Auto Reviews

It's green. Literally, figuratively, psychologically.

The 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid dropped off at The News downtown office for me to test drive was jasper pearl green. Its sheet metal shimmered in the cold air, an effervescent omen of the mind games it was about to play on me.

During a few minutes of comprehensive research on color (meaning Google), I quickly learned that green is a calming hue that denotes nature, tranquility, luck and youth. That's why studios have "green rooms," people new to a job are "still a little green," and the Irish have more than 400 words for the color.

In America, green has become synonymous with money or environmental awareness, which recently started dating. Green means green, no matter which one you mean first.

To me, a green hybrid seems redundant. It's overstating the obvious just to make a point to strangers.

Out of all the hybrid cars on the road today, I like the Camry hybrid the most; the 41 miles-per-gallon Ford Fusion hybrid goes on sale this spring so the competition is going to stiffen. But it's not the Camry hybrid's respectable 33 mpg in the city that wins me over, or even the silent electric motor pulling the car along at school zone speeds. It's that you quickly forget it's a hybrid while driving.

My enjoyment of the Camry hybrid, however, creates a dilemma for me: I don't like the gas-only model at all.

The Camry, which happens to be the No. 1 selling sedan in America, does very little for me. Sure, it'll haul your family around forever with nary a gripe. But I've always thought the exterior was pressed in Play-Doh, and the soft interior has as much personality as a Jersey shore Cupie doll. Both are cold and curvy. The Camry just uses more plastic.

So how is the hybrid model different? For the most part, it looks the same inside and out as the gasoline versions. Actually, it's nearly identical. But those little Synergy Drive badges on the body and that buzzy little electric motor grab you -- somehow it looks better and glides over the road with a touch more grace than its gasoline brothers. Driving a hybrid allows you to see the world through emerald-colored lenses. The differences are not visual, they're emotional.

Unlike the compact hybrids, the Camry two-mode lets space trump style. When you climb into the cabin and stretch your legs, your feet never hit bottom; there is almost 42 inches of room up front. The second row can comfortably fit three adults as well -- offering 38 inches of legroom. For the driver, every button is at your fingertips. (Except the heated seat buttons, which are oddly where an ashtray should go.)

However, the center stack has an odd bluish green back light shining through it, making it look particularly cheap.

Still, those are glossy imperfections I'd take note in the gas models but toss to the "who cares?" pile in the hybrid. The LED clock on the top of the dash looks old, especially after glancing at the killer instrument cluster, which creates a three dimensional appearance with a tiered screens and dials. On the whole, there's an eclectic mix of finely built pieces next to cheap ones. The design was there, but the material selection wasn't. The steering wheel, for example, comes loaded with controls for the stereo and cruise control but they're set in hard silver plastic that feels as if the least expensive material was selected.

But that never ruined my taste for this car.

Here's what I like in the hybrid Camry.

First is the ride. It's butter. Smooth and quiet, the little 16-inch wheels never feel harsh on even Detroit's winter-marred highways. In the snow, the wheels bit down and chewed through the city's unplowed streets. The sedan feels heavy in a good, well planted sort of way.

The electric power steering was softer than I'd like, but it still responded well. For what it is, a family sedan, the handling was good. It could tackle the daily commutes and the cross-country trips with ease. Even after driving a few interstate loops -- I-75 to I-696 to I-275 -- I felt as relaxed getting out of the car as I did getting into it -- maybe there is something to this tranquility bit.

The Camry hybrid is insanely quiet as well. Quiet means quality to the untrained ear -- and even if it's trained -- the Camry hybrid exudes craftsmanship, especially on the exterior. Every piece is tightly connected to the next. From the door inserts to the single piece dash -- it's well made. No squeaks and rattles three years down the road -- and that means everything for families who intend to abuse this car every day for the next 10 years.

The dual powertrains also work very well together. The engine shut off and on system, a key element to saving fuel, works much better on the Camry hybrid than it does on the Toyota Prius, which rumbles and shakes when the engine fires up. For the Camry hybrid, it's smooth, making it hard to tell exactly when the electric motor stopped working alone. It feels more like a partnership between the motor and the engine instead of one or the other doing the heavy lifting at any given time.

There are some other neat features that come with the hybrid. There is the "braking mode" on the transmission. This could change the name of PRNDL to PRNDB The PRNDL, pronounced "prindle," are the letters you see on your gear shifter: Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive and Low. The Camry hybrid skips low and gives you Brake. This lets the engine do compression braking, also known as engine braking, when you want to recharge your batteries faster or are encountering a steep downhill.

Instead of engaging the brakes, the engine switches to a lower gear and slows down the spinning tires. The engine holds the car back, instead of the brakes slowing it down. For hybrids, this is an ideal way to brake because it converts the electric motor into a generator for the battery. It's not the same as downshifting, but it has the same effect.

In the snow, I found switching into Brake mode very useful, as it helped me control the vehicle's speed. On the highway, I found the braking mode annoying. The moment you take your foot off the gas, the car starts to slow down. Maybe this is why Toyota suggests you don't use it under normal highway conditions.

I also enjoyed the electric-only mode -- as I used it to try and sneak up behind people walking through parking lots. The Camry hybrid is nearly silent and most people would turn in great surprise when they noticed a sedan appearing like a land manatee out of a sea of asphalt. Silent driving has actually become a problem and some groups are lobbying Congress to create a law requiring a minimal amount of noise while in electric-only mode. Personally, I don't think a law will help. Instead, I propose drivers hang up their cell phones and drive responsibly, and pedestrians try not to jump in front of moving cars, even if they're really quiet. However, I have the utmost faith our lawmakers will pass some overly complex regulation as soon as they figure out what happened to the first $300 billion they gave a couple of banks.

The good thing is you only need $26,000 to buy a Camry hybrid. My test model, which included loads of nice features such as heated seats (a must in Michigan after the past few weeks), the push button start, keyless entry, dual climate controls, 60/40 split rear seat, a multi view display inside the instrument cluster and a host of other features cost $31,000. And it performed well, even in the coldest of days, averaging more than 32 mpg in combined city and highway driving.

When Toyota arrived a week later to collect the Camry hybrid, I was sad to see it go.

There's was no spell cast on me, and it certainly had nothing to do with my previous experiences with the Camry, which I still don't like.

The hybrid is something special. It provides great gas mileage compared with its gas-only versions and still keeps its comfortable ride. The Camry hybrid is not about sacrifice, it's about giving you more: It creates feeling of well being, a sense of protecting the environment. It may not be much, and it certainly may not make a difference to the world overall, but it makes a difference to the driver.

Looking at a car and feeling proud is not something people often feel. But the hybrid effect can certainly make a vehicle look different.

And maybe, after a week in the Camry hybrid, I just might find myself feeling a little more agreenable.

Scott Burgess is the auto critic for The Detroit News. He can be reached at (313) 223-3217 or sburgess@detnews.com.