A small, easily overlooked detail of the TCH that I absolutely adore: the hood lift pumps. Sure beats those prop rods so common on cars. When friends want to see the engine ('cuz they think it'll look vastly different from a conventional ICE), I pop the hood and up it goes. Nice. I'm a sucker for pumps.

 

Detroit always used to make their cars that way. I've never had a prop rod on any of my previous cars. They were also all Chevy B-bodies...

I do miss the under hood light... and cornering lights... but not the gas bill!

 

I love the pumps too. My '05 Camry LE had them as well.

 

The pumps surprised me when I first popped the hood.

 

My family had a 1984 Chevy Malibu wagon. The hood lift springs were the only thing that worked reliabliy on that car, and the hood was raised often. I, too, was surprised there was no hood light in the Camry.

In fact, (kinda off topic) the most quirky things seem to be electrically related (ironic, since the car is a hybrid): the back reading lights don't go off after a period of time if left on, there's no 12v plug in the trunk or back seat, the trunk light is rather ineffective (easily fixed), there's no hood light, no fog light option, and no HID option, and you can't close the moon roof as you leave the car, even though the display tells you it's open. Many of these will probably be resolved in an '08 version.

 

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised the first time I opened the hood too. I've had prop rods on my cars for years. It's nice to be pleased by the simple things in life sometimes!