Toyota Camry Hybrid

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Comments

  • hybridriverhybridriver Member Posts: 77
    I've noticed that all these TCHs that get listed on Ebay are base models. Coincidence, or is there a reason for it?
  • hueristixhueristix Member Posts: 30
    It is indeed in the book. Geek that I am I read it- especially the FOB portion. I initally wondered why my passenger doors would unlock some times, but not others.
    (if you want all unlocked, use passenger side)

    I love to master the little tricks- want your 'auto' headlites to stay on for a bit when you park? use the door button autolock. Want them to go off? Use the remote instead.
  • hueristixhueristix Member Posts: 30
    For those wanting a pic of the blue ribbon, check out greenhybrid.com... very nice, but only one shot so far.
    Not sure why they called it "ribbon"
    Maybe if they hadn't it would have sounded better.
  • bmgoodmanbmgoodman Member Posts: 102
    Don't they have any county fairs where you are? :)
    A Blue Ribbon is awarded (in various contests) for first place!
  • njeraldnjerald Member Posts: 689
    The base models are the most manufactured and the loaded models have the biggest chance of being sold above MSRP.
  • willybillwillybill Member Posts: 83
    For those wanting a pic of the blue ribbon, check out greenhybrid.com... very nice, but only one shot so far.
    Not sure why they called it "ribbon"
    Maybe if they hadn't it would have sounded better.


    We now have the FULL SET of TCH colors on Green hybrid com Photo Share.. GasGuy, we need more photos of your titanium metallic and some more of hueristix Blue Ribbon.. All great Photos for sure.. :)
    http://www.greenhybrid.com
  • willybillwillybill Member Posts: 83
    Sorry Hueristix.. I forgot what color your TCH was.. It was ORGal who had the Blue Ribbon One..

    Bill :blush:
  • orgalorgal Member Posts: 27
    For those wanting a pic of the blue ribbon, check out greenhybrid.com... very nice, but only one shot so far.
    Not sure why they called it "ribbon"
    Maybe if they hadn't it would have sounded better.


    I posted some more pics of my Blue Ribbon blue - I think its a fantastic color - and have gotten many compliments on it. I was worried it was going to be too "electric" (I ordered it before I could see it), but its brighter than a navy and not electric

    http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/category40.html
  • willybillwillybill Member Posts: 83
    Cool !.. Thanks orgal !.. It is a great color!. Virtually all of the TCH colors are really nice. Thanks for posting the great pictures!.
    :)
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    I am a beg fan of that color! My choices for the TCH are still Gray and Blue Ribbon, but I would LOVE to see Blue Ribbon be the one that comes available first.

    What color is the interior of your Blue Ribbon? Is it Ash or Charcoal?

    EDIT: I guess charcoal isn't an option for any of the Hybrids - my sales guy must have been mistaken. Is it Ash or Bisque?
  • ahdavisahdavis Member Posts: 2
    For those of those that have seen one (or have one): Is the trunk pass through big enough for:
    1) A bicycle (without the front wheel)
    2) A couple of snowboards
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    There is no way an adult sized bicycle will fit- the pass through is quite small.

    Maybe the snowboards- but they might fit lengthwise in the trunk as long as they're not really long.

    hope this helps!

    tom
  • degdeg Member Posts: 14
    Both of these topics are being discussed in this forum. My TCH scheduled to land 24 June and at dealer July 3rd (Metroplex Toyota). I really hit them up hard on why a 30K hybrid did NOT have two simple items as Fog Lights and Sliding armrest and the answer we all know is "Toyota didn't figure a TCH owner wanted it". SOOO to my forum friends please keep posting so we all can know the answer and how to for these two items. :confuse: My other Car is a Prius -- This forum is GREAT!!
    PS-Really wanted power passenger side seats but to get it - because Toyota configured this way had to have NAV and "additional pkg-heated seats" to get it a + of $1,800. Not happy but will live without the power passenger side seats.
  • willybillwillybill Member Posts: 83
    Anybody happen to know the cost of that Camry XLE sliding armrest.. Do you have to pay for the cover or just the sliding mechanism?
    Tx :confuse:
  • czechmanczechman Member Posts: 4
    Wondering what is recommended for unusual situations such as valet parking, car wash, etc? I guess a fob has to remain with the vehicle to start & move it, correct? Can the trunk unlock be disabled if you wanted to leave something of value in there?
  • fullofbeansfullofbeans Member Posts: 33
    yes you can keep the trunk locked so the valet can't access your golf clubs.

    the instructions are in the manual. It's a snap to engage.
  • orgalorgal Member Posts: 27
    What color is the interior of your Blue Ribbon? Is it Ash or Charcoal?

