I have also noticed the highway milage of 43.6 drop considerably in town with short drives, city driving is supposed to produce better milage. My A/C also does not seem to make much differance, loooking at it, the A/C commpressor is driven electricaly and not engine driven. i use very light throttle but the gasoline engine still runs a lot which takes fuel. But this thing is a lot better than the average 15 MPG vehicals. SK

 

EV = Electric Vehicle. It's when the car acts like an electric vehicle, driving with the ICE turned off.

Is there a way to kill the gasoline engine at times? slow driving or parking lots ect? i have studied the instruction manuel but it does not mention anything like a kill swithc. SK

 

Generally if you reach your cruising speed and let off the gas you can get the ICE to shut off. Of course that assumes the engine is warm, your speed is low enough (<40 mph) and your SOC is sufficient. Also you'll have more trouble keeping it in EV mode above 35 mph if the A/C is on.

 

Accelerate to the speed you want, then back off the accelerator and coast a bit (sometimes you need to release it completely), let the gas engine shut down, then reapply GENTLE the accelerator to maintain speed.

Remember that the car will only go into EV mode when you are under 42mph.

 

OK, I have one semi-serious suggestion. Go rent the most underpowered sub-compact car you can find for a week. Your Camry will feel like a rocket afterward! Just one day of driving my father's 1992 Corolla gave me a new appreciation for my car!

 

Actually, the TCH is quite spry compared to many "economy" cars. It just takes lots of right foot motion to tap into all of its acceleration potential. I'm sure Toyota designed it that way on purpose to improve MPG (accelerating faster than you really intended is just pure waste of fuel).

For those getting poor in-town mileage, my guess is that the pulse-and-glide technique isn't quite working. There's a big difference between accelerating to 40 mph then backing off into E-mode and accelerating to 43 mph and holding there with ICE on constantly. As for the A/C effect, we've run the A/C in ECO and recirc for EVERY SINGLE MILE so far, and our mileage has been pretty good (37.5 avg across 2 tanks).

 

Did you trade out of an Infiniti FX too?

Yep, after (2) 300ZX's an AudiTT, 350Z and Infiniti FX45 my friends think I'm losing my marbles. My brother-in-law gives me 2 years ($100 bet) max sticking with this.

I believe I'm finally satisfied. My thirst for power and spped could no be quinched as something new always came out. With the tax credits I've committed to this for at least three years. I've NEVER kept a car that long so if I make it I'm hoping they will have the Lexus in an ES350H by then.

If I could get a "unique looking" cross over in 4wd that can tow 3500# I'd trade the 4Runner. The Hylander is almost what I want but I just don't like the looks

 

I really noticed this fact this weekend when I drove my wifes 05 Honda Accord V6 (240hp). I had a very hard time driving it smoothly, probably for the above reason. Starting from a dead stop would result in a neck-snapping (for my wife ) start. It took a few miles to get over this!

It DEFINITELY takes more pedal travel on the TCH to get the acceleration you need! This does help you very finely adjust the position to help with dropping into EV mode...

 

Also you'll have more trouble keeping it in EV mode above 35 mph if the A/C is on.
Even when you can't get the ICE to kick off altogether it's not all that hard to get it to "idle" and average 60 on the instant FE gage while cruising at 35 to 50

 

I really noticed this fact this weekend when I drove my wifes 05 Honda Accord V6 (240hp).

I guess this is where I have an advantage. I never considered anything with less than 275 hp as really being anything but adequate anyway.

Many of the folks buying these are used to sedans with 180 to 220 hp. I wouldn't think you'd find the TCH as "slow" in comparison with these types of cars. I did drive an Expedition a lot before the TCH and they seem similar in performance (now that's a comparison?)