Bought a 2007 Camry Hybrid

[ksa8907]

I would chalk this up to: it's a toyota hybrid. Great mileage with zero effort necessary.

Btw, nice car!

[vskid3]

Looks like that 46MPG trip was either a fluke and/or the conditions were perfect. We've made a couple trips to Idaho to visit family (about 320 miles round trip, about half at 55-65mph and half at 80) and got 35.5MPG (according to the display) the first time and 34.9MPG the second (this trip had light rain and a decent headwind on the way home). Still pretty good for what it is and how little I was trying, but not quite what I'd hoped after that initial trip. I'm amazed that it's only rated for 34MPG highway, you could probably average that at 75-80mph. The only changes I've made have been replacing the nearly bald rear tires with new non-LRR all-seasons and setting all the tires to 40PSI. Maybe I'll gain some of it back as the new tires break in.

It would be interesting to drop the Camry's powertrain into a Prius and see how it does in a lighter and sleeker body. I think it could almost the same mileage while having much more pep.

[jcp123]

Hmm, I like this the more I scrolled through.

1. You bought like I kinda do: get a beater!

2. I always liked the Camry Hybrid in that colour.

3. I had always predicted the Camry would lead the hybrids because it blends in vs. the Prius' "meh" styling (hint: I was wrong), so I am with you in liking these Camrys better. But from new, I remember these Camry hybrids being a thing here for a hot minute.

4. Instant help from others on driving it. I love that

[vskid3]

It'll come as a surprise to no one here that lower cruising speeds increase mileage, and this car is no exception. Lowering my speed on the 80MPH limit stretches from 80 to 70-75 took my average from 35 to 39MPG (according to the MFD) for the trip to Idaho.

I'm brainstorming aeromods to try and get a little closer to the Prius' mileage. Rear wheel skirts are first on the list. I'm going to try using 3D printed mounts inspired by the metal ones MetroMPG made here and coroplast. The current clip design takes about 10 minutes a piece to print and holds onto the car pretty good. My goal is to not make any permanent modifications, like drilling holes.

[19bonestock88]

Oooh, I like those clips! Planning a bolt for those or what?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

3D printing side skirt clips is a good idea! What material did you use? ABS?

How's the underbody of the Camry compared to your Prius?

[S Keith]

Cool.

Keep your structural expectations low and do at least 6 per side. Use tape too.

[MetroMPG]

Belated congrats on the purchase!!

Check out this blast from the past: Thread: Sister bought a Camry hybrid - 78.9 mpg (US) in ideal P&G conditions

>>> Posted 12-01-2007, 10:37 PM <<<



My sister still has the car. ZERO mechanical issues other than CRAZY high oil consumption. She's got about 200,000 km (120k miles) on it now. In the past couple of years, the ICE has shut down without warning on 2 different occasions at highway speed with a "HYBRID SYSTEM WARNING" message or something like that on the display. Stopping the car and re-booting has cleared the problem. Dealer was unable to find any evidence of a fault (not even any stored codes).

The car will soon be passed down to my 16 year old nephew.

----

On EV mode, I agree - using the button as an ICE kill switch to avoid idling when stopped, or to avoid forced ICE-on coasting is an effective way to increase MPG. Equivalent to an ICE vehicle kill switch. I did it in my gen 2 Prius all the time.

Pro #2: possibly a good quick & dirty way to test a pack's capacity.

[MetroMPG]

Does yours have the full dashboard display?

EDIT: aha - your pics show that you've got it.



If you read my sister's Camry thread, you'll see hers has only a dinky LCD in the cluster, and it's pretty useless for providing fuel economy data.

I think if you got nav, you also got the Prius style display.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by mpg_numbers_guy

3D printing side skirt clips is a good idea! What material did you use? ABS?

How's the underbody of the Camry compared to your Prius?

I used PLA. I think it'll be up to the task, but I've been wanting to try PETG anyway if I need to make them stronger/tolerate higher temps.

The belly is worse than the Prius'. There's some panels under the front part of the engine bay and there's a couple more under the rear seats. Nothing was added under the front seats. My dad recently got an automotive lift, I'll be sure to use it to take some better pictures the next time I visit.

Camry:


Prius:

(Don't mind the junk in my garage)