Not sure if this belongs in the section on gadgets but here it is for now-
A week ago wife and I decided it was time to upgrade her old 2000 camry to a new one. I have been wanting a hybrid for over a year now and with everything seeming right, we went on the search to see what was in stock around the city. We have 4 large Toyota dealerships. Considering that Toyota was the oldest maker of hybrids, I was surprised to find very little inventory. My wife's most important request was to gave a GPS navigation so that was a must. During the week we searched the few cars in stock and had bad news good news. Bad- no in stock with GPS. Good they were selling and getting new inventory daily. Saturday a week ago we saw the car! It was a Camry limited edition with loaded options, everything they could put on the Hybrid was in that car. That fit the list of what we wanted so after some negotiation we drove it off the lot. During the week my wife got to know the Hybrid a bit more and then on Thursday we decided to take a 3 day weekend road trip to no place special. Mainly to enjoy the new car and learn what it can do.
Some fun features were the sun roof, and the keyless operation. Let me describe the keyless operation-
You carry a small FOB in your pocket and when you approach the car, touch the car, it unlocks. Get in, put your foot on the brake and push a start button it "turns on the electronics" foot on the throttle and your electric motor drives you away. As you require power, the gas engine kicks in for more speed. The system is about as safe as an old fashion key system but more convenient. That is, anyone with the FOB can drive your car but they must have the FOB on them. There is no jump starting by a thief, however.
The Dash on the Hybrid is different. This Camry Hybrid has an MPG dial to replace a tachometer. PLus a digital readout display that gives you all sorts of information for travel such as avg mpg per tank, a diagram showing what is powering your wheels at any time, engine, electric, both, engine charging battery, etc. It also shows the level of battery charge, the estimated miles to empty, and much more. The steering wheel is loaded with more damn buttons than a logitec calculator mouse. The garage door opener is built in. The rear view mirror has a built in compass and is auto dimmed when a cars lights behind you are on.
The GPS unit uses the same OS as the one in my van, a Kenwood. I believe these are the best on the market. With touch screen or voice operated the nav system is more than just GPS. It is a complete vehicle control system. The trip data center has a histogram that displays your mpg each minute along the route. You can operate the vehicle with voice commands as well as the GPS. It has a hands free cell phone system that is auto activated by Blue tooth. The first BT phone to enter the car takes over. Once programmed, if I get in the car with my phone, it will allow me to make and answer calls. But if my wife gets in the car first with hers, it recognizes her BT phone. All automatic. The GPS displays not just travel places of interest but also the brand gas station, Brand hotel, and brand restaurant of the majors. It also can make a call for you to that place like a hotel to set up a reservation since the GPS database has a phone directory.
Overall it is one big high tech gadget. It is the first car I have owned where I had to have the manual close by and have read now twice to get the most from the car. However, like our PC's there is also a Help button on every page on the touch screen to aid if still refuse to read the manual.
Well no discussion of a Hybrid would be complete without mentioning what I get on gas mileage. I did a check on the old fashion way of tank fill and miles and calculate it and compare to the onboard computer data. It was the same!
We began out road trip on Friday, driving down off the interstate through lots of little towns and through Tampa, St. Pete, down through Naples and then over to Miami through lots of rain and then north on I95 back home over 3 days, Just about 900 miles.
Average mpg the first day was 47
Second day was 52
Third day was 39
The onboard computer was estimating our cruise range on a fillup was 607.5 miles. We kept our Interstate driving speed at 65 mph and off interstate country at 55. The instant analog meter feedback really helps maintain the best mpg. But the car has normal speed as any 4 cylinder car of this size. In a test, I had no problem hitting 85 mph on the interstate.
The airconditioner is interesting as it is electric, not belt driven so with the engine off, and parked, you can run the AC. When the battery gets down low it kicks on the engine and recharges the battery.
I mentioned the keyless system earlier. To lock the vehicle, all you need to do is get out of the car and close the door and push a button. It locks. If you leave the FOB inside the car it won't lock and gives you a warning. There are many options on programming the Keyless system. The manual has about 13 pages of instructions on this topic alone. So while I have it set one way there are other options that can be programmed into it as well.
