I decided to take advantage of TMC's generous incentive financing and traded in our '07 TCH for a '10 TCH last month. We were totally happy with the '07 which had accumulated 42k miles, averaged about 37mpg but was sorely needing a set of new tires as well as repairs to the front and rear bumpers from minor mishaps with frozen snowbanks and garage doors.
The '07 was magnetic grey with the moonroof and heated outside mirror options. Alloys, premium JBL w/6 CD changer & Bluetooth, auto-dimming mirror w/compass and HomeLink transceiver were all std. equipment in '07. Price paid including TTL was slightly over $28k (MSRP = $27,989) and financed @ 5.99% for 72 months. This was a Japan-built TCH.
The same mag grey color was chosen for the '10 TCH but decided to upgrade to heated leather seats (I do live in Minnesota) as well as NAV. Toyota removed a lot of the std equipment found on the '07 models and made them available with packages on later years. Getting the above options had an out-the-door price (TTL) totaling $30,071 (MSRP = $32,784) and financed @ 2.9% for 60 months. This was a Georgetown, KY vehicle. Being a current Toyota owner, we also qualified for 24 months of free servicing.
For 2010, Toyota changed the grill to a more aggressive style and touched up the taillights a bit. The rear facia (the part immediately over the license plate) is now a satin chrome insert with the slight bumpout on the driver's side for the backup camera lens. Alloys went from an 8 spoke painted grey style to a 10 spoke with a more metallic look. I like the looks of the new alloys compared to the previous design. I also caved in and let the dealer apply body side molding as well as the 3M clear film on the hood, fenders and door edges. Our '07 had door edges which readily chipped.
Biggest change inside was simply the trim of the leather seats, some wood grain material on the console and doors and a bit darker grey floor mat. And, of course, the NAV screen in the middle of the dash. One complaint I had with the '07 was only the driver's window button on the door was illuminated. We had (and still have) a '92 Camry LE which had all the window buttons illuminated. I felt this was a major inconvenience with the '07 models. Happily, they are all illuminated again on our '10 TCH. It makes it far easier to find the lock or passenger window buttons at night. A few colors and the instrument gauges are different - notably the hybrid READY light is now green vs. the light blue on the '07. Oh, the cruise control indicator now has another indicator to verify your speed has been set vs. merely being turned on. Also, the avg MPG display on the MID now has an option to clear out previous history and start a new cycle.
Driving the newer TCH also has some slight differences from the older version. Perhaps it is because the '10 came with Michelin Energy OEM tires while the '07 had Bridgestone Turanza's. I found great displeasure with the Bridgestones when it came to winter traction, wear and noise. Far too early to judge the Michelins but the steering seems slightly more vague on the '10 model.
Using both the energy screens on the MID and the NAV system, it seems that Toyota has tweaked the algorithms on their Synergy Hybrid system. On the '10, I note a bit more battery augmentation even at highway speeds and we remain in EV only mode up to speeds of 45mph or so while the '07 preferred to cut over to the ICE much sooner. First tank calculation confirmed that with 39.1mpg returned on our first full tank with mostly highway driving. I'd typically get between 37 and 38mph with the '07.
Purchasing the new model in the spring (as we did with the '07), we won't be able to enjoy the heated leather for another 6 or 7 months but I did get to get acquainted a bit more with the NAV during the past week. I've owned a portable Garmin NUVI 660 and use it extensively. It's a wonderful GPS. I recently ordered the NUVI 1490 with the transit feature (requires an optional City Map purchase) but never could get that feature to fully work. The 1490 had a great feature by displaying not only your current speed but also the posted speed on arterial and above roads. The 1490 also features a neat lane guidance capability and clearly showed you which lane you needed to be in. Because I purchased it mainly for the transit feature and never could get that to work even after opening an incident with Garmin (who failed to follow up on the incident) it was returned to the retailer for full credit.
That brings me to the 2nd major gripe I had with the '07 TCH - the inaccurate speedometer. I'd read 65mph on the instrument panel but only indicate 61mph on the Garmin units. My older cars were spot on. The '10 TCH is "slightly" better with 63mph indicated at 65mph on the Garmin. Major downside would be you're accumulating miles a bit faster (and running out of your warranty period).
The factory NAV on the '10 TCH is a bit more cumbersome to program but I love the large screen, the split screen capability and the lane guidance feature works as well at the one on the newer Garmin NUVIs.
All-in-all, it was a worthwhile transaction. I save a bit of montly cash flow driving the newer TCH, will enjoy (eventually) the warm seats in the winter and love the NAV & backup camera.
2007 TCH - Mag grey, FE HM SR CF options
2010 TCH - Mag grey, FE CQ LA SR UT CF EF options
Linear Mode
