Ray Magliozzi
Dear Car Talk:
My wife and I are driving a couple of well-used cars. One is a 17-year-old Infiniti G35, and the other is a 12-year-old Toyota Camry. We are considering purchasing a new car: a 2025 Camry. After doing some research, we discovered that all Camrys are now hybrids.
I guess Toyota is doing that to comply with the EPA mileage and pollution rules. Anyway, we have never driven a hybrid or know anyone who has one, so we don’t know what to expect.
The main question is, if we purchase a hybrid, is there any big difference in how the hybrid drives, performs or acts?
The new car will be driven mostly by my wife. And if one single thing about the new car doesn’t please her, the whole fabric of the universe will come unwound. So, any comments or advice would be appreciated.
— Mike
You should definitely brace yourself, Mike. You’ll notice a huge difference when driving a hybrid. You’ll notice that you’re suddenly getting 50 miles to the gallon, and can go more than 600 miles between fill-ups.
You’ll also notice that your repair and maintenance costs are lower. Because the hybrid uses regenerative braking (it uses the spinning wheels to power a generator when slowing you down, to recharge the battery), it’ll take your brake pads and rotors much longer to wear out.
And because you’re running on battery power some of the time, things like the exhaust system and spark plugs will last much longer.
In terms of driving it, you’ll notice that it’s silent some of the time when running on battery power — mostly at slower speeds. When needed, the gasoline engine will switch on and add more power. In some of the early hybrids, you’d notice that switchover. But Toyota — which made the first mass-market hybrid in 1999 — does a fantastic job now of making the switch back and forth seamless, and you’ll hardly ever notice it.
Some hybrid buyers ask me if the hybrid battery will have to be replaced at some point, for several thousand dollars. And the answer is, possibly, but probably not. Most hybrid batteries seem to be lasting the life of the car. We see Toyota Priuses in the shop that are used as taxis, with 250,000 miles on them, and the original battery.
So, this is a great choice, Mike. You should obviously test-drive it first. More importantly, have your wife test-drive it. I can’t speak to whether the seat fabric and navigation screen will be to her liking, but the hybrid powertrain is great.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.
