I use my garage for a variety of tasks, one of which is parking two cars. Many of these tasks are mutually exclusive, such as painting and parking (I hear latex overspray on the TCH reduces gas mileage .)

Anyway, I need to move my TCH in and out of the garage: a distance of 25 feet. Wouldn't it be lovely if by pressing the HomeLink button before starting the car, the TCH would stay in EV mode for 30 seconds unless the ICE was necesarry? The TCH doesn't usually start the ICE for a few seconds, but it's never enough to get the car from the driveway into the garage, or vice versa.

I'll put that on my wish list, along with folding mirrors, memory seats, etc.

 

Now that is a great idea!

I have storage cabinets and a work bench in my garage, and one or both vehicles must be backed out to have any access. I sometimes power on the TCH, start backing out and put it in neutral and coast the rest of the way out. This prevents the ICE from starting. Stop in neutral and power off before putting it in park.

 

So every time you open the garage door to leave the car would be in garage mode. Might need a new method to activate garage mode, and why does it need to be garage mode. I move cars around in the driveway to allow other cars to get by our parking lot, and would love to move the car a limited distance on battery alone.

 

There are several good reasons I'm not a car designer...or singer, but I can pretend to be good at both in the shower. Either way the car is going (in to or out of the garage), it would be handy for the ICE to stay off for a few extra seconds. Or, as you say, another button would be OK. Heck, I'll even offer up one of the dozens of buttons on the steering wheel that I currently don't use

 

I have run into this with just moving it in and out of the driveway when it is blocking someone. I hate to run a cold engine for just a sec.

 

I totally agree. Seems to do a doozy on the gas milage as well, which makes sense becuase of the cold engine start. I thought about trying to roll the car out of the garage in neutral, but then realized that's a bit extreme and a foolish risk for both me and my car to save a teaspoon of gas.

 

I've heard that the Prius has a "EV Mode" button installed in Europe and Asia, but not in the US. It wouldn't be hard to believe that the Camry might also have this capability hidden somewhere too.

I'm just waiting for someone to modify their car to have plug in capability. Somebody's going to do it one of these days, but I bet the 10 CF trunk shrinks to almost nothing with the extra batteries.