A week ago wife and I decided it was time to upgrade her old 2000 camry to a new one. I have been wanting a hybrid for over a year now and with everything seeming right, we went on the search to see what was in stock around the city. We have 4 large Toyota dealerships. Considering that Toyota was the oldest maker of hybrids, I was surprised to find very little inventory. My wife's most important request was to gave a GPS navigation so that was a must. During the week we searched the few cars in stock and had bad news good news. Bad- no in stock with GPS. Good they were selling and getting new inventory daily. Saturday a week ago we saw the car! It was a Camry limited edition with loaded options, everything they could put on the Hybrid was in that car. That fit the list of what we wanted so after some negotiation we drove it off the lot. During the week my wife got to know the Hybrid a bit more and then on Thursday we decided to take a 3 day weekend road trip to no place special. Mainly to enjoy the new car and learn what it can do.
Some fun features were the sun roof, and the keyless operation. Let me describe the keyless operation-
You carry a small FOB in your pocket and when you approach the car, touch the car, it unlocks. Get in, put your foot on the brake and push a start button it "turns on the electronics" foot on the throttle and your electric motor drives you away. As you require power, the gas engine kicks in for more speed. The system is about as safe as an old fashion key system but more convenient. That is, anyone with the FOB can drive your car but they must have the FOB on them. There is no jump starting by a thief, however.
The Dash on the Hybrid is different. This Camry Hybrid has an MPG dial to replace a tachometer. PLus a digital readout display that gives you all sorts of information for travel such as avg mpg per tank, a diagram showing what is powering your wheels at any time, engine, electric, both, engine charging battery, etc. It also shows the level of battery charge, the estimated miles to empty, and much more. The steering wheel is loaded with more damn buttons than a logitec calculator mouse. The garage door opener is built in. The rear view mirror has a built in compass and is auto dimmed when a cars lights behind you are on.
The GPS unit uses the same OS as the one in my van, a Kenwood. I believe these are the best on the market. With touch screen or voice operated the nav system is more than just GPS. It is a complete vehicle control system. The trip data center has a histogram that displays your mpg each minute along the route. You can operate the vehicle with voice commands as well as the GPS. It has a hands free cell phone system that is auto activated by Blue tooth. The first BT phone to enter the car takes over. Once programmed, if I get in the car with my phone, it will allow me to make and answer calls. But if my wife gets in the car first with hers, it recognizes her BT phone. All automatic. The GPS displays not just travel places of interest but also the brand gas station, Brand hotel, and brand restaurant of the majors. It also can make a call for you to that place like a hotel to set up a reservation since the GPS database has a phone directory.
Overall it is one big high tech gadget. It is the first car I have owned where I had to have the manual close by and have read now twice to get the most from the car. However, like our PC's there is also a Help button on every page on the touch screen to aid if still refuse to read the manual.
Well no discussion of a Hybrid would be complete without mentioning what I get on gas mileage. I did a check on the old fashion way of tank fill and miles and calculate it and compare to the onboard computer data. It was the same!
We began out road trip on Friday, driving down off the interstate through lots of little towns and through Tampa, St. Pete, down through Naples and then over to Miami through lots of rain and then north on I95 back home over 3 days, Just about 900 miles.
Average mpg the first day was 47
Second day was 52
Third day was 39
The onboard computer was estimating our cruise range on a fillup was 607.5 miles. We kept our Interstate driving speed at 65 mph and off interstate country at 55. The instant analog meter feedback really helps maintain the best mpg. But the car has normal speed as any 4 cylinder car of this size. In a test, I had no problem hitting 85 mph on the interstate.
The airconditioner is interesting as it is electric, not belt driven so with the engine off, and parked, you can run the AC. When the battery gets down low it kicks on the engine and recharges the battery.
I mentioned the keyless system earlier. To lock the vehicle, all you need to do is get out of the car and close the door and push a button. It locks. If you leave the FOB inside the car it won't lock and gives you a warning. There are many options on programming the Keyless system. The manual has about 13 pages of instructions on this topic alone. So while I have it set one way there are other options that can be programmed into it as well.