    Its Bisque
  • hueristixhueristix Member Posts: 30
    If anyone has this in an online format and wants to post it, or email it to me, please do! Perhaps I could paypal you 1/2 the cost?? :confuse:
  • njeraldnjerald Member Posts: 689
    You can download everything available for $10 for 24+ hours.

    link title
  • m0t0rm0uthm0t0rm0uth Member Posts: 10
    42.9

    Little in town but mostly highway (95%). We have gently rolling hills here but this thing is uber efficient when you get on stretches flat open highway. Consistently in the mid 40's to 50 on the instantaneous eco-meter (on those flat stretches).

    Quiet, oh so smooth and with none of the "surging" some have imagined.

    Amazing car......
  • gampagampa Member Posts: 78
    Salesman told me yesterday that the USA version of the Hybrid will be built in July...can anyone confirm this?
    I thought it was a September start up.

    If so looks like more then one or two per month!

    Finally got the saleman a quote of MSRP + Tax out the door with no add on's... but it looks like a 6 week wait.

    Now I have to work the internet sites... maybe through Sam's or Costco and wait for the end of quarter/month/ to order one... just so it gets here before September 30th.

    Gampa
  • ttnttn Member Posts: 8
    Yes m0t0, TCH is really amazing! No doubt.

    Up north here in Canada I drove 1009 km (627 miles) on my 1st "hybrid learning" tank, got 5.8 L/100 km (40.5 mpg) according to computer. My driving consists of 40% city 60% highway, A/C with Eco, 35 psi tire pressure from dealership. I tend to accelerate moderately from stop, go with traffic flow on hw (10-15 km/hr over 100 km/hr speed limit approx 70 mph), use cruise control whenever traffic permits, enjoy EV mode on school/community zones (slowing down on those zones suddenly doesn't bother me anymore, thanks to TCH !!)

    Anyway, on Monday night my TCH showed zero Driving range (empty) when I was 100 km away from home, I gave it a try to see how far it can take me further. Driving late at night with very little traffic, I got home alright from lake Simcoe to Toronto, drove to work the next morning, drove to the gym ater work, and then decided to it's about time to fill up get ready for tomorrow's long distance travel, not safe running out of gas on a busy highway (and also get rid of the 5L gasoline container in the trunk as backup for the experiment :)).
    So I did drive 126 km (78 miles) after zero reading on driving distance. At fillup, the tank only took 60 litres (tank volume is 65 L/17 gal according to spec), there's another 5 litres, more than a gallon left in tank! theoretically it can get me going for another 80 km (50 miles) before it really runs out of gas :surprise:
    So to TCH's owners, don't sweat when your TCH's Driving range goes down to zero, take your time to find a gas station, you have plenty of "miles" left.
    Hope you enjoy your TCH, it's an amazing car.
    2 weeks has passed since I owned one and still exciting...

    Thanks to many sharp & knowledgeable posters in this forum, quite informative and I'm learning something new every day.

    (Pardon my writing if not clear to anyone, english is not my native language)
  • 9cal9cal Member Posts: 2
    Pick up a camry hybrid (ordered in feb 2006) june 1st. Have 1300 miles am getting combined hy and city 43 mpg. Seat are a big improvement,easy to get in and out. Better then i hoped for, love the car.
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    Can you download all of them in PDF format? Or is it a proprietary format that you can't read after the 1-day subscription expires?

    And by download, is it something that can be read offline?

    Thanks - that is a great link if you can dowload them!
  • bmgoodmanbmgoodman Member Posts: 102
    Has anybody compared this link with the manuals available at www.tundrasolutions.com? I paid $25 to join their site for a year and I was able to download the entire owner's manual and a lot of other useful info, all in .pdf format. I was quite pleased with it.
  • kdhspyderkdhspyder Member Posts: 7,160
    Even though selling them, it's quite common not to have a lot of 'seat time' in the various vehicles we sell. It is the client afterall who should be experiencing the vehicle. Well yesterday I had the opportunity to spend 10+ hours driving a TCH in all kind of traffic and conditions, except rain.

    Starting from sealevel on the E Coast I was able to take a beautiful Sand/Bisque 'loaded' version up over the Blue Ridge Mountains into and across the Appalachians into the heartland. Like delivering coal to Newcastle so to speak.

    This vehicle is much much different than my Prius. WAY different. Did I mention that the driving experience was different?

    Until now it has been normally 'known' that driving in a relaxed manner is best for fuel economy in the HSD vehicles. This is still likely true but there is something different with the TCH. Driving west from sealevel to the mountains and down again - at 70-75 mph - staying ahead of the 18-wheelers while negotiating several long 7% grades the overall fuel economy was 39 mpg over 650+ miles!!! That's better than the EPA Hwy value and almost equal to the EPA City value. What shocked me was it was done at 70 mph on average and with seemingly little effort.

