Auto Spies Award- The best daily driver money can buy for 2006

Offcourse.No doubt about it.

Camry together with Hybrid......

Simply Perfect.

JUGNU

Well done again TOYOTA !!!!

Real driving excitement.

I'll go mow the lawn now.

Uuuh...the award is for "Best daily driver" NOT "Best performance car".

It's obvious reading the whole article is a little too challenging for you but at the very least read the TITLE of the article instead of just looking at the picture.

We don't get the Camry here in Europe. Think it's a good thing, that thing is ugly.

If you want a good daily driver with good fuel economy, buy a Golf TDI

I agree, but if BMW sends over a 318 diesel to the States (please God, no), you can say syonara to the Camry. In the meantime, hat's off to Toyota.

Part of what defines a good daily driver for me is being enjoyable and making my commute somewhat fun. I have never found a Camry to be entertaining at all. I guess for non-enthusiasts it would be fine, but I am willing to spend a few more dollars every month on gas to actually enjoy driving.
I wonder what kind of real world mileage those things actually get since hybrids are generally overrated anyway.
Bring on the diesels.

34mpg around town in my tests of real world, non-babied driving...as good as the e-class, 5-series diesels

001

I agree with Agent001, the Camry is a good real estate car with the great gas miliage and a good size in the back.

Of course you could haul Saddam Hussein around in it as well.

Hmm… I have to disagree on this one, especially at the "money can buy" part. This is certainly the sweet spot before the diminishing return on investment sets in; and for what most people can buy, yes, the Camry is among the most well-rounded daily drivers. In this segment though, my money would go toward the 6M Accord. It’s simply more fun, has a better interior, and still while still maintaining the "practical" composure (sans a few MPG I suppose) and price of the reasonable daily driver segment.

Money though, can buy much better... it can even buy a significantly better Camry (aka ES350) for another 12K.

The fuel cost difference is very small (and in some cases nonexistant) when compared to fuel economy gains.

the DEFINING VIRTUES of a daily driver (vs. a weekend ENTHUSIAST'S ride):

1) RELIABLE.
2) EASY to drive, even with only 25% of your brain allocated to it. (the other 75% allocated to breakfast, shaving, reading the paper, etc.)
3) LOW MAINTENANCE. you can put up with high maintenance on "fun" cars. you want the absolute MINIMUM for a daily driver.
4) (or maybe 0.5) CHEAP to operate. by definition, your daily driver is going to rack up the MOST miles. saving even $ .02/mile adds up over the 150+k miles you'd accumulate before trading.

with all the points above considered, Agent 001 is right. the camry hybrid IS the best dd.

Agent001

U forgot to mention very unsafe and boring.

Unsafe: Ive seen more than 3 camrys totally destroyed by a simple accedent. Altho the drivers survived, the car was totalled and impossible to fix (go buy a new 1 i say).

Boring: u may fall asleep driving 1. Not fast enough. Really boring interior, etc....

Now after all that, I say go chose something real....

If you want to be pratical why don't you just get the 4 cylinder Camry?

You won't have to be on a waiting list, you don't have to spend the extra money to get the hybrid trim level. You don't have to worry about up keeping the complex hybrid system. If the car is for around town driving, what would you need V6 power for, the 4 cylinder is powerful enough.

So you might end up putting a couple more dinosaurs in the tank, but considering the price difference you will still be ahead with the 4 cylinder. If you are looking to save the enviornment, then the Prius is the Toyota for you.

Poor choice overall.

I would have picked the Altima Hybrid, practical AND sporty.

Looks good to me. I have all fun cars right now, but would love to add this to the stable. One thing I can't stand is compromise. Lots of people are trying to get their family sedan or even SUV to be fun to drive. You end up being bored anyway and paying too much.