This Friday, we decided to take Japan’s two newest and most popular 5-seater sedan hybrids, the 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid and the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. We’ll take a look at power, features, fuel efficiency.
Power: The Toyota Camry Hybrid has a 2.4L I-4 16 valve DOHC direct gasoline injection engine that produces 185 horsepower while the Nissan Altima Hybrid sports a 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder engine that produces 158 horsepower. But most consumers of hybrids care little about performance and more about the cars fuel-economy. Very rarely, okay maybe never, will you see two hybrids going at it from one light to another. Nonetheless, power is important to most consumers when purchasing a car.
Features: The Nissan Altima Hybrid comes with the normal standard accessories such as power locks, power windows, keyless entry, multi-functional trip computer and cruise control and such. With an upgrade to the Connection Package, buyers get a Bluetooth handsfree system, rear passenger vents, auto-dimming mirrors, illuminated center console, driver lumbar support, heated front-seats and a few other gizmos.
The Toyota Camry, on the other hand, steals some spotlight from the Nissan Altima Hybrid by offering its buyers a lot of gadgets as standard. The Toyota Camry Hybrid comes with JBL’s 6-disc in-dash CD changer with satellite radio capability and MP3/WMA playback capability, auxiliary audio jack, hands-free phone capability via Bluetooth wireless technology and 8 speakers to top it off.
Fuel Efficiency: This is the category that matters most to buyers when purchasing a hybird. The Toyota Camry Hybrid gets 40/38 mpg while the Nissan Altima Hybrid gets 42/36. That means both beat each other by 2 mpg in city/highway mileage but even out in the end. The Toyota Camry Hybrid gives you 650 miles on a full tank while the Nissan Altima Hybrid gives you 50 more at 700 miles.
Price: While the 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid may not offer all the extra gadgets that the Camry Hybrid does, it does cost less at an MSRP of $24,400. The 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid has an MSRP of $26,200.
Overall, its hard to say which Japanese Hybrid is better since they both closely even out in the end, but if you’re crazy about squeezing out an extra 50 miles, go for the Nissan Altima Hybrid. On the other hand, if you don’t like looking through which package you should purchase with a car, go for the Toyota Camry Hybrid since most of the “fun” stuff comes as standard.
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