    Taking the Blue Ridge Mountains with CSN+Y's 'Four Way Street' was beautiful in midafternoon. While not being an audiophile did I mention that the sound system is fantastic!!! Pachibel's Canon at sunset over KY seemed appropriate too. With the vehicle being nearly silent all the time it was just the music and the road.

    The displays are the best I've seen in any Toyota. In the loaded version with the navi I had the map set to a 50 mi view on the right, the ECO-DRIVE indicator ( above 40 mpg most of the time ) in the center and could watch the instantaneous fuel economy analog dial on the left ( as it fluctuted between 30 and 60 mpg ).

    At night with the opticon gauges lit in front it was even clearer still. They are truly the best.

    The Navi system was precise and very easy to interface with outside of learning some of the specific commands. Take the time it's fun to do it.

    The seating was very comfortable even at 10+ hours of straight driving.

    In another forum alpha01 responded to a poster about visibility being an issue on the driver's part. The poster complained about the headrests being too big and uncomfortable. After 10 hours I had no complaints at all and actually found them very relaxing and a perfect fit for me. However the B-pillar seems to be twice as wide as the previous Camry's I've owned ( likely due to IIHS issues ) and it does take some getting used to if you have been driving Camry's for a while.

    If I didn't need the ultra-efficiency of the Prius I'd be in a TCH in an instant.

    Did I mention that I was thoroughly impressed with everything about the new TCH. ;) Congratulations to all the new owners. :D
  • larsblarsb Member Posts: 8,204
    My TCH I bought on June 2 was built in Kentucky, according to my dealer and the VIN.
  • bmgoodmanbmgoodman Member Posts: 102
    Did you get a sample model?? You're saying your TCH VIN begins with "1"? Could you scan the window sticker and post it somewhere?
  • kdhspyderkdhspyder Member Posts: 7,160
    If it was KY then it would be a 4 as the first digit. I too am shocked that KY is delivering any yet. Oct/Nov was supposed to be the first shipments from KY.
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    Would the 11th digit be a "U" also, if it was a Kentucky built car?
  • kdhspyderkdhspyder Member Posts: 7,160
    Yes.
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    I will answer part of my question.

    I just splurged for a $10 daily subscription. The documents are PDF's, but for something like the owner's manual, you have to open each section individually, rather than just grabbing one big PDF file.

    I want to grab the service manual, but it there are a TON of sections, so I don't think I can get away with it while I am at work!

    I will try it from home. One thing to keep in mind - it doesn't work with Firefox (you have to use Internet Explorer - version 5.5 or later, I think), and it doesn't work with Macintosh computers unless you are one of the lucky few that can boot Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac.

    Has anyone figured out how to download the entire service manual from the techinfo site mentioned earlier?

    Thanks
  • willybillwillybill Member Posts: 83
    Just came accross this SHORT TAKES review on the TCH by Car & Driver magazine dated June 2006. They claim the 0-60 speed is 7.7 seconds.

    http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroadtests/11035/short-take-review-2007-toyota-c- amry-hybrid.html

    Another article stated that 3,000 TCH were delivered in May, 2006. I think that must mean delivered and ordered.
    WillyBill
  • bmgoodmanbmgoodman Member Posts: 102
    The tundrasolutions user manual comes in 26 parts (.pdf format). Chapter 1 has separate sub-sections, as does Chapter 7. I downloaded all other available documents and I got 107 different .pdf files. One very intesting one is named multi2.pdf, but inside, it is called BE-11. It has info on various settings for locking the doors, unlocking the doors, setting illumination levels, etc. These appear to be dealer-programmable options. I'm going to select a few and go back and have mine re-programmed. I don't like the doors auto-locking when the car goes into gear--I'd rather they lock at 20 km/hr. I also don't want them all to unlock when the car goes into Park.

    I'm very curious about the illumination settings. Anybody work with any of these?
  • kdhspyderkdhspyder Member Posts: 7,160
    I believe that the figures are 46 units 'sold & delivered' in april along with about 3400 units 'sold & delivered' in May. It should run about 4000 units or so until Nov when it should move up to 6000+ monthly and eventually 8000-10000 monthly after KY gets into full swing.

    Maybe after KY gets up to speed fully the part from Japan will be redirected elsewhere to say the Gen3 Prius or a hybrid Sienna ( see Inside Line today ).

    One figure I saw was that the TCH would add about 10% to normal Camry sales. But what if it was such a huge hit that demand stayed at 100K units and accounted for 20% of Camry sales?
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    Just look at the black sticker in the driver's doorjamb. It will say where it was built and what day.

    tom
  • hardchemisthardchemist Member Posts: 61
    Here a the first 2 pics.
    carspace
    More later.

    The car runs great, exceeds expectations. All the engineers at work want to geek out over this vehicle, gave 5 people rides and all were impressed.

