Oh what a feeling! We have a review of the 2007 Camry Hybrid after Twain did a road test with the hybrid car that doesn’t look like a hybrid car. If you like keeping a low profile and doing your part to reduce CO2 emmissions, then the Camry Hybrid might be your ticket to a “greener” conscious.

Read Twain’s review and find out how the hybrid did on gas mileage after our test drive.

Interesting. Yaris was derived from two words. The first part is from the German expression yes, “ja” and the second part from the Greek goddess, Charis (representing beauty and elegance). I’m not quite convinced the Yaris represents anything near beauty and elegance, but it definitely represents the new generation of economy vehicles with excellent fuel economy numbers and respectable quality. Read my review of the new Yaris or get a woman’s perspective by reading Natasha’s review.

More photos of the Yaris in the photo gallery.

It was Toyota week for us at CarREVIEW.com. I spent some quality time driving and evaluating the 2007 models that are gas misers. A special thank-you goes out to Goeff and his team at Stevens Creek Toyota for trusting me with the keys to any car I chose on the lot. The people at Stevens Creek Toyota were very helpful with finding the right vehicle and getting the cars cleaned up for the photos.

Reviews soon to be published are the Camry Hybrid, Corolla and Yaris. Click on the photos to access the reviews.

Kevin and I test drove the new Infiniti G35 and had way too much fun putting the G35 through its paces. Read about the redesigned Infiniti G35 HERE.

For those who require visual stimulation, there are interior/exterior pictures of the G35 in the photo gallery.

Two years ago I upgraded all the stereo components behind the factory head unit/in dash 6-disc changer. For those who think Bose represents high quality, don’t let the name fool you. The Bose stereo installed by the Acura fcatory is crap. We’re talking paper cone speakers, two tiny underpowered amps and a subwoofer that will make you laugh because it burps more than it thumps.

Check out the differences between the Bose 5.25″ subwoofer and the Focal sub that took its place. One, the Focal speaker cone material is stiffer than a 15 year old finding his dad’s porn collection. Two, the surrounding material and the overall basket construction is of a much higher quality over the Bose.

Stage 1 of the upgrade included installing Accumat in the door panels and rear quarter panels, using new wires/cables everywhere, Alpine amps, a/d/s component speakers for the front stage, Pioneer 6.5″ speakers for rear fill, power and ground distribution blocks, and a hi-lo converter. Sound quality was a HUGE improvement over the Bose stereo components.

I finally got around to upgrading the head-unit because I wanted integrated iPod control. The FM transmitters and cassette tape adapters just weren’t up to par. I’ve seen my friends use them and I didn’t like the drawbacks: finding an unused FM frequency to broadcast the iPod tunes, moderate sound quality, must use an external adapter to power/charge the iPod, must fiddle with iPod to access music and playlists (dangerous when driving).

So, I went from this:

To this:

Plus, there was a noticeable improvement with sound quality after dumping the hi-low converters.

Below are some pics of the install.

Alpine V-series amps, a/d/s crossovers and Scosche power distribution blocks. The green box is the hi-low converter which founds its way to the trash immediately after I installed the Pioneer head unit.

Focal subwoofer in Bose enclosure

Accumat sound dampening material applied to doors and rear quarter panels.

Upgraded parts list:

Pioneer DEH-5900IB
Alpine MRP-F250 (4 x 40 Watts)
a/d/s 246IX (6.5″ component speakers for front stage)
Pioneer TS-G1641 (6.5″ speakers for rear fill)
Scosche power distribution blocks
Phoenix Gold wire and interconnects
Accumat sound dampening material in door and rear quarter panels