Life as the owner of a hybrid car is going well, thank you. Loyal readers will recall how, in May, I unloaded my problem-plagued 2015 Fiat for a 2025 Toyota Camry.
This Camry has a gas engine but also an electric motor and battery, which charges from braking and from the act of driving.
After four months, I’ve filled my tank at a gas station only six times, few enough that I’ve kept track. I’m averaging 51 miles per gallon.
In other pluses from my first modern car, the blind-spot monitors on each side mirror keep me from changing lanes into the path of onrushing SUVs. The rear camera warns me not to back up into cars or people coming from either side.
True, the clock was wrong. It was five minutes fast, then six. To know what time it really was, I had to mentally subtract six minutes from the display.
With the aid of an online tutorial, I fixed the clock, a small victory. But first I had to absorb that I’d fixed it.
For the first week, I would glance at the clock, mentally subtract six minutes as before, remember that the display was now correct and mentally add six minutes. It was exhausting.
Many of you cheered my new car while laughing at my old car.
Peter Rogers, Chino Hills: “Welcome to the 21st century!”
I hope I’ll like it here. It’s like entering a movie midway through and trying to orient myself.
Mike Capps, Upland: “You’ll LOVE it! And, coming from the Fiat, you’ll be bored to tears with the lack of maintenance and issues you’ll experience.”
After eight years with a Fiat, I could use some happy tears.
You may recall that no gear shifter was available anywhere in the nation — for a 2015 car! — forcing my mechanic to head to a local pick-a-part yard to find a comparable part. This was both the last gear shifter and the last straw.
“When you discarded your Fiat, did they take it directly to a museum, or did they take it to the same junkyard?” Richard Armour of Rancho Cucamonga asks. “Think about it. If they could not find parts in the whole country, is anyone else driving the model you had?”
If they are, I wish them luck. Which they’ll need.
There was one dissenting voice.
“You missed the boat,” a critic chided me on Bluesky. “Bought a complicated machine with ICE (internal combustion engine) mechanical components linked to batteries and electric subsystems. Should have gone for a simple BEV (battery operated electric).”
If I have to justify all my personal choices in life, I may need a different type of simple bev, like a beer.
While not directed at me, a recent letter to the L.A. Times from a man in Indio was relevant.
“Hybrid cars are a cop-out. They are the symptom of a society that is too timid to help grow a new technology at a time when we really need that technology,” his letter began.
On some level, he’s right. We hybrid owners are having it both ways: one foot in the past, one foot in the future. Perhaps we should fully embrace the future.
Then again, isn’t embracing the future halfway better than rejecting the future entirely by tooling around in a gas hog?
Everyone who tells me they own a hybrid likes it.
Monica Jackson, Riverside: “We have a Ford Focus Hybrid that is 16 years old. Never had one problem with it and it still runs great. In fact, I would be OK if it died and forced us to buy a new car.”
I hope Monica’s Ford Focus doesn’t read my column.
Adriana Chavira, North Hollywood: “Congratulations on getting a hybrid. I got my first one in 2003 and am now on my second one. Backup camera for the win! Does it have seat warmers?”
I don’t think so, but I’ll check again after this heat wave.
Brian Weide, Upland: “I’m in my 20th year of driving a hybrid. I can honestly say that based on my experience with my 2012 Prius, I’m probably going to stick with hybrids for as long as I’m still driving.”
Bud Weisbart, Corona: “Happy to see you join the hybrid generation! Looks better for your comfort too.”
Don Leiffer Jr., Highland: “You made a wise choice, according to Consumer Reports. I’ve been driving hybrids for years, all Toyotas, all trouble free. My latest (and final auto) is a 2019 Avalon.”
Lynn Petroff, Temecula: “In 2015, I became the proud owner of a 2013 Camry hybrid, sky blue. With routine maintenance, it is going to take me wherever I want to go for as long as I’m able to go. You are going to be very happy with your purchase.”
Cristobal Munoz, Fontana: “We bought a hybrid last month and my wife had to fill up the tank for the first time yesterday. Almost one whole month on one tank.”
Charles Fleming, Silver Lake: “And such a good car! I warrant it will last a lot longer than the Fiat. As far as I know no one has made up an acronym (Fix Or Repair Daily) for a Toyota.”
Janice Elliott, Upland: “Congratulations, David! I am still driving my 2007 Prius because I love the CD player.”
Ah, a CD player.
I mentioned in my original column that not having a CD player in my car was a blow. With some of you, that struck a chord.
Dana Armstrong, Victorville: “The lack of a CD player is what is slowing my movement to purchase a new car.”
Anne Collier, Apple Valley: “I hear you on the CD player. I don’t want to shuffle through Spotify to find three songs that I like, then shuffle again.”
Vicki Kopasz, Upland: “I consider myself technologically challenged and dread the day I have to replace my 2014 Ford Edge. When I bought the Edge I was thrilled that it came with a CD player!”
Vicki suggests a portable CD player that rests on the seat and connects to a car’s audio system, as does John Baugh of Rancho Cucamonga. That’s the route I took.
It’s not perfect. Each time I turn on my car, I have to pair the player with my Camry’s Bluetooth all over again.
The CD also starts from track one each time. So if I turn off the car on track six, or 13, or 19, I have to remember where I left off and click forward to that number. Still, for $80 or so, at least I can play CDs from my 2,000-disc collection when on the road.
Mike Radlovic gave me a tip on a car stereo installer in Ontario who put a CD player into his car. Maybe that will be my Christmas present to myself.
Phil Browning, San Bernardino: “You could probably find an old 8-track somewhere if you get nostalgic.”
I will never be that nostalgic.
David Allen drives Friday, Sunday and Wednesday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.