Hybrid Vs Diesel : Toyota Camry Hybrid 2016

Hi boys and girls...

Lately , Ive come across an advertisement by Berjaya group of their intention of selling a diesel CX 5. I've never driven a CX 5 in the petrol version but I've read reviews locally and abroad of how good the car is especially in terms of the joy that you get from driving the SUV . Now, they are bringing in the diesel version of the car with more bountiful torque. This would dramatically improve the performance of the car. But the issue is whether it makes financial sense to buy a diesel vis a vis the hybrid?

1. I believe its quite difficult for Mazda franchisee to convince ordinary Malaysians of the beauty of diesel.Malaysia is definitely not a diesel country like India or the UK. Even small cars in those countries have diesel engines. In the US, only 2.3 % of the vehicles sold are diesel. I dont have data on the number of cars in Malaysia having diesel engines but I believe its just miniscule limiting to owners of Mercedes C 270 or some old Citroens. People just dont buy diesels.

2. Malaysians are really reluctant to buy diesel cars because of their outdated perception of what diesel is. They think of diesel as a car that is noisy and dirty. They still remember vividly of the clattery diesel sounds and the excessive smoke emitted by diesel engines like the 'Bas mini' and the old Foh Hup buses that ply Kajang- KLroute. All these are not true anymore. I remember driving diesel Skoda Superb in the UK last year and was totally blown away by its performance , quietness and economy. Honestly, a I would probably get a Skoda diesel than the Camry Hybrid if there's no difference in terms of the price.

3. Malaysians also don't buy diesel because diesel cars are generally priced much higher compared to the petrol version. It is sometimes 20,000 ringgit higher which does not make any financial sense to buy the oil burner. Naza however has introduced the big sized SUV cheaper than the petrol version and I believe this is a good start. But the awful thing is that people in France, Norway and recently in India are beginning to adopt hybrid or electric vehicles. Some countries like France and the Philippines even ban diesel cars from entering the city centre.

4. Another thing that works against Malaysians from buying diesel vehicles is the perception that cars with diesel engines have low resale value. Diesel cars would lose 50 % of their value once they leave the showroom. That's how bad the value of diesel vehicle is.

5. Last but not least is the maintenance cost of owning a diesel car. I believe the maintenance will be a bit more expensive than the petrol version. Spare parts for the oil burner always cost more than the petrol version.

In short , I still believe that the diesel fever will not happen in this country. Although its good to own a diesel engine especially with regard to its performance but other factors beyond your control would stop us from buying one.

Owners of Toyota Camry hybrid

Dear readers....

Who are the owners of Camry hybrid?

It not easy to determine the ownership traits of Camry hybrid. But based on my years of experience and good circle of friends I could actually list down some commonalities or key denominators that make up these owners.

1. The owners of TCH are mainly senior managers, high ranking govt officials, young entrepreneurs, directors of multi national companies, bank managers, powerful women VPs of big companies, and owners of SMEs.

2. Most of the drivers of Camry hybrid are happily married men and savoring their so called success. They seem to be loyal to their wife but occasionally forgot that they are married. They seem to have selective amnesia whenever they need it.

3. They really love their family and their children and willing to give their best when it comes children's education and financial planning.

4. They are mainly cautious about spending their money unnecessarily or things that are not important. Sometimes they can be so ,'kedekut' to buy expensive jewelry for their wife and will come up with all sort of excuses not to go vacation overseas.

5. They are between the age of 35 to 55 years old but still very strong physically and emotionally stable.

6. They don't go and look out for girlfriends or mistresses but will not refuse or reject outright those pretty girls who need advice and some comforting.

7. Occasionally, they give advice to other people and motivate them to achieve their best and most of the time they are strongly opinionated.

8. The women who drive a Camry hybrid are powerful and influential personnel in their companies. These are no nonsense women and act like an iron lady but most of the time they are still single. (KY Tham or Calvin Yau please dont start investigating their backgrounds).

9. They are honest and imbued with great communicative ability and able to charm lots of people.

10. They are financially stable and maintain a good investment portfolio.

11. They can be very loving and romantic. (This trait I purposely create and dont sell this trait to every girl you meet)

So there you are guys some of the common traits of owners of Camry hybrid. I know most of you are not very happy about it but do take it in stride. We are the owners of Camry Hybrid.