    Trunk is fine. Didn't realize it had the regular 12V battery back there too! First trip to work I averaged 35 MPG over 40 miles of mixed light traffic, 2 full throttle freeway merges, country roads, and 5 or 6 stoplights. That's the benchmark run that I do each day, twice. Hope to get it up to 40 MPG as I learn the hybrid tricks.

    Taking it on a trip this weekend, averaging 34.2 MPG so far on this tank (140 miles into it, and the vehicle for that matter)
  • balithaibalithai Member Posts: 14
    I am not getting a great vibe about my local dealer and was hoping to get some advice. I've have been told my my local dealer (rural far N. CA) that Mag Grey with Bisque leather interior is not available in CA, which I've since learned is not the case. Also, he wants a $2K non-refundable down to get on the waiting list - which also seems out of the ordinary.

    My brother lives in the Bay Area and I'd like to talk to some dealers there - anyone have a dealer that was good to work with that you can recommend I call? I'm partial to the mag grey w/bisque, but not wedded to it - its just the sum of our interactions that make me want to look elsewhere.

    Thanks!
  • njeraldnjerald Member Posts: 689
    I wouldn't give anyone a non-refundable deposit on anything.
  • hybridriverhybridriver Member Posts: 77
    Car looks beautiful.

    You may have posted this previously, but I'm curious which wheels you replaced the stock ones with. I'm considering a wheel upgrade myself (possibly to 18" rims), but don't want to add any unsprung weight to the car, if possible.

    Anyone who has any advice on wheel upgrade considerations, please feel free to chime in. I've never done it before.
  • pradhan_tusharpradhan_tushar Member Posts: 15
    I am in the SF bay area and invited quotes via Edmunds from a number of dealers (using different zip codes). I have received many positive responses.
    Still trying to locate the color I want, Nobody hasd asked for a non-refundable deposit yet.
  • hybridriverhybridriver Member Posts: 77
    Just came accross this SHORT TAKES review on the TCH by Car & Driver magazine dated June 2006. They claim the 0-60 speed is 7.7 seconds.

    Interesting review. Thanks for posting.

    I notice in the specs that they claim the car is 0.5 sec faster from 0-60 mph than from 5-60 mph. Seems counter-intuitive!
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    What area did you find this document in, the service manual? What part/heading did it fall under?

    I want to take a look at it, but I am thinking I might have seen that somewhere else.
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    Actually that is fairly common. It is the result of starting out in a higher gear (sometimes), and then requiring the transmission to downshift to accelerate.
  • gandyfiregandyfire Member Posts: 36
    Car looks awesome. The new wheels on it make the car stand out. Congratulations.... Keep the wax on it though, you know what the sun does to red paint here in Florida!!
  • spiff72spiff72 Member Posts: 179
    I would like to know what wheel/tire combo you are using. They do look great.

    I am one of those engineer-types that is anxiously waiting for my TCH to show up so I can geek out over it too!

    The wait is excruciating.
  • hardchemisthardchemist Member Posts: 61
    Thanks to everyone who likes what I did to the Camry! I took great pleasure in driving 2 miles down from the dealer to the tire shop to swap the tires. They were a bit unsure of how to swap the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors from the old rims to the new rims and still get everything to balance right. So they ended up doing the following:
    1) mounting the TPMS sensors to the new rim (TPMS is integrated with the valve stem)
    2) balance the rim only (no rubber on it yet) - took about 1.25oz.
    3) put tire on rim
    4) balance again as you would a normal tire

    Smooth as silk up to 80MPH (all I've taken it to so far)...

    So there you go! Since I removed the stock rims and tires at 4 miles on the odometer I should get between $500 - $600 on ebay for the set with the customer paying the $100 for shipping.

    So the whole thing, after I get back part of the money on ebay, will have cost me under $500 including mounting and balancing.

    BTW I updated with another pic, and a jpg with the rim and tire data here
  • drmatscidrmatsci Member Posts: 2
    Can someone direct me to (or post) a photo of the non NAV faceplate? I know I saw it on here somewhere.... but now I can't find it.

    I have my order placed here in MD - through a dealer in Waldorf. I am waiting for either a Ti, Blue or Pearl. But none of the dealers here seem to share much other than 4-6 weeks. At least they are only asking MSRP. (plus you can get $500 something off for being a student, through Toyota's student discount program)

    thanks
  • lungdoc63lungdoc63 Member Posts: 55
    For $2000 - you could fly anywhere in US and get the car shipped and still have money left over. See my prior posts regarding dealers in Seattle Tacoma area I have worked with. I had a total of $3500 down, but each place gave me a written note that the deposit was refundable. I had my name 12 dealers, many without any money down. Grey with Bisque is awesome!
  • tsytsy Member Posts: 1,551
    Can you weigh one or two of the stock rims and tell us how much the rims weigh? Just curious if they make them really light (or for that matter, heavy).

    The car looks sharp- all you need is a lip spoiler! ;)

    tom
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