Camry Hybrid Makes Being 'Green' a Lot Easier

Kermit the Frog made it popular, but even then he said it wasn't easy. The phrase has a new meaning now, implying that one cares for the environment. It is part of our every day lexicon and our lives when we recycle and even when we buy cars.

In the automobile industry, being green has meant caring for the environment and being able and willing to pay to show just how much you care.

All of that is slowly changing and the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid is helping that along.

No longer are you asked to pay more than $40,000 for a glorified Metro with an electric motor, both of which leave you fearing for your life on the interstate. The Camry is smart. It's functional. And it's very much like the others in Toyota's top-selling sedan lineup.

The difference is, it's green.

That means savings at the ever-fluctuating gas pump these days, something that can't be over looked when asked to pay a few dollars more for the Hybrid technology that produces 40 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway.

PERFORMANCE
The first thing most people ask when discussing Hybrids is, "What do you lose?"

Fair question.

In the case of the Camry Hybrid, you lose a little off the mark, but how many Camry drivers are interested in drag racing? The stats say the Camry Hybrid goes 0-60 mph in 8.6 seconds. That's fairly respectable for a front-wheel-drive mid-sized sedan.

More importantly, the Camry Hybrid accelerates well in traffic at normal driving speeds. A V6-powered Camry makes the 0-60 sprint in 6.5 seconds.

The oddest thing about the Camry Hybrid is the initial start-up. The push-button start reminded me a little of the 1961 Nash Rambler my grandmother had when I was a kid (it was Green, too). But when I pressed the start button on the Camry Hybrid, nothing happened until I hit the gas, so it engaged kind of like a bumper car at the fair.

The Hybrid's 45-horsepower electric motor is coupled with a 147-horsepower, 2.4-liter DOHC four-cylinder. All together, it's 192 horsepower. The power between the gas and electric is switched back and forth - or the powertrain simply uses both.

The result, according to Toyota, is a car that can travel 650 miles on a 17.2-gallon tank of gas.

AESTHETICS
With the exception of a little badging, the Camry Hybrid looks exactly like the others in the Camry lineup, except for a small change in the undercarriage to improve aerodynamics.

The description is a conservative, no-nonsense mid-sized sedan that has demonstrated some mass appeal. It continues to use a decades old formula for success that only changes dramatically with the technology under the hood and on the instrument cluster - such as a MPG consumption meter displaying a electric/gas power ration instead of a RPM gauge.

Indeed, the times they are a changin'.

The interior of the tested Camry was not plush, but was quite comfortable. I was not driving one of the fully-loaded models, which is sort of unusual and a bit of a welcome change because it gave a different feel without sacrificing base comforts.

BOTTOM LINE
The 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid has a base sticker price of $25,900, certainly in line with normal gas-powered sedans.

The base price included the Hybrid technology, anti-lock brakes, Toyota's new smart-key system with the push-button start, a six-disc CD changer with XM capability and power windows and doors among other niceties.

The only options were heated outside mirrors ($30) and audio an audio upgrade package that included a navigation system for $1,200.

The total cost of the tested vehicle, including a $635 processing and handling feel, was $27,765.