The 3 lower rightmost buttons ...
Rear Defrost, Recirc, A/C will NOT take it out of Auto. They will also NOT take it out of ECO.
You are correct ... Mode, Fan Speed and Front Defrost will take it out of Auto.
Front Defrost will also take it out of ECO.

 

<shrug>

depends on the position of the fob inside the trunk.

My bro left his bag in the trunk once and inside it was the fob. You could actually unlock the car without the key . Major security issue (but good if you accidentally left your fob in the car)

 

Why the heck does this all have to be so complicated. My Ford Ranger pickup truck has three *****, positioned in a row, to control everything and nothing is Auto. Yet the super sophisticated "automatic" climate control in my Camry has a button on the left, 4 buttons on the steering wheel, and 11 buttons and two ***** in the center console! To make matters worse, you have to take your eyes off the road to determine the settings (on the LCD display) while I can tell the settings on my Ford strictly by feel. This is progress???

 

Those three ***** are murder on gas mileage. I bet you got nowhere near 40 mpg with the truck.

 

True! And I must admit that the simple system in the truck wouldn't work in the hybrid. But except for "impress your friends" there is no good reason for complicated user controls. It took maybe 5 minutes to learn all I needed to know about using the truck when I bought it. After two months with the Camry I'm still mystified about lots of its operation. And reading on these forums I know I'm not alone!

 

From looking at the glossies it seems the Non-NAV TCH has 3 *****. Or maybe that was the non-TCH Camry.

 

The non-TCH, non-XLE Camry has three *****, but each also appears to have a pushbutton, so still twice the controls as my Ford.

 

One thing does really bother me, The smart key fob and the mechanical key it hides inside. If you use the mechanical key to lock the trunk and glove box, and then give the fob to the service desk, or a valet service, the fob no longer has a ring to attach a string tag or any way to hang it on a valet key board. The mechanical key you want to keep with you, has the ring incorporated into it. I asked the parts dept. for a price on a blank key, thought I would use the blank for leaving the fob, and they do have them available at just over $100.00 each. WHEW. I think Toyota should give the new car buyer two fobs ,as they do, and an extra "blank" key for the purpose I describe. JMHO.

 

I dunno. I must be easily impressed. I think the climate control system in the TCH is fantastic.
I pressed auto - once, months ago; set ECO mode - once, months ago; set my cabin temperature (my side only; my wife likes here own setting); and I leave it alone. Nary a complaint to be had. It adjusts the temp to what I want within a very few minutes - no muss, no fuss, no hassle.
Yes, it does always go into recirc mode whenever I start it, but then it switches automatically to outside air after a few minutes. I can live with that.
Yes, if I put it in defrost, it'll cancel the ECO mode, which I might not notice; but it also cancels the Auto mode, which I do notice; and that reminds me to reset the ECO. (OK, I lied - I did have to reset the Auto and ECO once or twice)
I still haven't found anything (other than the NAV) to really complain about.

 

Ironically, I've been impressed with the NAV having finished an 800 mile trip with about 40 of those on one-lane gravel roads that the NAV knew about! However working around the many levels of displays gets confusing. Maybe it's my age.

Now the sound system part of the NAV unit seems strange. I load up the changer with CDs. I can move back and forth by tracks on the steering wheel or center console. But the buttons that do that speed through or back in the track on the console when held down (an action I'm used to) but switch disks when held down on the steering wheel! To switch disks on the console you have to press the Audio button (not the Disk button??).