Toyota Camry Hybrid

For years we have been talking about hybrids as the cars of future – and ‘future’ not because they don’t work or we don’t have infrastructure to support them, but simply because they are expensive and the tradeoff from better efficiency did not fit our value-for-money criterias – even if they provide an extra opportunity of boasting for the right reasons! In our defense these were not the best hybrid cars, but things might soon change with the new Camry Hybrid; it is big, efficient, comfortable and owing to CKD operations quite affordable with a price tag of less than Rs 30 lakh.

Frankly, to me the Toyota Camry has never been a looker and the few changes made to this hybrid don’t add much to the overall charm, but allow it to be distinguished from the petrol-only version. The Camry Hybrid has lot more chrome both at the front and back, along with a new front bumper that has wider air dam and some more chrome for the fog lamp surrounds. The tyres on the 17-inch 10-spoke wheels are now Yokohama DB series.

The changes also include sleeker front grille and more than a couple of blue badges to announce that it is a hybrid. The thing is that the Camry is not a car that stands out for stunning design or exquisite looks, but it is big and not very common and that works in its favour! Everyone takes notice of the sedan and also acknowledges the fact that it is quite premium.

The Camry has always been known as a chauffeur–driven car, in this case it does not imply that it is bad to drive, but the rear passengers are so well taken care of that even the most enthusiastic drivers would ditch the pilot seat. And the hybrid is no different, in fact Toyota has loaded the car with even more features – again especially at the back. There are two first-in-segment features, Power Recline rear seats and three zone air-conditioning. Nothing exceptional about the AC but the seats are noteworthy, they are probably the best value addition – the Camry always provided ample legroom, but with these the seating posture can be custom adjusted for most ergonomically comfortable position. The switches for both the seat adjustment and AC are on the center armrest that also controls rear sunblind and music system.

Then there are few other additions that support its ‘Chauffeur-Driven’ tag. The front passenger seat has a collapsible headrest, so that rear passengers can look through the windshield, also the seat itself can be adjusted from the back to provide even more leg room – or in our case annoy Asif while he was taking these photographs! Also the front seats are now ventilated so that the guys there don’t feel left out.

The NVH levels are absolutely brilliant, the cabin is blissfully quiet and that is even more evident at low speeds when the car is running purely on the motor; you really have to make an effort to be soft or whatever you say might get classified as noise!

The batteries occupy some space in the boot and this luxury sedan offers just over 350 litres of boot space. It is not that bad and sounds like a decent compromise, when you look at the other benefits like the efficiency and drivability. There are a couple of things that we want to complain about – it has only four airbags while all its competitors provide six, also this is the only car in the segment that does not have a sunroof.

The Camry continues to derive power from 2AR FXE VVT-2.5-litre petrol engine; however this one is detuned a bit to 160bhp and 213Nm of torque to accommodate the electric motor. The total output with the electric mill (similar to the one of the Prius) is close to 205bhp and 270Nm. The Hybrid Synergy Drive system allows the car to be driven only on battery power at low speeds for a short duration and it also directly comes into play depending upon driver’s input for quick overtakes.

In case there is enough juice in battery pack the Camry starts as an all-electric, which means there is absolutely no engine noise or any other familiar note when you press the start/stop button – this also means that at least the first couple of time you end-up pressing the button once again and the car turns-off!

The battery pack is a Ni-MH unit (Nickel metal hydride) with a capacity of 6.5 amp/hr and consists of 34 modules and 204 cells. They are charged mainly by regenerative braking system both during coasting and under braking.

The Camry Hybrid has three driving modes – Eco Mode, EV and a normal mode (Eco Mode Off!). In the Eco Mode the car will gently roll on electric power and continue to do so easily till 40kph and may be till 60kph in case you are really nimble on the throttle. This really works to the driver’s advantage in the city traffic where the fuel consumption is significantly lower at least till the time when the batteries drain down. Post 40kph the IC engine will kick-in (or at even lower speed if you are heavy on the accelerator pedal) and will then power the car and also charge the batteries. There is ample torque at the bottom, but it takes a while to get the power down when you go really hard and that it due to the eCVT transmission – there is a bit of rubber band effect, still it is lot better than most other CVT units.

Switch-off the ‘Go Green’ mode and the car feels dramatically different. The Camry Hybrid is very torquey and you feel the thrust even when the needle is well past the half way mark. It can easily cruise at speeds of well over 160kph and for record sake cross 200kph. On the other side, the car will run only on batteries in the EV Mode with the restricted top-speed of 40kph.

The Camry is tuned for comfort and so the suspension setup is on the softer side, it runs smoothly on the undulations and none of the thuds from the petty pot holes percolate into the cabin. In fact I have a feeling this handles better than the standard Camry – the thing is, the heavy batteries in the boot means that car does not wallop around much and the weight distribution is better – but the flip side is that going over the king-size speed breakers is a task.

Toyota claims an ARAI efficiency of 19.16kpl and I managed 20.5kpl under test conditions at their track, but the real world efficiency is expected to be around 13kpl – still exceptionally good for a car of this size.

The Camry Hybrid ticks almost all the right boxes; primarily it is efficient, has a big features list and is undoubtedly the best choice in the segment if you are planning to occupy the rear seat. The things that don’t works in its favour include the price tag – it is still a bit more expensive than the German counterparts and the maintenance cost and battery life in Indian conditions is still unknown. All things said it is a very practical car that does not compromise on any of the mandatory functions to don the ‘green cap’. I think the Camry certainly deserves a second look and even a chance for being cleaner and environment friendly, but if you have to ask if the time of hybrid cars has arrived – not just yet.