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Pastimes : Car Nut Corner: All About Cars -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gg cox who wrote (1711)	12/31/2006 10:33:07 AM
From: SI Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5691

Actually, in the Camry Hybrid (and this may only be when the heat/air is in econo mode -- I haven't checked), the gas engine will turn off with the heat on. I suspect it just kicks the gas engine back on if the heater core gets too cold. In the Camry, I'd like to see not only a turbo-diesel, but more battery power, a stronger bias toward electric, and the ability to plug the car in overnight to charge the batteries. You have to be VERY gentle on the throttle to keep the gas engine from coming on, and I'm pretty sure 44 mph is the magic number where the gas engine starts regardless of how much throttle you're using. Too bad because contrary to popular belief, accelerating that slowly (as slowly as you need to in the Camry to keep the gas engine turned off) isn't how you get the best fuel economy out of a non-hybrid. It's better to get up to speed more briskly and, more importantly, get the tranny into higher gears. Although with the Camry's CVT, extremely gentle acceleration is best. What I've found immensely helpful (and amusing) in the Camry is the wealth of information it'll give you on the Navi screen about what's happening with the electric and gas powerplants and how you're doing on fuel economy. It turns it into a video game in which MPG is a high score you're trying to beat. Something that may serve to illustrate how much of an enemy the brakes are is my 94 BMW 530i. When I bought it, I could only get right at 20 MPG out of it. That and a slew of other symptoms turned up the fact that one of the brake calipers was sticking. I rebuilt the calipers, replaced the pads, rotors, and fluid, and now I get 24.6 mpg out of it. And really I'm very hobbled in that car when it comes to fuel economy. It's my daily driver and my office is only a few miles away, so the engine isn't really warmed up and running efficiently until I'm almost done with my trip. On longer drives, I'll usually get 28-32 MPG out of it.