Some facts about Camry hybrid / Toyota Aurion / Camry Altis/ Daihatsu Altis

Did you know that the 2.5 liter hybrid engine that we use here in Malaysia is originally sourced from Altona Victoria , Australia and later from Thailand ( Please correct me if I'm wrong) The 6AR-FSE 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol engine with VVT-iW and D-4S direct and port injection is actually imported from a factory some where in Guangzhou or previously called Canton, the City of Flowers .

Daihatsu Altis

In Japan, the Camry hybrid is also rebadged as Daihatsu Altis. In Australia it is called Toyota Aurion or Atara Classic depending on the grade/class and in Taiwan it is known as Prestige Camry. Different names but the same car.

The Camry hybrid that we drive is based on the Toyota K platform in which Toyota Highlander, a very popular SUV in the States- was based on. The next new Camry Hybrid , however, would have to very nimble and light and would definitely be based on module based platform , called TNGA.

I

Toyota warranty / Extended Toyota warranty/ Toyota warranty 2016

Dear 2015 Toyota Camry hybrid owners

I really believe the extended warranty offered by UMW Toyota is a good buy despite the huge amount that we have to pay.Owners of TCH who bought the car in 2015 and really   want the two year unlimited mileage extended warranty the purchase price is RM 2990 or US 750. Payment must be made latest Sept 2016.  One thing I like about the extended warranty is that you get a free Max Check that is worth almost RM 500. So on paper, you are paying only RM 2500 but  is still a lot of money.

2 yer extended warranty

Secondly, the warranty covers a whole lots of items including the air cond. for 5 years. It's really quite a comprehensive warranty. The items covered include velocity joints that cost a bomb if you have to replace them. I heard the CV joints cost approximately RM 6000 and it's very needed in Malaysia because of the abundance of potholes.

Add caption

Thirdly , the warranty is transferable to the next buyer but only if the owners  follow the service maintenance religiously.This will definitely add resale value to the car

In short, my advice to you is to purchase the extended warranty. It's a peace of mind and we know we are covered up to five years of worry free.

Waze speed limit vs car speedometer. / how accurate is Waze Malaysia / Camry hybrid speedometer

Dear Camry owners

Driving the TCH is really a joy. It's so comfortable driving very fast in the Toyota Camry hybrid because it's generally quiet and refined. I seldom drove fast on the highway when driving my old rides but after getting hold of the new Camry  my average speed is now  around 130 kilometres per hour along the highway . I know this is not very fast for most drivers  in Malaysia but for me who  is more than half a century old this speed is  really fast. 

Waze

Because of the new speed limit that I have acquired, there's the danger of  speed traps along the North-South highway. There are so many speed traps under the AES regime. For that reason and for other safety issues I now regularly use the Waze application when driving 'fast'. But one thing that I noticed about using the Waze gps application is that the speed warning shown by the Waze  and our own car speedometer is different. Normally, the speedometer would show the speed of the car slightly higher that the one shown by Waze

Camry hybrid speedometer

Which speed warning do we trust? Waze or our car speedometer? For you information car manufacturers  have to  provide accurate speedometer or in most cases they would have a little optimistic speedometer. Generally  , a car speedometer is around 3~ 4 kilometers more optimistic. As such, chances are the car speedometer is less accurate.

I believe the Waze speed indicator is more accurate than the car speedometer . However, this statement comes with a caveat. This is because the Waze like other GPS instruments like Nuvi or Papago depend use satellites to calculate the speed. The accuracy of the speed is affected by a number of factors namely ~whether you are traveling on a straight line , having a clear sky and your location urban or rural where the internet access is less reliable. Therefore, for those of you who have the same confusion like me  please take note that the speedometer of your car is slightly more optimistic. 

