OK I come for a history of flipping cars every 2 years or so and have moved my self a tad upscale last few. My most recent cars were I30, I35 then 04 TL and 06TL. I have owned several toyotas in the past, a 89 Camry LE, 93 Camry V6 XLE and a 97 Avalon XLS. I loved my 06 TL, it was an awesome car with very few flaws in my eyes. It rode great, handled great and performed like a bat out of hell. My only complaint was I was tired of feeding $46 to the Gas Gods every 5-6 days. I finally decided that cars were not as important to me as they once were. Sure I want a nice ride, but for the 20% or less of the time that 265 hp came to use was not justified with the on going gas bill. So I decided to find something I woudl enjoy almost as much, but woudl save me gas. Ok it might seem bizarre, but my 2 initial choices were the Corolla and Civic. I quickly passed on the Corolla as the current one is dated and lacks many features I wanted. The 06 Civic had some promise, Nav, XM, decent sound, all the perks I was acustomed to in the TL, just in a small form factor. Well the Civic was a bit tight and to get the good sound you need to do the Coupe, somehitng I really did not want to do. Then I stumbled across the TCH. Hmmm, the 2 cars I owned the longest were my 89 Camry (3.5 years) and my 93 Camry V6 XLE (4 years). Yeah the Camry is no sports sedan, but part of me missed that luxury plush ride. OK I did my reading and decided to drive one. I went on 3 different test drives. The initial feel of the Hybrid system was a bit awkward. I described it as a lag or hesitation. To be truthful it is not a lag or hesitation, it is the feeling of going from a EV 47 hp launch to the 147hp Gas motor kicking in. There is no real hesitation as when you tap the pedal the car begins to move, but a tad sluggishly until the gas engine fires up and joins in, when the reall pulling begins. After 3 test drives I was already getting used to this feeling. I finally decided to get a TCH. Now the fun begins. As with any vehicle that save fule today and does it weel and is a large car on top of that, finding one that you want can be a chore. With 10 weeks left on the $2600 tax credit I decided NAV was not worth the wait, if I like the TCH that much I'll flip it in 08 or 09 for one with NAV and hopefully by then HIDs, memory seats and factory (not port) leather. I waited about 10 days for my car to come in, during which time I sold my TL. I now have my TCH for 3 days and 400 miles and wanted to share my initial feedback and will update this again in a few weeks when I have more miles. See next post......

 

On to my review...

OK my Titanium TCH came in Friday with 7 miles on the odometer. It has port installed leather, color keyed splash guards, car mats, a lip spolier and free Sirius radio. I have driven the car for 3 days in mixed driving and have racked up a tad less than 400 miles. PArt of the weekend I had 3 additional full sized adults in the vehicle with me and the first day the tires were low (wonderful prep byt the dealer, NOT). First for the ergonomics. The steering wheel is cluttered with way too many buttons. I don't need temp controls on the wheel and the buttons feela little flimsy and lack good tactile feel. The steering wheel is a nice leather wrapped 4 spoke wheel that has a good feel although find the bottom spokes a tad thick for comforable resting of my driving hand. The Center control pod is a bit awkward. The dash sweep up and in toward the windsheld and the high postion of the radoin tuning **** makes it a long illogical reach. The fan and temp controls are postionsed at a easy to reach location and one woudl think you woudl be fumbling with the radio more than the AC controls. I suspect some of this has to do to the fact that the NAV unit occupies the radio area on NAV models and the NAV display should not be too low. Either way Toyota needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. On the plus side is the TCH comes with a awesom JBL 440 Watt system that truthfully sounds deep and rich, more so than that DVD-A 5.1 system in the TL. Toyota is finially in the current tmes, as they now support MP3 and WMA files. Sine I have read the soudn system firmware is a carry over for an older Solara it appears the dislpay is limited to 10 characters, making sone titles, artists, etc very frustrating to view. Come Toyota, at least update the firmware to scroll the info, what would that take 5 minutes of coding! I liek cool temperatures and the TCH AC does nto dissapoint. Since the gas engine can be shut off, the AC is not driven by the gas moter, but rather is electric, similar to a home window unit. Well this baby can get it so that you might be able to hang beef in the cabin. This is the first car I have owned when I have had to turn up the temperature bnecasue the AC can get down right chilly! The seats are typical Toyota style seats, some what supportive, but yet wide enough for that grandpa's Buick crowd, yet not too soft so you'll slide around in them when hanlding corners. I find the power controls to be excellent at allowing me to get a comfortable driving postions. I'm 6' and like to sit high and back. The car has a huge glove box and center console. There are 2 small pockets on either side of the center console. The bottom of the center control pod has a large deep cubby that has an AUX In for the soudn system and a 12V power plug. There is another 12V power plug just in front of the armrest. Speaking of the armrest, it opens into a huge cavern, but unlike many other cars in this class it is just a big deep bin. Many cars in this class have a dual layer armrest allowing you to put CDs and stuff in the big bottom and thinsg like tissues, cell adapters and such in the smaller top half. Toyota should add this asap, or make it an accessory. The armrest does have a small removable bin that sits in it, but if you leave it ina nd store CDs in the bottom you have problems getting the discs out with the bin in place. The back deck has a hump that houses the battery ventilation which looks a bit intrusive, again the engineers shoudl go back and figure a better way out for this. I guess to save money they used the 60/40 rear seat form a traditional Camry, but the 40 side when folded is useless as the batties are in the truck there and even block most of the 60 side. The is maybe a 1 x 2 foot hole through the batteries that you can pass stuff through. Again, Toyota, go back to drawing board. Skip the fold down seat, place the batteries flat against the rear seat, this gives you 2 big things, more trunck space and better body rigidity, soemthing the 07 Camry can use due to the excess weight being tossed around in the truck due to the battery weight. I'm sure a few people use the fold down seat, but my guess is more would want the truck space back. The truck is some what small for this class due to the inefficeint placement of the EV batteries and the main 12V traditional battery in the truck. The back seat is large and even with the front seats all the way back, leaves plenty of leg room for even tall adults. The passenger seat is mechanical. See next post for driving revie and mechanicals...

