2019 Toyota Camry Hybrid - Thoughts?

What’s your opinion of this car?

Best midsized affordable green sedan for sale on Earth.

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I have an Avalon hybrid. I find it much more comfortable than the Camry.
Both are high quality.

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I find both the Avalon and Camry uncomfortable. The seat back is too narrow at the top and pushes on my shoulder blades. I test drove an Avalon and that killed the deal for me. I had a Camry recently as a rental, and the seat was the same design, but not as heavily padded. Our divergent opinions are a good reason for the OP to take the Camry for a long test drive to see if it is comfortable.

I used to use the term bulletproof to describe things like the durability of a Toyota hybrid vehicle. I don’t use the term any more, but that’s not Toyota’s fault.

If you definitely want a hybrid, be sure to test-drive & compare the Camry version to the various Prius versions first. The Prius line has stood the test of time pretty well, so there’s probably less “Lemon” risk buying a Prius.

Something else to consider, repair costs, for the water pump for example

2016 Camry Hybrid: $400 + 2 hours
2016 Prius V Hybrid: $620 + 2 hours
2016 non-hybrid Camry: $140 + 2 hours

That’s an unexpected price difference. That would give me pause. How often should the timing belt (and probably water pump as long as you’re in there) be changed on the hybrids? I would think time and exposure to the elements would be a bigger factor than miles driven - the gasoline engine is not running all the time the car is moving. Maybe the water pump can safely be left in there even if the timing belt is changed.

AFAIK Toyota transitioned to the timing chains, but my “project” Gen2 Prius has 3 or 4 water pumps, so chances of failure increased.

Inverter and heat accumulator pumps failure seemed to plague this generation initially.
These 2 pumps were replaced on my car during warranty period.

By now, I would assume Toyota has perfected this design.
Still, now they transitioned from lesser efficient MiMH torque batteries to the newer Lithium chemistry, so who knows.

I guess I have been buying our vehicles all wrong. I have never checked on the price of having a new water pump installed . Especially by checking a model 3 years older then the one I was looking at.

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As usual, @VOLVO_V70 came with some “reality check” perspective :slight_smile:

In reality, with proper maintenance, it is quite unlikely over 10 year of service the new car would require anything like water pump for generally reliable make like Toyota, hybrid or not

Still, it can safely be assumed that hybrid repairs may be more expensive… it is only after 10+ years when this factor will come into play

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