Toyota Camry hybrid so called extended warranty 2016

I know it has been a while that I write in the blog , I think it could have been months. Time is so precious and that there's a lot of things that we need to do. Today, since I'm quite free ,  I would like to highlight the issue of warranty by Toyota Malaysia . Last year if you bought a Toyota Camry hybrid you would be covered by a warranty of 3 years and 100,00 kilometers.The warranty includes 8 years of battery assurance by Toyota, The suggested retail price that you would have to pay would be around RM 174,600. You have to add extra RM 800 if you opted for pearl white color scheme. 

Add caption

Starting this year in 2016,  however , purchasers of a new Camry hybrid will get a warranty of 5 years with unlimited mileage. The price that you have to pay for the car  still remains the same at RM 174,600. New purchasers will enjoys a longer duration with unlimited mileage. That is a good move by Toyota Malaysia for new buyers of Toyotas.

Unfortunately, the sad thing is that those loyal buyers of Toyota who bought the car in 2015 would have to pay extra RM 2990 or about US 750 to enjoy the additional 2 extra years of warranty. This is so unfair to the these buyers who had always supported the brand. New buyers of Toyota without paying an extra sen would be able to get the longer 5 years warranty. The lesson that could be learnt today is not to buy any Toyota when it is first introduced. It's always advisable for the potential buyers to wait and get better warranty. I don't know what is the game that Toyota Malaysia is playing. They just treat the first buyers like trash. If they  want the same warranty they  have to pay more.

Add caption

You know what when we bought the car new in 2015 they said that the car came with a mirror link and for some of us because of that feature we decided to zero in on the car but later we found that the mirror link does not work in Malaysia. It's as if we're being cheated by the so called trusted  company. So far we have yet to get any remedy for the blunder,  They did not even send us a letter to inform of the blunder. Toyota.... oh Toyota.....  And now they tell us that we have to pay extra RM 2990 to get the extended warranty. That move shows that Toyota Malaysia treats their loyal customers  like people with leprosy or AIDS virus. 

I hope Toyota Japan would monitor the actions taken by Toyota Malaysia and give proper advice in terms of how to treat its customers the right way. Better still, we hope that Toyota headquarters in Japan  would just take over the distribution of cars in Malaysia. We need to be treated with dignity.

Toyota Camry hybrid not designed for traffic logged countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia./ Camry Hybrid not meant for Malaysia

I have owned Toyota Camry Hybrid for almost one year  and I have managed to drive and recently serviced my car at the 30 , 000 km  interval which costs approximately Rm 459 or around US 110. What I want to share today in this blog is how unrefined the Camry Hybrid is in the Malaysian context .

The issue that I want to highlight is whether the Camry Hybrid is really suitable or appropriately designed for road conditions in Malaysia and in Southeast Asia in general? I really believe that the Camry Hybrid that is sold in this country is designed more for the US  and  Australian markets . I think it's also not misplaced in countries such as  UK where there is no bumper to bumper crawl at speed around 3 km an hour. The presence of  roundabouts in UK is a blessing. I have traveled extensively in Uk and  I've spent 7 years studying in the United States. So I know the road conditions in those countries and  I am certain that the Camry when it was designed it's  meant for European and American countries and not for Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia.

This is because the car  does not really measure up to the Malaysian road conditions . In countries in South east Asia we have to face heavy  traffic jams and we will get stuck sometimes for hours just to travel just for a few kilometers I think the Camry Hybrid will perform extremely  well in countries like the UK or US where the traffic jam is not heavy and that  traffic keeps on moving. The traffic in those countries will keep on moving albeit slowly and  very seldom it's stuck for more more than 10 minutes. The main  battery in the Camry would  be able a to sustain a s slow but moving traffic .

 The Camry is not specifically designed for SEA markets.The engine in the Camry would be recharging constantly and this affects the quiet ambience of the car and makes driving the car a constant irritation in heavy traffic. The battery in the Camry does not have enough power to sustain more than one hour of traffic jam. I would say that the plug in hybrids would be of great help, Jam logged countries like Malaysia would be better with  PHEV like the Chevrolet Volt and Probably Hyundai Ioniq. But Toyota Malaysia is always slow in introducing innovations in countries like Malaysia, The people  in Toyota Malaysia are run by bureaucrats who are more interested in maintaining status quo and optimising profits.

