Federal tax credit on the TCH is $2600. some states CO? WV? bring this up to nearly $6000.

Lifetime fuel usage: 2.1 GPC ( 1.99 recent )

I test-drove another Camry Hybrid. This one had literally just come off the truck and 7 miles were on the lifetime odometer. Sadly it had leather so I didn't buy it, but it was Barcelona Red and looked beautiful.

Anyway I discovered more about the car. For one thing, there appears to be no average MPG display besides the tank MPG, which was annoying. No trip MPG at all. For some reason there's something that tells you how far you've driven since turning the engine on, and your average speed, but not your average mileage??

Good news is, there is a battery display. You have to press a button up to 10 times to toggle through the display modes to see it, but it's there if you're curious. I'm talking about the non-navigation cars.

Electric mode is actually easy to get into once the engine is warmed, and I had no trouble staying in electric mode at 42 miles per hour for a good while, which was nice.

The car has a nice tight turning radius, definitely better than the 2006 HCH. Not quite as good as the 2005- HCH or the Prius though.

The car is pretty noisy, definitely more so than the 2006 HCH. I don't really care but Camrys are supposed to be very quiet I thought.

I had a chance to look at the interior lighting since the car was initially parked in the shade.

I havent made it to the Toyota dealer yet to test drive one. Im almost afraid to because we already have one more car than we need. My wife was there looking at HiHy's but I talked her out if it. With the TCH, I might have to hire someone to talk both of us out of it. The point is, the Prius meets all of our needs except if we want to haul around half of the neighborhood. In that case, there is no shortage of SUV and minivan owning mothers who are only happy to haul them around for us. It's a win-win situation if you ask me.

I wonder if any TCH's will show up at the Tour de Sol?

It's a Wonderful Day for Science!

Am I the only one who is confusing about the vehicle is quiet or noisy?

Ken@Japan

different drive, different mood, different road conditions?

Subjective opinion to begin with. And not inconsistent-

"It wasn't especially silent on the highway ..."
"The car is pretty noisy..."

I was consistent, but perhaps didn't word it clearly enough. The car is noisy at 60+ miles per hour due to wind noise and/or tire noise. It's quiet at low speeds.

I was looking here for the federal tax credits: http://www.hybridcars.com/tax-deductions-credits.html Is this information incorrect? And the Camry Hybrid is not yet listed on the state of Colorado's tax credit site: http://www.revenue.state.co.us/fyi/html/income09.html

2005 Honda Accord Hybrid

I finally got my test drive. One dealer in my area secured a demo car and I put about 20 miles on the odometer right off the truck.

It was a blue model with moonroof, heated mirrors, and no navigation. Know that I come from driving a Jeep cherokee for the last 12 years and that I am not traditionally a car driver. That said, I am not an auto-afficionado and handling, suspension and the like are not things I claim to understand.

1. First off, I love the push-button start. I may have to buy a few extra key fobs to hide around the neighborhood in case I lose mine but I really dig the geek factor of just getting into a car and pressing the button to go.<
2. The styling is very sexy and aggressive. I was getting grief from friends about looking into an old-lady car but this new body style is very sexy. The car seems big, like a Taurus in size.<
3. The trunk is quite deep and the small pass-through seems much more functional than the photographs lead one to believe.<
4. The back seat may be cramped for leg room, I noticed it seemed tight when I glanced over from the front seat.<
5. The rear window area definately is restrictive in the viewing angle and the back corners make strong blind spots.<
6. The car felt very luxury-styled inside and I was impressed with the build quality. Although, there is a lot of flimsier plastic doors and pop-open trays but they all seem to fit together tightly in this brand new car.<
7. When driving, I learned to notice immediately when the combustion engine came on. There was a noticable "clunk" that I could feel. It wasn't annoying, just more noticable than what I expected.<
8. I found the car incredibly quiet.<
9. Driving in Electric only mode on a flat city street takes practice. I very very gently throbbed the petal for about a mile to try and stay in EV mode and it was a challenge to maintain speed. It seemed the car would barely maintain speed if I depressed the petal to only EV mode. I can see this game could get addictive and once I started playing with throbbing from coast to EV to coast, my average mpg went from a paltry 26 MPG to 36.<
10. I finished my pretty leisurely test drive with a high of 36 MPG and a lifetime average of 20 MPG for the 30 miles on the car.<
11. I found it had just enough acceleration. My V6 Jeep has quite a bit more noticable oomph in the acceleration but I wasn't displeased with the Camry.<
12. I like the climate control, phone, and radio controls on the stearing wheel. In even my quick test drive, I configured my bluetooth cellphone to work with the car in no time.<

I hope that helps.

CGameProgrammer, I wish I had found the Barcelona Red car you mentioned. I have deposits at three SD dealers now, and have left info at every dealer in SD, Orange, and LA counties for a fully-equipped Barcelona Red or Magnetic Gray. Surely, by now the car you saw must have been sold long ago. Where was it???

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

It wasn't fully-equipped; it lacked navigation. It was at Poway Toyota but it was probably sold the same day I test-drove it. They're a small dealer and they might not even get anymore til June.

I have news of a base Magnetic Gray coming in somewhere else by the 20th, which I'll attempt to snag. Barcelona Red is the best color but the dark gray looks good too.