A friend of my husband has a Prius and says that the Camry should/will have a speed above which the engine is forced to run by the controller software. On the Prius it's 42 miles per hour. Above that speed you just have a gas engine car and you can drive it any way you want. All the electric only operation will be below that speed.

So, Hybrid Gurus, is this the way it is?

FYI..his Prius is the very first year that came out...

Above 42 miles per hour you will also be using the ICE with the Camry. But don't think of it as a regular car above that speed. Like the Prius it uses an Atkinson cycle engine which is more efficient than a regular (Otto cycle) engine. Although the ICE will always be spinning there will be times that it won't be driving the wheels like when you're going downhill. Under heavy load the electric motors can kick in to assist the engine.

I find that at 60 miles per hour on level ground I'm getting approximately 45 mpg according to the instantaneous mpg gauge. Try that in a non-hybrid mid-size car weighing 3600 pounds.

Yes. But it's a design to prevent MG2 from overspeeding. Also realize even though the ICE is always turning over approx 42 miles per hour it may or may not be doing any work. Just because the ICE is rotating doesn't mandate it's using any fuel.
J