2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Toyota’s unveiling of the all-new 2007 Camry – the best-selling car in the U.S. for eight of the past nine years – was made all the more significant by the simultaneous debut of its hybrid version. Like its conventional brethren, the hybrid variant emerges an improved and ever-more stylish package with a focus on safety as well as efficiency, offering an array of standard safety features including anti-lock braking, electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist, and optional traction control. Plus, seven airbags come as a matter of course.

The Camry Hybrid features Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, in this application mating a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with a small, specially-developed electric drive motor for a combined output of 187 horsepower. This engine’s 147 hp is less than the non-hybrid four-cylinder because, like the engine in the Prius, it uses the lean-burning Atkinson cycle that reduces power but improves fuel consumption.

The hybrid system varies power between gas and electric, or both, as needed. EPA estimates place the Camry Hybrid’s fuel economy at 40 mpg in the city and 38 mpg on the highway, a marked improvement over the standard four-cylinder’s 24/34 mpg.

Other efficiency-enhancing features on the Camry Hybrid include a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and a driver selectable “ECO” button that limits energy consumption of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system. Power-steering and air-conditioning systems are electrically driven rather than by a belt from the engine. Special attention was paid to the vehicle underbody with the use of wheel spats and underbelly pans, resulting in a low 0.27 coefficient of drag that does its part to help increase fuel economy.

In contrast to the performance-oriented Honda Accord Hybrid, Toyota is hoping the more efficiency-minded balance struck by the Camry Hybrid will resonate with today’s buyers. At a base price of $25,900 for all this goodness and high mpg, this may well be the case.