2012 Camry Hybrid

Saturday 8/18/12 I bought a 2012 Camry Hybrid. Simple statement, but it was a long complex decision process in which I looked at every hybrid and EV that is readily available (and a couple that won't be available until later this year, or only in some states) and compared a huge amount of data on the vehicles. I read reviews, I looked at reliability data that was available. What I really wanted to buy is the new Toyota Rav4 EV, but unfortunately Toyota has chosen to make what in my opinion is a monumental mistake and price this vehicle at $10K more than it's nearest competitor putting it between the other EVs on the market and the Tesla market space. This is a terrible mistake, I think a lot of people were looking forward to a Rav4 EV with a base price around $30K, possibly as high as $40K but in fact the base model is going to be about $50K. Far too much money for something with a 100 mile range. For the same price you can get a Tesla Model S with a 160 mile range and half the 0-60 speed.

So after a bunch of comparisons of various kinds, it came down to 6 vehicles in the last set of comparisons. 3 of those don't have conversions available to be plug-ins. The last 3 on the list were all Toyotas. Prius V/Prius plug-in Camry Highlander

The Prius plug-in is smaller on the inside in pretty much all ways than the Prius V. This is really unfortunate because I'm a big guy, and the Prius V ends up being too small for me. I was really intending to buy a Prius Plug-in since I couldn't get a Rav4 EV.

I spent several days debating between the Highlander and the Camry. The Highlander had everything I wanted and more, but it was $12,500 more than the Camry and only got 28mpg (combined) whereas the Camry doesn't have 4wd, doesn't have much cargo capacity especially for long objects, and is only as easy to get into as my Saturn SL1 but it gets 44mpg combined and is radically cheaper. So...I spent several days debating, asking friends for alternative view points, etc.

Then I went back over with some specific things to check out in detail. After driving the Camry and trying some things out it basically came down to the advantages the Highlander has don't make up for the initial cost, let alone the over the lifetime of the car cost.

So now I have a fantastic new car that gets great gas mileage and if the cargo capacity gets to be too much of a problem that I can't just rent a solution for, I'll put a roof rack and carrier of some sort on it.

And as I jokingly suggested, the company I started with a friend and that my good friend Bryon still runs sells body lift kits for a 1"-3" additional lift, and a bunch of aftermarket things I could add to the car.

Speaking of adding on to the car. It looks like I could get a 4kwh plug-in conversion kit for the car for about $4000. I think I'll start saving up for that.