At least that how I feel!

After driving my 06HCH for 2 months, I had the chance to drive my dad's 03 Camry when I need to ferry him to the airport. And boy did I hate the feeling. It felt crude and unrefined! I'm actually suprised how truck-like the camry felt with all the vibrations and engine noise. It's way way louder and shakier( at low revs). Even the power windows and side mirrors sounds crude (of course these could be wear and tear, the Camry is 3 years old). For some reasons I hated even the interior of the Camry, add to that it sits way too high! (Maybe I'm too used to the 06HCH). One thing for sure is that signal lever is way too plastic.

Just like you watched DVDs and never want to go back to VCDs again, I avoid my dad's Camry!

And the 06HCH is pretty "stealthy'. Sometime I crept up behind pedestrains and they seem shocked when they realised there's a car behind.

I beginner to wonder how the 06HCH compares to a Lexus in terms of quietness. Of course I'm talking low revs, the 06HCH is way too loud at high revs.

 

I can’t speak for the 03 Camry, but during my overnight test drive of the 07-Camry Hybrid; I can tell you it had a quiet and refined ride.



I can agree the 06-HCH is quite at load speeds, low revs, but on some road surfaces at highway speed the interior road noise is very annoying.

 

The 2007 Camry Hybrid is a thing of beauty. I get to ride in one to work every week and it is quiet and refined. I'd love to own one along with my HCH II.

My car prior to the HCH II was a 2003 Camry LE. Great car. My daughter owns it now. Doesn't handle like an HCH but is easy to drive, quiet, and gets pretty good mileage (4 cyl) with plenty of power and lots of room.

Toyota makes a great car. So does Honda.

 

I had a similare experiance with my mom's CR-V... My old car, a 95 Civic (auto) shifted pretty hard, so when I drove my mom's CR-V (auto) I was like, "wow, it's shifts so smooth, the ride isn't bumpy, etc." But after driving my 05 HCH (CVT) even the CR-V feels rough on shifting. I found it amusing.

 

My other car is a bimmer. It has great isolation, but is not as relaxing. It's makes me drive aggressively.

 

I test drove an 07 Camry 4-cyl before I bought my HAH. I liked the interior of the Honda a lot better and, under load, the noise Camry's 4 banger engine seemed quite intrusive. It was a nice car, but I'm glad I went with the HAH instead.