Toyota Camry Hybrid Review

There are some cars that make so much sense it's difficult to discuss them. You can really get by with just mentioning their name. It becomes its own concept. Like:

Toyota Camry Hybrid.

Well, there ya go, right? A family sedan with a reputation for bulletproof reliability with a hybrid engine...making it an even bigger gas-saver. End of story.

Popping the hybrid powerplant under the hood of the Camry does wonders for the gas mileage, launching it into the upper regions of the TireKicker Top 10 Fuel Savers list (EPA says 33 city/34 highway).

What's remarkable about the Camry Hybrid is that you can buy one for Prius money (give or take $500), even though the Camry is a much bigger car...seating 5 comfortably to the Prius' 4.

The base price on the Camry Hybrid I drove for a week was $25,650, which is about $1900 higher than the base price of the Prius TireKicker tested most recently. But...loaded, that Prius bottom-lined at $30,554. and the Camry with similar options (Convenience Package, Leather Package, Navigation and upgraded JBL audio system) maxed out at $30,988...a $434 difference....though the Nissan Altima Hybrid has them both beat on price.

The decision on space versus mileage is yours to make...but the fact that $30,000 ($25,000 if you can live without leather & nav and are okay with the stock audio system) can buy you a reliable, roomy family sedan with mileage in the 30s from both Toyota and Nissan is something to applaud.

UPDATE: Just had a second week in a different Camry Hybrid sedan...and if anything, I liked it more. As time and events progress, this car makes more and more sense.

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Scion xB Review

Want to kill some time? Try to find someone with no opinion either way about the styling of the Scion xB. It's pretty much love it or hate it.

Me? I preferred the looks of the first-generation xB, but overall, the second-gen is the better vehicle to live with.

Light enough that the 158-horsepower 4-cylinder engine isn't overwhelmed, designed with room for people and their things, able to score four stars in frontal crash tests for driver and passenger (five stars for side impact) and getting 22 miles per gallon in the city and 28 on the highway, according to the EPA.

All this with a base price of $16,700. The tester I drove had only floor and cargo mats and a security system. That, with destination charges, still kept the bottom line under $18,000 (by six whole dollars).

This is a growing segment, with Kia's Soul, Nissan's Cube and Honda's veteran Element all trying to carve out a niche. The Scion strikes me as a better buy than the Element, and maybe the Cube, which gets pricey when you try to outfit it properly. But my vote goes to the Soul.

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Chrysler 300C SRT8 Review

When the bad times subside (and they will) and we're looking back at the cars from before it all went sideways, this is one we'll look back fondly upon.

It's hard to remember right now, with the streets clogged with V6 versions owned by rental car companies, but the Chrysler 300C was a game-changer, an earth-shaking revelation of an automobile just five years ago...a sign that, after years of focusing on trucks and SUVs, the great American performance sedan was back.

The 300C SRT8 is the ultimate expression of that concept. A big, brawny, well-sculpted sedan (the SRT8 has enough unique styling cues that it almost doesn't need the refresh that the rest of the line is overdue for) with a magnificent 425 horsepower 6.1 liter HEMI, rolling on 20-inch wheels.

$43,860 is the price of admission...and our recent tester added SRT Option Group I (supplemental side curtain front and rear air bags, seat-mounted side airbags, side curtain ari bags and an instrument cluster with performance display screen) for $640; SRT Option Group II (uconnect gps, Multimedia Navigation System with GPS, Sirius Traffic, uconnect phone, auto-dimming rear view mirror with microphone and an iPod interface) for $900; an upgraded audios system for $685 and Sirius Backseat TV (three channels...Disney, Nick and Cartoon Network) for $1,460.

Add $700 for the destination charge and you're at $48,245, which includes a $1,700 gas guzzler tax (because the EPA says 13 city/19 highway).

But you know what?

It's fun.

If you want one and can afford one, buy it. Drive it a little now, keep it nice...in 20 years, you'll be in possession of a true classic. This isn't the direction cars are going anymore...but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth doing or having.

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Chevrolet Tahoe LTZ 4WD Review

Timing is everything. Especially when it comes to money and demand.

So, as the economy as a whole, car sales in general and the SUV market in particular comes crashing down, it's more than a little disconcerting to walk out to the freshly-delivered Chevrolet Tahoe, reach in the glovebox, pull out the photocopied Monroney (the price sticker found in the window of all new cars) and find an as-equipped price of:

$58,635.

For a Chevy.

One that doesn't say "Corvette" on it.

Regular TireKicker readers know that I believe there is a legitimate need and place for fullsize SUVs and that the Suburban and Tahoe (really a shortened 'Burban) should be granted survivor status once the great shaekout is over and the former Starbucks-weilding soccer moms are behind the wheel of something smaller holding McCafe's. They are simply excellent vehicles of their type.

But $58,635 is crazy...even for the top of the line, which the LTZ is.

Base price for that trim line is $52,350 (almost $15,000 more than a base LS model)...and that buys you what would have been an unimaginable array of features in a Tahoe five years ago.

But GM loaded this one further...$4,790 for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" Package (navigation, upgraded audio system, rear seat DVD system and a sunroof); $1,095 to step up to the 6.2 liter V8 from the 5.3 liter (which drops the EPA city estimate from 14 miles per gallon to 12 and the highway figure from 20 to 19); $500 for 20" chrome clad wheels (the same size as the standard polished aluminums); and the non-negotiable $950 destination charge.

Yeah, GM figures in a $900 "package savings" for the "Sun, Entertainment and Destination" thing (otherwise, this would have bottom-lined at $59,535), but c'mon.
What we have here is a Chevy selling for just about $5,000 less than the base price of a Cadillac Escalade.

As GM lops of the heads of dealers to try to stop cannibalization within markets, they need to really consider how close Chevrolet can get to Cadillac both in terms of features and price-point.

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Just How Far It's Gone

A sobering article from Peter De Lorenzo at Autoextremist.com about the need for GM to re-name when (is there still a chance it's "if"?) they reorganize through bankruptcy. Read it here.

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I Feel So Much Better Now...

After three weeks of agonizing over whether I was too tough in my review of the Chrysler Sebring Convertible, Jon Stewart tops me. Thanks, Jon.

Wait for it...it's about 1:40 in.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Carmageddon '09 - Lemon Aid
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

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Hyundai Genesis V6 Review

Back from a couple of weeks learning new things and I thought I'd try one of them out.

What you see above, instead of the usual still picture, is a collage from a company called Vuvox. Photos, video, text...all kinds of stuff can be cobbled together to create a slideshow.

Click the square button to the left of "share" to play it fullscreen.

This is a first, stills and text only effort..about 30 minutes of trial and error on software I only heard about yesterday. My thanks to NBC News correspondent John Larson for letting me (and a roomful of about 20 others) know about it.

Is it a new way of reviewing the cars...especially once I get on top of the learning curve? I don't know. I welcome your input.

As for the Hyundai Genesis, important information that didn't fit into the quickie Vuvox:

Five-star crash ratings in all categories.

EPA estimated 18 city/27 highway miles per gallon.

Can Hyundai pull this off? Challenging Lexus (and to a lesser extent, Infiniti and Acura)? Just remember how Lexus started...by challenging Mercedes-Benz with a competitive car priced $15,000 lower.

This could be interesting.

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