It remains to be seen if the TCH will provide the same average MPG as the HCH. Many are anxiously waiting.

 

I wouldn't think so, it's only rated at 40 MPG.

 

I don't think anyone expects it to. People on this site seem to avg. 45-47 mpg in the Civic Hybrid. The Camry would have to completely blow away its EPA rating to come close to this..... which isn't likely. The Camry also weighs 800 lbs more so it has physics working against it.


I was just wondering about high speed cruising mileage, which could be similar.

 

I sold it because I was more impressed with Toyota's hybrid tech than Honda's, and I wanted something smoother, faster, and with a real electric-only mode. The Prius is worse than the Civic Hybrid in my opinion, due to things unrelated to the hybrid drive (which is excellent). So the Camry seems the best of both worlds -- it's in a less fuel-efficient class than the Civic or Prius hybrids, but it's still good and it doesn't suffer from any real drawbacks, as far as I can tell. Note that I've had it for one night only so far, so I don't want to talk about it yet.

The dealer was very greedy and irritating to work with, and I ended up trading the HCH for $18500, which wasn't even the bad part of the deal. And it was in great condition and had HOV stickers. But the dealer said they were just going to give it to a Honda dealer for them to sell, and that I believe they were being honest about, and they claimed most Honda dealers quoted $17k. Well the Honda dealers are very greedy, really horribly so, especially in the Los Angeles area, so it's probable the Honda dealers were ripping us off rather than my Toyota dealer ripping me off (as far as the trade-in is concerned).

 

Well, I said that based on reports of what a few people on here have achieved, and what a few car magazines have managed to get in the two vehicles driven on the same roads simulatenously. I also said close, as the difference between say 38-40 and 42-44 with similar topography as CGameProgrammer and Myself. The Camry Motor might actually do better in the smaller Civic chassis, but that's pure speculation. The reasons those are of interest is that those people, and those magazines, have driven on many of the exact roads that I do, so it's a useful point of reference for me personally. While efficient cars with small engines like the HCH do well on the EPA test, with flat and slow drives, they fall off sharply when introducing fast speeds, steep hills, or a combination of both. The extra weight will definitely hurt the Camry climbing the hills, but the improved hybrid system I expect will be able to recoup a lot more of that on the way down than the smaller IMA motor which maxes out charging fairly early.

 

I had replaced the tires with much better ones (better grip, same mileage) and they had a maximum pressure of 51 versus the 44 of the stock tires. The wobble was even worse with the stock tires, but it appears to mostly be a steering problem. And I've driven my first car, a Jetta, at 90 mph many times and it was rock-solid. Of course its tires were at 32 PSI...

Feedback is a good thing, yes.

 

Why didn't you sell it yourself? I think you left several thousand bucks on the table.

 

Well there is a $2100 tax credit for new ones, and their MSRP is $22700. That hurts potential resale value, but hey, I do get a $2600 tax credit for my TCH, since I didn't get the tax credit for my HCH (only eligible for one every 18 months IIRC).

If someone were to buy a 2006 HCH for $20k + tax, they'd save only $600 off of a new one, and they're getting a used car with 12,000 miles. Of course I do see dealers selling used hybrids for as much as new ones cost, and I have to wonder at how stupid someone would have to be to buy them.

I didn't sell it myself because then I'd end up having to rent a car for possibly one or two months. That would not be cheap to say the least. And I couldn't try to get a loaner from a dealer, even if I found one willing to do that, because I had no idea which dealer I'd end up buying from.

And I couldn't buy the TCH first, then sell my car, because there's no other way for me to get the $18500. Plus I can't drive two cars back from the dealer.

I am single, you see.

 

Well, at the same time you got tax savings on the new car. Not too sure if that is how it works in Cali. But, you pay taxes on the amount after the trade. So, if the car was $20,000 and your trade was $10,000 you only paid taxes on $10,000. So, you actually got more than $18,500 on your trade. That was one reason I traded in my car instead to selling it on my own. I would have gotten the same amount and it wans't worth the hassel.

 

CGameProgrammer, Thanks for your patience and for sharing your experiences.

You've been a sport responding to our comments and questions. I hope you get great satisfaction from your new Camry. They are very nice cars and you'll be still doing a great thing saving the environment for the rest of us.

PS. Don't look back to the HCH, look forward to the TCH.