 

Well now to what makes this car different from a standard Camry. i'm not going to dive into the nitty gritty stuff, if you want that much detail on the hybrid system there are plenty of good sites to explain it. The Hybrid system in this car has its roots in the Prius and has been well proven now. I am no Hybrid expert, but in my little bit of research I feel that Toyota is the leader in Hybrid vehicles. The EV motor and gas motor can operate independantly or together. When you first start the car the first thing you notice is "nothing", literally, no gas engine purring right away, just a dash that lights up and fnal says READY (to tell you it is OK to drive now). When teh gas engine fires up it wll initially run untli it gets up to operating temperature (not very long). Then when you coast to a stop the gas engine will shut off. A strange feeling at first, but being that the Camry is so **** quiet you really can't tell most of the time when the gas engine is running or not. The transmission is a CVT style, which means it constantly varies its gearing, unlike a trationsl tranny that has 4, 5 or maybe 6 specific gear ratios. CVT is usually more economical, but some people don't like the feel as they want to hear and feel that rev up then shift of the tranny. Funny because many cars in this class shift so smoothly and are so quiet the difference is often hard to tell unless you are realling looking for it. OK what about that lag. Well when you first accelerate the EV mote will initally get you going as the gas engine is fired up, then they will both be pulling you. the Gas engine firing up and engaging is noticable and something you get used to rather quickly. You won;t be setting any speed records here, but there is a good video of a Hybrid Camry and a Gas Camry drag racing. The Gas car launchs quickly, but the TCH quickly pulls ahead as the combined torque and power of the EV and Gas engines far out performs the gas only car. Most performance reviews show the TCH at about 1 second quicker to 60 than a gas only Camry. Not bad considering the TCH also weighs a few hundred pounds more as well. Once rolling the TCH drives just liek a standard Camry with more perfoamnce thn a gas only. The car hadnles highways with ease, I have been up to 85 in no time and since the car is quiet and smooth you get there and don't even know you are doing 85. The car is a Toyota, so expect a Toyota ride, soft and smooth. You are not leaning this baby into the corners very hard, it will do ok, but puch it and you'll start to feel the body lean. The car seems a bit loose, I really think dumping the fold down seat and allowing the battery pack to go flat against the back seat would help torsional rigidity a great deal. The Camry is faily well behaved although a tad choppy on some bumps. Now to the real meat of the hybrid... gas consumption. As with any car you need to let the engine break in and as it does the gas mileage will increase as well. My mileage is still climbing so I won't say these are definitive numbers, but I am averaging 32.5 MPG on the first tank and there was a lot of idling and engine running during delivery and such. My commute whihc is a 21-23MPG ride in my old TL is getting around 35-36MPG in the TCH. a 40 mile run to the airport, mostly highway at 65-75MPH got me 40-41MPG. The non NAV units have some displays in the center of the Odmeter to give you status on your system and mileage. There is no tach, but instead a MPG guage. OK I will admit it I am starting to get bit by the "let me squeeze more MPG out" bug of using the MPG guage and the gas/ev/recharge guage as well as the MPG ECO guage. But honestly, I am driving very close to the way I drove my TL and the MPG is very impressive. I have yet to switch the AC to ECO mode(to save a bit more gas). I have 380 miles on the first tank and have 3/8 tank left. My TL woudl be begging for gas by 320-330 miles. All in all the TCH ride is transparent to a base 4 cyl Camry, with the added benefit that you get Yaris gas mileage or better in a Camry!

In summary, the TCH is a excellent value. You get alrge 4 door sedan with better performance and compact / sub-compact car fuel mileage. It is no wonder Toyota can't keep them in stock! Unlike Honda which sacrificed MPG and rather used the Hybrid to give the Accord excellent performance with respectable MPG, the TCH is a good blend of decent perfromance and excellent MPG. If you are coming form a standard 4 cyl Accord/Camry the TCH is a easy step, if you are coming from a V6 Camry/Accord you will have to get used to the lower, yet adequate performance. One thing is you will be smiling more as you pass all those gas stations and visit them less.

 

Although still kind of a pain to use, you can see beyond the first 10 characters by holding down the text button. I agree though, a scrolling feature would have been much nicer.

 

Glad you're enjoying your TCH as much as everyone else. I'm coming from a stripped down Ford Ranger (5 speed, 2.5 liter engine) so my bar was not set tremendously high. Coming from a TL and enjoying it that much is a testimony to the car.

I used to drive with a lead foot, but that little gauge is so powerful... must... get... better... mileage.

 

Interestingly, I just read an article that the 4 cyl Ford Ranger is rated as the lowest in owner satisfaction of domestic brands.

http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/14/cx_...?parnter=msnbc

 

I subscribe to Consumer's Reports and knew that it was fairly lowly rated in that regard. I wouldn't buy it again, but not because of any problems, but having purchased the wrong vehicle.

It doesn't have an extended cab which makes it fairly impractical. I usually take our other car shopping. But if I decide to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work I have to pile the groceries on the passenger seat. It's also not practical for more than two although we've crammed three for short distances on rare occassions. It's a stick which I don't mind but my wife hated driving. I also didn't get cruise control.

If I had gotten an automatic transmission with an extended cab and cruise control I probably would have felt differently.