perfect since the TCH is heavier and faster than it needs to be, but those are nice anyway (heavy = steady usually).

i'm confused. the question that was asked by kenny is: do you believe the tch will actually get even 38mpg highway let alone the fantastical claim of 60mpg that you got? are you saying that the epa is underestimating the mpg of the tch?? this would be incredible given that the epa tests are always overestimated when it comes to hybrids and especially so on toyota's hybrid synergy drive.


let's say you're right and the epa estimates are underestimating mpg for hybrids. the hch.ii delta between epa 51mpg and your 60mpg is 15%. the tch delta between epa 38mpg and your 60mpg claim is nearly 40%. that's a huge difference that can't be explained away by real world numbers from databases like this one. this database and most others show that epa estimates for ima are generally closer than epa estimates for toyota's hybrid synergy drive.


correct me if i'm wrong here kenny on your question...

All cars get above EPA highway estimates on the highway, which is the main reason why hypermiling is possible. My own 2006 HCH gets above the EPA estimates on the highway, yet I average 38.9 mpg. Astonishing! But I'm getting 50-60 mpg when going 70 miles per hour or below on level stretches of road without changing speed. You don't understand the main reason mileage is low is from accelerating and going uphill, not cruising.

By the way, my name is neither Autoweek nor Road & Track. Those are actual respected automobile reviewers and 38 mpg is what they got. Here is a screenshot of Road & Track's results. OK? Christ.