I had to get from DC back to the 'Burgh and I rented a car. It turned out to be a new Camry, which means a hybrid. It was the base, base, base model, and I am sorry to report that it was impressive. Electric power when fighting my way out of DC gridlock, 600+ mile range on the highways, great power and torque when needed to pass in the hills of WVA. I made it home in under 4 hours and had 150 miles of range left. Not too shabby, very impressive powertrain.
These are on my short list to replace my Kia when it's time. Also count me in on the "never in my life would I ever think I'd be wanting to own a boring Camry, especially a HYBRID Camry". It took me forever to realize why they exist, and that's to efficiently ferry people back and forth to work with zero drama. Sounds really good to me right about now. I also think they did a great job with the styling. I see a bunch of these every day, and they look pretty nice. I really like them in red.
I feel like a 2012-2015 Camry Hybrid is an underappreciated "cheap" jack-of-all-trades car; and the 2016+ are just a touch better from that, if a bit more expensive.
if the sleepykids don't get their way ("we want a Minivan!") then one of these... of whatever vintage... is high on my list to replace my 2nd Gen Prius with.
semi-relevant, here's a portion of the 2018 OneLapofAmerica Overall final result
it's probably a stretch... but part of me harbors a suspicion that a 'well prepped' Camry Hybrid could hang decently well with a ClubSpec Mustang
To derail the thread slightly, my mom bought a new CR-V hybrid earlier this year. I drove it for the first time over Thanksgiving and thoroughly enjoyed it. The coolest part was seeing the 48.5 MPG since new! That is in mixed Atlanta driving. Not her car but looks just like this.
Tony Sestito said:It took me forever to realize why they exist, and that's to efficiently ferry people back and forth to work with zero drama.
I'm all for "life's too short to drive boring cars," but I feel like I spend most of my life in a car that I'd prefer to be boring–comfortable, quiet and no fuss.
I like the new exterior design, not so much the honeycomb grill.
The interior isn't bad either, I liked the 2018 dash more.
In reply to j_tso :
I didn't really care for the exterior redesign until I saw one in person.
Something about photos of it makes it look not quite right, it looks better in person.
I had one of these as a rental a few months ago. Its a very good powertrain. Impressively punchy, especially for something that gets mid 50s mpg. I'd love to have it in a different vehicle.
A friend of mine has one, it is a seriously impressive vehicle. Very willing powertrain and EXCELLENT fuel economy. He routinely road trips the thing and averages well over 500 miles a tank, with a very heavy right foot. Would definitely recommend.
Can confirm. We've had a '22 XSE hybrid that we bought with 7,500 miles as a CPO for just about 2 years now and currently at just under 27,000 miles. I like driving it way more than I should and this fall before things cooled down we were averaging 47.3 MPG since purchase (car display data). I have seen real world (miles / gallons used) full tank fuel economy of 50.3 / 50.5 MPG more than once and as 06HHR mentions above, that's without even trying. Heck I put it in "sport" mode and drove it like I stole it deliberately to see what would happen and we were still over 46 MPG for around 150 miles of fun. Not sure how much sport mode really does in the real world but it does put a cool red stripe on the dash display. 
I had it out yesterday and the recent cold weather has dropped the average down to 47.1 for now.
My 89 YO father liked it so much he bought a new '24 base model in the same red Tony pictured above. His is AWD and the newer drive train is more powerful than ours. (I think new at 225 combined HP vs. 208 in my '22) He likes that his 16" wheels "have sidewalls for a change" and it gets amazing gas mileage (his current average for about 2000 miles is over 50 MPG). I've driven it, it is very responsive for a base model although the suspension and wheel package on the XSE is far superior from my comparison. His is very "Camry / appliance like, XSE has a whole lot of goodies and upgrades that I prefer as well.
We'll leave his commentary on the all digital dash and menus for everything his car has for another day, we are after all talking about a guy who played with a whole bunch of flat head Fords back in the day (I'm told one had glass packs and a triple carb set up! 
) I'm sure I'll have some things to rant about if I'm lucky enough to get to his age and still be active and able. I took him out to lunch in the Mustang a couple of weeks ago and pinned him into the passenger's seat pretty good a couple of times so we're good.
One of my coworkers just bought one. It's a 2025 XSE (I think) in a gloss blue color. Caught myself staring at it in the parking lot yesterday. It's really nice! If I were in the market for a new vehicle, it'd be at the top of the list.
In reply to dyintorace :
Their direct competitor, Rav4 Hybrid is apparently just as impressive but harder to get due to demand.
I do not see myself owning an "electric" vehicle for the next 50 years or so, but I do think Toyota is on the right track with their hybrids. Having bombed over mountainous interstates at 75 mph in a hybrid Sienna minivan and pulling down 36 mpg, I can say I'm impressed.
I wonder how swappable the powertrain is, maybe it could be a good donor for something like a DIY BMW i8/new NSX...
Would be a fun 2g MR2 swap
How far do they run on electric only ?
Is there a speed where it kicks into IC power and is that adjustable?
I've been driving a 2025 Prius rental for the last week.
50.1 mpg with 75/25 freeway/city mix.
Impressive acceleration with a very pleasant quality to it (think rubber band launch).
I frequently start my day with a 4:00 AM trip to 7-11 to get a bladder buster of diet coke and if you're gentle, you can stay on battery...not enough O's in smoooooth.
However, the HVAC & infotainment interface is a joke compared to what Mazda has.
In reply to californiamilleghia :
In my experience it's not optimized to run in EV mode. On familiar roads you can "geek out" if no one is following you and by monitoring the energy meter hold it in EV mode / regen on down hills and go several miles at times. The secret sauce is really in driving in a way that anticipates stopping to get the maximum regen into the battery and then smooth starts that get the car rolling with the battery allowing the engine to stay off until speed builds a bit. (Basically, try not to use the friction brakes by paying attention.) With that said, I've seen it in EV mode at highway speeds plenty of times. It's all in what the control system decides is most efficient.
There are some pretty deep video rabbit holes you can dive down that explain how the engine, motor generators (2 in FWD version, one connected to the drive wheels and 1 to the engine) and an electronic CVT that doesn't have a belt (planetary gears) all work together. (Yes, I've been down the rabbit hole a good way, it's pretty cool how it all works together.)
The RAV4 (similar drive train to Camry) and Prius models are available in a plug in hybrid trim (Prime?) that has a larger battery that is capable of between 30- 40 miles under the right conditions.
Has anyone driven this and the Accord hybrid back to back? Or back to front?
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