I first want to apologize for what's sure to be a large number of questions. Just put a deposit down on a TCH and have more questions than anything else.

1. I know that it will depend on speed, temperature, etc., but just wondering approximately how far the electric motors can drive the car on a flat road, say if you ran out of gas.
2. There is an ECO setting for the AC unit. What does that do?
3. The brochure says the car is XM/Sirius capable, but a footnote adds that it needs a receiver. What exactly does this mean? Do I purchase an XM or Sirius specific receiver that mounts in the dash or somewhere else?
4. I've seen a picture with a display that shows the engine, batteries, electric motor, etc. It shows how energy is flowing (e.g. engine powering wheels, electric motor powering wheels, etc.) Is this display only available with the DVD nav system or is it on all TCHs?

Thanks in advance for all answers.

I just ordered a TCH with Sirius...um....I just assumed it would be integrated in the JBL system and that it didn't mount in the dash or anywhere else. *I HOPE THAT'S RIGHT* because I wouldn't want it if it wasn't integrated. My guess is that my assumption is correct, but I'd love to hear from someone who actually knows.
It is only available with the nav system.

Can't help with your other q's.

You better do more checking, because I remember seeing a person who showed pictures of his XM antenna on the rear deck of his Camry (non-hybrid) near the third brake light.

This is from the Toyota Customer Help site FAQ and refers to the Prius, but it would also hold true for the TCH:

Question Can Prius run on electricity when it runs out of gas?

Answer
No. Though Prius can operate in electric-only mode when gasoline is in the tank, it is not designed to run without gasoline. Doing so could cause severe damage to the hybrid system, so drivers should be sure to keep gas in the tank at all times.

Vehicles without NAV do have a smaller black & white display in the area under the speedometer. It does tell you whether the engine or electric motor is powering the wheels, whether energy is being put back into the battery when coasting or braking, avg tank mpg, trip mpg, etc. It's not as detailed as the NAV display. One thing I've heard that the NAV display does is indicate when the gas engine is feeding power to the battery. The "ECO Drive Monitor" under the speedometer doesn't do that.

Less than two miles.

Don't have the answer to the first question but can answer for the rest.


2. ECO Mode on the AC uses the electric motor instead of the gas when you have your AC on. The temperature gauge has to be set on anything thing higher than the "LO" setting. I set mine at 75 and it definitely keeps every one inside the car cool. This mode is suppose to keep the gas motor specific to running the car.

3. That is an option in which you need to purchase a subcription to XM or Sirius and also a tuner box unit like this one:
http://www.xmradio.com/xmdirect/index.jsp

So you can utilize your existing OEM Audio unit.

4. That display feature is only available for TCH's with DVD NAVIGATION but also the low res version is displayed near the speedometer.

Thanks. I've done some searching and can't seem to find any pics. If anyone has pics of what this would look like I'd appreciate it.

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Finallybuying. From the Toyota literature and mak's answer it sounds like you're OK. You buy a tuner box for Sirius in your case. Sounds like the Camry can be mated to either.

Mine should be arriving a week from Thursday. It's the base model without any options. But I don't really need any of the options. The only thing I wish they had was memory. I'm 6'3" and my wife is 5'4". So it would be great if it had memory for storing seat positions, mirror positions, etc.

The satellite radio option is only available with the JBL 6 disk sound system so other Camry models with the base system would have to use a 3rd party satellite install. Also, there is a button on this sound system for "Sat". My guess is the built in sound system completely controls the sat tuner.

I'll also add that I give Toyota big thumbs up for adding MP3/WMA capability to the sound system. At say 4MB per song track, 700MB per disk, and 6 disks that lets you have a library of over 1000 song tracks available at a touch of a button. Time to get burning...