Hi Tribe, last month Al Futtaim Toyota gave us Toyota Camry Hybrid for a test drive for a few days. Our in-house automobile enthusiast and sustainability professional; Nandan Tavkar is bringing you a unique review of Toyota Camry HEV.
Before reading our review, watch here Ruhaan’s review of Toyota Camry Hybrid; who is our youngest member of Sustainability Tribe.
The Good:
Looks
Excellent Fuel Economy,
Seat comfort – almost infinitely adjustable front seat,
The Eco-Tacho
Safety
The Bad-Ass:
Acceleration in Sport-mode
Excellent Handling
The Ugly:
Unattractive Pricing for the Hybrid
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
We went to Al Futtaim Toyota to pick up the Camry Hybrid. The first impressions were quite pleasing. What we got for the test-drive was a sleek Dark Blue Mica Metallic Camry Hybrid-Electric-Vehicle. The Camry is quite a stunner in the looks department. It has a beautiful stance with a sporty attitude, which is substantiated by its drivability.
Getting inside the car, the instrument cluster is clear and easily readable. Right from the start to the finish of the test drive, I could not but help admire what I call the Eco-Tacho, the tachometer which shows the range for Charge-Eco-Power and intuitively guides how hard you press the accelerator. There is a similar feature on the smaller Prius, but with the Camry, when they say Power, they really mean it.
Once in the car, the essential controls, the ones linked to drivability and safety, seat controls lights, mirrors, wipers, etc., are easy to find and in the usual locations. Strangely enough, the parking proximity sensor sound appeared to be turned OFF the test car, either by the dealer, or the earlier tester. However, the rear window shade, the trip-meter, and radio settings were not intuitive enough and took a bit of getting used to. However, once the radio is set, the sound is amazing.
THE TOUR-ABILITY:
To test the car, we embarked upon a family trip to Al Aqah, Fujairah. We decided to drive the Eco Mode on our tour. Fuel Economy was a major highlight, perhaps unsurprisingly. The specifications state a combined fuel consumption figure (highway and city) of 26 km/l; however, the car returned in excess 30 km/l on our trip to Fujairah. It was pleasantly shocking to see that throughout the 160km journey to Al Aqah, the fuel-level remained at FULL. Only 12.5 liters of petrol was consumed by the time we returned from our trip which easily topped 320 km. Mind well this is a large car, but its fuel economy is way ahead of much smaller cars.
Throughout the drive, seat comfort stood out as another winner. There are almost infinite seat positions for the front seat providing excellent ergonomics and comfort. The ride quality is extremely smooth and even. The easy to use Cruise control adds to comfort and convenience. To add to the experience was the excellent sound system with 6 speakers, which makes long drives extremely pleasurable.
As a family car, its useful to know that the Camry Hybrid scores highly on the safety aspect with 5/5 stars given by ANCAP (Australia NCAP) and is the top safety pick as per the American IIHS (Insurance Institute of Highway Safety’s highest safety rating).
Tour-ability is the strongest point of the Camry HEV, where it comes out ahead of much more expensive cars in terms of what it offers. If your routine involves extensive traveling by car, the Camry Hybrid offers an extremely comfortable car with excellent acceleration, convenient cruise control, extremely pleasurable sound systems and of course excellent fuel economy.
CITY-DRIVING:
City driving is comfortable with good handling, similar to any mid-size offering. The best way to enjoy city driving is to switch ON the Energy Monitor. The central screen provides a real-time display of power transfer between the engine, electric motor, and battery. Here, we can see when we are using purely battery power (Electric Vehicle Mode – Zero Emissions), when the Engine kicks ON to charge the batteries, and when the battery charges from the braking.
We were able to drive around the internal roads of our community purely on the Electric Vehicle mode with zero emissions. A powerful realization was that with a Hybrid, you don’t burn fuel and pollute to just drive to your neighborhood grocery store. Similarly, if you are sitting in the car, with it idling, while you are waiting for someone – no more pollution.
An educational, entertaining, and effective feature is the ‘Score’. The score is a feature that rates our driving based on how Eco-friendly it is (burns the least fuel). The picture below shows us getting a score of 94.
THE PERFORMANCE DRIVE:
The Camry Hybrid comes with Eco, Normal, and Sport modes for driving. The morning after the long drive, we changed our gears from being sustainable to having fun, as we decided to take the car out for a Sport-mode spin. With considerable torque available (202 Nm) at lower electric motor rpm, the acceleration of the Camry Hybrid is awesome. The car has a 176 hp – 2.5 liters Atkinson cycle petrol engine and a 118 hp electric motor. While in the Eco and Normal modes, the electric motor and petrol engine are complementary to each other. The Sport mode sees the petrol engine quickly reach the 5700rpm (for maximum hp and torque), which is supplemented by the electric motor thus providing happiness-inducing acceleration. Sport-Mode handling is nimble and corners effectively.
THE YOUNGER SIBLING:
Until the electric vehicle infrastructure is set up in the UAE, and the wider Middle East as a region, hybrid vehicles are a great transition whilst maintaining lower emissions and improved fuel economy. The Camry HEV is positioned around the mid-size premium economy segment. However if one desires a smaller hybrid vehicle, Toyota also offers the new sophisticated Prius. Read here Sustainability Tribe’s review of the Prius Hybrid.
SUMMARY:
If hybrids can be this exciting, why go for conventional vehicles? The Camry Hybrid provides all that a normal mid-size sedan can provide and more. The Camry HEV is an excellent Premium Economy car. It scores extremely well in almost all departments including safety, comfort, amenities, performance, good looks, and of course fuel economy, where it excels.
As the only mid-size sedan hybrid on offer in UAE, the Camry HEV is not only a great family car and Eco-friendly, but also extremely fun to drive, and safe. In fact, if your routine includes driving long distances or long hours (Hint: Sharjah-Dubai Traffic), one should not be looking at any other car, other variants of Camry included.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nandan Tavkar is a Mechanical Engineer, with a Business Master’s Degree, and over 14 years of experience towards design and implementation of environmentally sustainable solutions in the built environment.
He believes that the path to sustainability is through a culture of sustainability when most individuals will see it in their interest to be sustainable. The strategies and designs of cities, communities, and spaces can be planned to support and promote this culture of sustainability.
In addition to being a Sustainability Professional, Nandan is also an avid automobile enthusiast and an advocate for sustainable transportation. Read here, more about Nandan’s professional experience.
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