2016 Toyota Camry hybrid a reliable sipper
Toyota seems serious about sticking with hybrids despite the recent decline in hybrid sales. Seven Toyota models come with hybrid powertrains for 2016.
While some hybrid buyers want to proudly display their concern for the environment with a uniquely styled hybrid-only vehicle, others will opt to slip by largely unnoticed in a hybrid version of a conventional model such as the Camry Hybrid SE. The cognoscenti will notice subtle hybrid badging, the Toyota logo accented in blue and perhaps someone driving too slowly.
Its redesign for 2015 removed the Toyota Camry from contention as the poster car for the automobile as appliance. Your kid will still probably not be asking for the Hot Wheels version this Christmas, but designers did sharpen up the styling much like what’s been going on at luxury division Lexus with some success.
The Camry Hybrid uses an electric motor and battery pack along with a gasoline engine. Power to the wheels switches automatically between gasoline and electric, or a combination of both depending on demand. Together the system produces a total of 200 horsepower. Lower-speed driving can be accomplished via electric power only. Thirty miles per hour to highway speeds becomes the responsibility of the gas engine, with the electric motor there to augment it. The 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine uses the Atkinson cycle, a modification optimizing efficiency. The engine also recharges the battery pack, as does energy recaptured from braking.
EPA fuel mileage estimates are 40 mpg for both city and highway. Most hybrids see the biggest advantage in the city, due to the aforementioned low speed electric-only driving.
Eco Mode allows more electric-only driving and modulates the air conditioning, which is a power drain. Driving repeated loops with Eco Mode on or off showed a significant difference in fuel mileage.
Given Toyota’s experience in hybrid drive, it should not surprise anyone that the system works well. Issues with hybrids can include grabby brakes, since they are doing double duty in stopping the car and converting heat to kinetic energy via regenerative braking. The Camry Hybrid’s feel completely normal. Some hybrids don’t seem to coast easily when you let off the gas pedal, but not the Camry. Hardest to mask may be the transitions between gas and electric power, when the gas engine starts up or shuts off. If and when the Camry Hybrid’s gas engine kicks in right from a stop, you can tell only if you are paying close attention. At a roll, it is basically impossible to discern when the gas engine turns on or off. This car is really quiet. Virtually the only noise it makes is a low whine when you come to or leave a stop.
Chasing the functions of the Camry Hybrid has an addictive quality. Choose the Energy Monitor on the center infotainment screen, and you see a diagram of what the hybrid system is doing. Additionally a small green indicator lights up on the gauge cluster when you are in EV mode, meaning running on electric power only.
Though I have been rather skeptical of the financial case for hybrids in the past, a price premium for the added complexity of hybrid drive is less common now, and in Toyota’s case economies of scale are in effect.