I went back to Hendricks Toyota in Fayetteville last Saturday and asked to test drive a Camry and a Prius.  I never got to drive the Prius, but in the feeding frenzy, bought this white 2018 Camry SE.  I know it is a sporty looking car, but the two things that really sold me were:  40 mpg Highway, and the Entune 3.0 entertainment/navigation System… and payments under $350 a month.

I’ve put a bunch of miles on it already, and here is a picture of my first fill-up, which took over 11 gallons, and with the recent rise in gas prices, over $30 total.

But the car does feel good when I’m in it, and it has a bunch of bells-n-whistles that are exciting.  If the car drifts over the center yellow line, there is a warning, and the car slightly turns itself back into the original lane.  I let it drift first to the left and then to the right without me intervening and after the second warning there was a louder, flashier warning.  I didn’t see what it said, but it was probably something like, “Are You Dead?”  Not sure if it would have slowed the car to a stop, but that might be the next logical step.

I can hook my Samsung smartphone up by USB cable, and a real-time navigation map will display.  If the phone loses connection, the map goes brain dead.  I’ve found some dead spots in town where the map stops working for quite a few blocks and then starts back up.

I wasn’t looking at buying a Toyota, but drove a Corolla from Enterprise when the Civic died, and liked the mileage display and how easy my phone paired with the Entune System in the loaner.  That got me thinking about Toyotas.  I was still planning to try a new Honda Accord, and maybe even another Civic, but got sidetracked along the way.

I did test drive a Ford Fusion and a Kia Optima.  Both vehicles felt good.  The Fusion felt really good and had a larger screen display and a knob for a gear shifter.  *I went back home after test driving the Fusion and found it was ranked 14th in the list with a Camry being 1st and a Honda Accord being Number 2.  **About a week ago, I saw something on TV that Ford was planning to phase out all but trucks and SUVs and that made it for sure that I wouldn’t buy a Fusion.