Toyota Camry Hybrid 2010 review

The starting price for Australia's first green car is $36,990.  That's the showroom tag for the basic Toyota Camry hybrid, which finally hits the road today.  The hybrid is being pitched as the flagship in the Camry range, from the way it looks to a cabin that is claimed to set a new standard for quietness in a locally-made car.

The basic details of the Camry hybrid have been public since the car was introduced in 2006 in the USA, but there has been a lot of work on 'Australianising' the car, both for production and driving.  "Right from day one we knew that the American version wasn't going to work," says Phil King, who headed local chassis tuning work.

The result is a car which is claimed to be more responsive, as well as packing a full suite of safety gear. But it still misses a five-star ANCAP rating because it does not have a driver's knee airbag or an audible seatbelt warning.

Engine and economy

The Camry hybrid picks up the vast majority of its mechanical package from the third-generation Prius, which went on sale last year, although it has a 2.4-litre engine (up from 1.8) and still has a drive belt for the water pump, unlike the Prius. In fact, the car is really just a family-ised Prius.

The hybrid bottom line is fuel economy of 6 litres/100km, compared with 9.3 for the Holden Commodore V6 or 9.9 for Toyota's own Aurion, with performance that trims a full second from the petrol-powered Camry's 0-100km/h time. The CO2 number is 142 grams/kilometre, while Toyota claims a huge advantage in NOX and particulates over diesel powerplants with similar economy.

Price and equipment

The $36,990 pricetag compares to $29,990 for a basic Camry Altise, or $39,990 for a Prius hybrid.  But Toyota Australia says the real cost of the hybrid upgrade is just $2000. The extra fat in the hybrid pricetags is down to extra equipment, from TFT instruments to a special windscreen.

Toyota Australia is trumpeting plenty of equipment in the hybrid, which it says lines up with the Altise-model Camry with six airbags, ESP stability control, active steering assistance and a special power cut-off. There is also a Luxury model at $39,990, with option packs for both models _ at $3000 for the base car and $4500 on the Luxury - including satnav and premium sound.

But the Camry's boot has taken a hit to fit the onboard battery system.  "This hybrid can walk, and chew gum," says Peter Evans, technical chief for Toyota's imported cars.  Toyota made some very big claims for the Camry hybrid today, from a five-star green rating, to a four-star ANCAP, and the potential for 7000 kilometres of free motoring every year - compared to a Commodore.

Driving

The hybrid is still a Camry, but now with a twist.  Even the best efforts of the team at Toyota Style have done little to change the overall look of the car, apart from a slightly more aggressive nose with blue headlamps. Inside, the big change is the loss of the tacho, in favour of a green driving monitor, and a TFT screen with familiar Prius driving readouts.

First up, the Camry hybrid has a silent start. And you move away under battery power, although the car will only go two kilometres before it needs a top-up.  It feels a little firmer in the suspension, particularly over broken bitumen, and there is a familiar whirring sound under brakes as the generator works to recover energy for the batteries.

Overall, the car feels a lot quieter and a little tauter. But it's a matter of degrees, not a wholesale change. And the loss of boot space will be significant for families, even if Toyota says it will still carry four sets of golf clubs.