2015 Toyota Prius

The look is bothersome but a lot of buyers like hatchbacks and there aren't that many choices of hatchbacks anymore. If you want a more conservative looking sedan then the Camry Hybrid isn't much more than the Prius Hybrid.

Except the Camry is a piece of shit to sit in and drive. Honestly, Toyota should be ashamed of themselves.

You want what the Camry used to be and should be? Get an Avalon.

The Camry Hybrid feels like a luxury car. Not much different than a Lexus. The hybrid drive train is more than just a fuel saving gimmick due to the way Toyota implemented the hybrid system. You get amazing acceleration with the hybrid because both the gasoline and electric motors are driving the wheels in synergy. The handling is also awesome, definitely on the level of a German sedan. I don't know if Toyota put in a better suspension system because of the weight of the extra components (batteries and electric motors) but it feels like driving a German sports sedan.

Can't comment on the Avalon, they are rather rare. I expect that all the Avalons come with a V6 due to the higher weight. We looked at an Avalon at the time we bought our first Camry but you just didn't get much extra for the extra money except some extra rear seat room and a larger trunk. Neither was important to us at the time though 18 years later we still have that first Camry and it's running well. Probably spent about $300 per year, on average, on repairs, including wear items. One radiator, a couple of sensors, a couple of idle air control valves, and a rather expensive repair of a leaking oil seal.

Nothing wrong with the Prius of course, but it's basically a low end vehicle that has the hybrid synergy drive added to it, much like Honda has done with the Civic hybrid. The Prius is a good commute car but it's not a vehicle for extended road trips like the Camry. It's rather cramped if you're transporting two adults and two teenagers, though it's fine for small children in the back seat. We may get a Prius soon because we want our daughter to have a newer vehicle than the 1996 Camry when she's away at school. CA 17 is not a road where you want to lack ABS and VSC.

man, your expectations have gone below ground.

So you haven't looked at an Avalon in 18 years?

Avalon Hybrid (the Toyota version of the Lexus ES300h). Drive that and compare it to a current Camry of any style, and you'll see how they've cheapened the Camry beyond belief.

wow, the ignorance is strong in this one.

So you've never actually even sat in one, let alone driven one. Got it.

Driven one only as a rental in Florida. Ironic that in Florida Toyota is dumping hybrids with fleet sales while in California they are so popular that this would never happen.

I didn't want the Prius for a rental, it was all they had left. Very cramped for four of us with luggage. But in the bizarre world of car rental sizing, the Prius is a "mid-size."

Being smarmy does not help your position.

The word you're looking for is "snarky", misuse of which doesn't help yours.

So you never have actually sat in a Prius, let alone driven one. Got it.

Prius has a larger back seat than Camry.

And I've taken four people plus luggage on vacation in Prius. That it doesn't have a trunk is what got you all flummoxed.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate the Prius. We're probably going to buy one in the next week or month. But it is what it is: a good, high-mpg, commute car for one or two adults. The hatchback is a big plus because so few hatchbacks are still available. Toyota could even make a non-hybrid Prius and it would sell but they have to Corolla for compact buyers that want something less costly.

The last two generations of Camry hybrids (well the only generations of the hybrid model) are essentially luxury cars. Very solidly built, excellent power and handling, and Toyota re-contented some of the stuff that they removed in the 4th and 5th generations. The 4th and 5th generations were the "dark years" for the Camry but the 6th and 7th generations restored the Camry's reputation with excellent quality interior materials, more noise reduction, and excellent craftsaenship.

Here's where you can begin your education:

"From the spacious cabin to the quiet ride and the great handling to the available power, I think that the Camry Hybrid is really the perfect family car. I could see my family loading up the car for a road trip and actually enjoying the drive - no one would be cramped, our ears wouldn't be irritated by road noise and the vehicle is even fun to drive." -- Forbes (2012)"

Again, the Prius is okay, but it has some annoying characteristics. The weight to power ratio is very high so performance is rather anemic, while the Camry hybrid is very powerful for a car in that class.

The Prius is an excellent choice for commuters that drive long distances each day since the fuel economy is about 21% better than the Camry hybrid. It's a poor choice for families with anything other than small children that want to take long road trips.

One thing that most people don't realize when comparing a regular Camry to a hybrid Camry, is that the higher fuel economy and smaller trunk are not the only differences. The combination of two power sources when accelerating make a tremendous difference in performance. A Camry hybrid has a 0-60 time of 7.4 seconds. The 4 cylinder Camry is 8.4 seconds. The Prius is a leisurely 9.8 seconds.

I've had one for 7 years and 140K miles. I've taken family vacations in it, and I've taken it on plenty of road trips. It's well beyond just a "commuter" car, without question.

The Prius C is the commuter car.

Wow. The Camry I tried out was utter crap, even compared to my Prius.

Elmo, the difference between you and I is that you feel compelled to defend any purchase you make, against all facts and logic, while I am able to state the facts about a purchase I make, including the negatives.

The differences between a Prius and a Camry are quite clear in terms of performance, space, and refinement. Unlike you, we now have both a Prius hybrid and a Camry hybrid and can directly compare the two.

The Prius is a very nice vehicle, and it was a good option for us because of several factors, the desire for a hatchback, the HOV access, and the higher MPG (and with $8000 in incentives and tax rebates it was a good deal). But the Camry hybrid has other advantages, quieter, more powerful, more spacious, with an interior more to the level of a luxury vehicle.

I don't like the visibility impairment of the Prius in the rear view mirror, due to the split rear window, but I'm sure it'll be okay after I get used to it.

For $5000 more the "Advanced" model of the Prius Plug-In has power seats with fake leather (Toyota determined that Prius buyers often don't want animal products) and a larger screen, but the mechanicals are still the same, and it's no quieter. The higher road noise on the Prius is really noticeable. After you get used to a car you get a sense of how fast you're going by the road noise, and I found myself going slower in the Prius because I was so used to the quietness of the Camry Hybrid.

Bottom line is that the Prius is a compact utilitarian vehicle that gets very good mileage. The Camry hybrid is a mid-size vehicle where the higher trim levels exude quality and luxury, and the performance approaches that of a sport sedan due to the powerful combination of the gas and electric motors during acceleration. Power to weight ratio is a spec that I don't think many people look at but it's important in a hybrid due to the weight of the battery packs.

Oh, I'm happy to define the negatives of my purchases. But you've flat-out misstated many things, out of your ignorance.

The back seat of a Prius is larger than the back seat of a Camry, for example.

And I've driven a Camry. If Toyota set out to build a worse driver/passenger experience, they couldn't have achieved it.

No, nothing but facts here.

LunaTuna:

Like the previous generations, i.e., like a goose egg on a roller skate.

Around 45 for conservative drivers.

Compared to what? Compared to that 16-year-old girl 53 years ago when I was 17? Not very much fun at all.

sms:

That's not the car-rental sizing. That's the gummint sizing. Everything is relative.