2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid review
No compromise in driving and ownership, yet you’ll be saving the planet
By Shahzad Sheikh
Click below to watch my Toyota Camry Hybrid Review now
We have already reviewed the all-new 2018 Toyota Camry and you can watch Imthishan’s review of the car below.
I also ran one as a long-termer and you can watch that review below or read the full report at this link.
So here we have the hybrid version of the new Camry which is available to buy now priced from AED133,500 ($36k) compared to a similarly equipped version of the petrol 2.5-litre at AED99,000 ($27k).
To keep that comparison going, we’re looking at a 2.5-litre engine in the hybrid putting out 176bhp but mated to an electric motor to provide a combined power output of 208bhp (compared to 203bhp for the petrol only car).
Similarly torque is 163lb ft to give a 0-100kph time of 7.9seconds and a 187kph top speed. The petrol car has the same acceleration time but a slightly higher top speed of 214kph.
More interestingly of course the official combined fuel economy of the hybrid is just 4.5L/100km whilst emitting only 90g/km of CO2, whilst the petrol car does 7.4L/100km and breathes out 194g/km of CO2.
Now this is why a hybrid is good for you and the environment – firstly because you will use 40% less fuel, and if you happen to do an annual mileage of 25,000km you’ll save nearly AED2000 a year on fuel costs. More significantly perhaps over the same mileage you would save nearly 3 tons of CO2 a year – try to even imagine THREE TONS of air! That’s how much pollution you would be NOT putting into the environment.
To further emphasise this, know that the previous Camry HEVs on the taxi fleets here in the UAE alone, over mileages exceeding 100 million km collectively, have saved over 6000 tons of CO2. Across the globe just Toyota’s hybrids alone have reduced CO2 emissions by 90 million tons from nearly 12 million vehicles.
And why is CO2 bad? Carbon Dioxide – CO2 – is a greenhouse gas which contributes to disrupting the climatic temperature of the planet. There are other greenhouse gases emitted by human behaviour but CO2 contributes to 84% of it – about 30billion tons a year. In addition to the melting ice caps and other climatic disasters, it has also made the oceans 30% more acidic. Additionally humans breathing in too much CO2 can lead to central nervous system damage and respiratory deterioration.
We want to be good and do good, and let’s say stumping up the extra 30k is not an issue, but we still don’t want to change our lifestyles or driving styles, or the type of cars we own and what we do with them. Least of all we don’t want to relearn driving in any way, shape or form. And we certainly don’t want to stranded without power in the middle of the desert.
All of which are concerns often linked to the notion of electric only cars, particularly living in a region which doesn’t yet boast an appropriate infrastructure. So here’s the big thing about hybrids – you don’t have to change a thing about how you interact with your car. Because aside from the occasional silent running when it goes into full electric mode, this Camry is hardly any different from driving a regular Camry.
Yes it does have a CVT transmission, but many petrol cars also have that now anyway. And the CVT in Toyotas and Lexus models is not at all as bad as some as it does a keen impression of a regular step-change gearbox and only gets droney when you press on hard.
And yes you could save more fuel and emit less by adjusting your driving style to keep the electric part of the drivetrain working harder and learning how to exploit regen deceleration and braking to keep that battery charged nicely. But frankly this is something you’ll start to do after a few days of living with the car anyway. The reality is you don’t have to, and you can drive it like a normal car, and still be better off in terms of economy and less pollution.
So if you do a lot of miles and want to do it in comfort and with ease, then a Camry hybrid is definitely one to put on your shortlist. In any case, it’s time to give serious consideration to all hybrids for your next car.