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I'm thinking about buying a new Toyota vehicle this year. Whatever I buy I'll probably keep for at least eight or ten years, or maybe more.

Since gas prices will probably continue to climb in the future, I want something that will be fuel efficient. I'm thinking about purchasing a Camry, Camry Hybrid or Prius.

I currently have a 2000 Toyota Tundra pickup that I purchased new. I'll keep it for hunting and hauling. In thirteen years it's been a very reliable truck. Other than routine maintenance items, I've only had to replace an oxygen sensor a few years ago. It currently has a little over 98,000 miles.

Right now I'm leaning toward a Camry Hybrid. Does anyone have one? Comments, good or bad?

If it has Camry tacked onto it then it will be reliable to the point of not even thinking about it.

If you just want a car that's one thing. Buying a car to save on gas just don't add up money wise.

That said, my wife loves her camery

I do dealer transfers and deliveries for the local Toyota dealership and have driven all the vehicles you mentioned, they all are good choices. The Prius has a bad hesitation from a dead stop waiting for the gas engine to engage before you get any kind of decent acceleration.

Never owned the Camry or Prius, but I can speak highly of the Corolla. I drove one for several years with a daily 180 mile round trip commute. Nothing but gas, oil, and tires. It's still my commuter but only gets about 60 miles per day now. I don't know how many miles are on it now.....

Have a Tundra and Sienna as well. They've all been good. It's hard for me to look at anything other than a Toyota for a driver...

If that Tundra is a 4x4, shoot me a pm. I may be interested.

I would go for a non hybrid camry or corolla. have owned both and are bullet proof. I do not think the hybrids are worth it IMO

Also have a Toyota Tacoma now.

I have a Camry Hybrid. Love it. Absolutely love it. Great car. I have gotten 47 miles to the gallon if I did my part on long highway drives.

Had a 1990 Toyota Camry for 14 years and 180K miles.
Sorry I sold it. The car was still running strong.

Hybrids are a losing proposition mathematically. They cost too much up front. I think if you are looking for a good car, with good mileage, get the Corolla. Camrys are larger and less efficient, the Corolla is actually a normal sized car these days.

My 94 Camry has a 4 cylinder in it... I still get 30 to 32 mpg with it, motor has never been overhauled, alternator is original..
as is tranny... most major thing done to it, I have had to replace the radiator at 250K... it currently has 304K on it...

the fmaily has two other Camrys, a 93 with a 6 cylinder and an 04 with the V 6 also... the 93 has 163K on it and the 04 has 95K on it...

then there is my old 88 4Runner...that has 520K on it...

definitely got my nickles worth out of each of these Toyotas that I have had....but over the years, I have also had a couple of Hondas that have served the family just as well also...

The hybrid Camry runs 4 or 5 grand more up front than the regular one. At 4 bucks a gallon, which is going to seem cheap in the future, the break even is around 80-100K miles.

Buying a new car just to save money on gas never adds up but if you're buying a new car either way then the hybrid is a no brainer.

I've driven & worked on almost every car you can imagine over the past many, many years. That being said, the Camry is a very reliable model. It is basically a slightly scaled down version of the Lexus ES model with very similar performance standards.

I do not recommend the hybrid models of any manufacturer. Far from perfected yet as all of 'em basically rushed in to jump on the bandwagon of the "green" craze imho. Not to mention the batteries only are scheduled to maintain a 10 yr life expectancy. Go change the batteries at that time and you may as well junk the vehicle, also imho.

-Ken

Camry or a Corolla would serve you well. The Camry is slightly larger and will get a few mpg less than the Corolla but they are both great cars that will run forever. For what its worth we bought the wife a Camry last year, its a 2012. We made a road trip to Utah from Texas during X-Mas and with me running between 70-80 mph the whole way there and back , we averaged 32 mpg for the whole 2000 mile trip.

The ten year battery life is a huge downside. What would a hybrid be worth when it's eight or ten years old knowing that battery replacement is ridiculously expensive?

If you sold it when it's five or six years I don't think it would be as much of a concern.

If it took 80k or 100k to break even on initial added expense that's roughly six years. You could drive it for an additional four years at a savings but then what? You'd be at the end of it's serviceable life.

^^^ Those are just my ramblings but they're worthy of consideration.

I'd buy something with a gas engine if I was planning on keeping it long term. Toyotas are good for 200k +++

Or try a Honda.

Buy used with low mileage and let the original owner take the depreciation. My service advisor said he has never replaced a battery in a Toyota Hybrid yet. YMMV.

Battery life is a non issue. Toyota warranties them for a minimum of 8 years. Failures in the Camry Hybrid and Prius have been exceedingly rare. In the event something does happen to the battery,single cells can be replaced so automatically assuming the entire battery needs to be replaced is incorrect.

My wife drives a 2011 Camry Hybrid. As far as the car itself, like most Toyotas its a boring car with no soul.The minimum age to drive a Camry ought to be about 70.

Its approaching 40K miles and has a lifetime average of about 35mpg. Thats pretty impressive IMO, considering my wifes aggressive driving style. If I drove it daily,I could probably tickle 40mpg.

A hybrid really shines in city traffic. Highway mileage on a hybrid really isn't much different than its gas counterpart.

I came close to buying one here in Oz as they were among the lower priced full size cars. Cars are darn expensive here but the hybrid Camry's were not perhaps due to subsidies, I have no idea. In the end I chose differently but really never thought I would ever consider a hybrid. Hell I work for a major oil co. The Camry hybrid's are well thought of here it seems.

Absolutely, unless you live in a urban metro area and spend a lot of time in bumper to bumper traffic, the Hybrid is an expense you wont recoupe and a feature you will not benefit from.