My advice to people who want to buy EV car is just to wait for PHEV like volt or other Chinese brands like BYD. If you live in  the suburb in areas where there's no heavy traffic the Camry is almost flawless, It;'s really comfortable and reliable car.

Toyota Camry Hybrid sales 2016 Malaysia

The sale of new cars is Malaysia is early 2016 has gone down a little. Similar scenario also happens in Thailand but it is worst over the other side of the fence.The new year has also seen a decrease in the sale of Toyota  Camry Hybrid in  Malaysia . Last year they managed to sell quite a lot of Camrys ( I think more than 7,000 units have been sold) but this year the sale is a bit slow. I know this by the number of aggressive advertisements put up by Toyota Malaysia in the newspapers like the Star. I think Toyota Malaysia also gives RM 2000 discount for any new buyer. The price of the car has been maintained as in the previous year because of the generous tax incentives given to hybrid cars assembled in the country. I also believe this is the last year of the tax free status given to Camry. Next year it will be a different story. I believe Toyota Malaysia will definitely jack up the price of car to at least RM 220,000. Potential buyers please don't wait till the end of the year as you may loose out in the end.

The car itself is a good car and there 's nothing much that can be reported here. So far I've not heard of battery problem that affect the cars sold in Malaysia. Nobody of the car forum that I managed complained of the battery problem I believe the NIMH battery is an excellent product and suits the Malaysian weather condition. The hot weather in Malaysia does not affect much the big battery or the auxiliary battery. I think the biggest gripe has got to do we mirror link feature that was hyped up during the car introduction  but later it was found that it actually does not work in Malaysia. Somebody in Toyota Malaysia has not done his homework and we the buyers of Camry Hybrid suffer. What Toyota Malaysia could do is to provide the buyers with remedy to the problem. I really cannot imagine a big company like Toyota would condone such act by its super dealer.

RON 100 for Camry Hybrid / RON 97 or RON 100 / Which fuel for Camry hybrid?

Hi guys

Petron Malaysia has introduced Petron Blaze 100 which goes for RM 2.60 (US 70 cent) per liter . It's available in lots of petrol stations in Klang valley, Malaysia. It's a premium of a Ringgit ( a quarter) over RON 95, the price which decided by the Malaysian government.

The issue is should we use the fuel , RON 100, for our Camry Hybrid? Does it give more power or make the engine more refined? The answer is NO. Fueling your car with RON 100 will not save you fuel nor will it give you more power. What the higher number tells you is that the fuel will be able to resist engine knocking better . New cars like Camry hybrid are equipped with knocking sensors that will to retard the engine when it needs to. So there' is no necessity to use fuel with higher RON.

What you need to is to find out is the minimum number of RON the engine requires to have a optimum system. I think it RON 89 for Camry Hybrid . In my case, I've been using Petronas RON 95 since day one and I'm very happy with its performance. The money that you haved saved using RON 95 could be spent on other more beneficial things like having a nice dinner with your loved ones in a nice diner in Putrajaya or KL

Toyota Camry Hybrid vs Hyundai Sonata Hybrid 2016

Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Vs Toyota Camry Hybrid

Camry hybrid 2016

HSH has yet to be sold in Malaysia. I doubt it will be sold here considering that tax incentive on CBU has been shelved. Looking at the pretty numbers ,the Sonata hybrid has quite a lot to offer. For one, the main battery which is placed underneath the trunk is given a lifetime warranty compared to '8 year- assurance' by Toyota Malaysia.

Camry hybrid 2016

Hyundai claims that the combined mileage for HSH is 42 mpg which is slightly better than TCH at 40 mpg. The combo engine- internal combustion and electric- is paired to a 6-speed auto transmission but only e-CVT in the Camry hybrid.The combined power output is 193hp for the Sonata hybrid and around 200 hp in the Camry.

Hyundai Sonata Interior

Hyundai however gives 8 year bumper to bumper warranty but only 3 years and 100,000 Km for Toyota. Performance is a tie between TCH and HSH but the Toyota is better at transmitting power to the wheel. According to Autotrader ,TCH is quieter and has better handling compared to HSH.

Camry hybrid interior