My New HCHII



Okay, a week and a tank in my new HCHII so I thought I’d just put down my impressions if anyone cares of my new car. It’s really just for anyone who’s thinking of making the jump but is worried about life in the slow lane. Please excuse the rant…. It’s my therapy. Oh yeah, my first post, go easy on me…. Some of you seem a little sensitive/enthusiastic….. well actually obsessed with their hybrids.

No I don’t care that my grammar is bad, nor do I care about my spelling mistakes.


Bit about me:



I used to drive a supercharged Volvo on a130 Mile commute around the Bay Area every day. After a bout of expensive servicing ($2500 anyone?) and finding my car needed several new tires, I bit the bullet and traded it in for something that sips fuel, cheap and was reliable. I was going to get a Mazda 3 but after sitting in traffic one day and spotting the Prius’s driving past me in the HOV lane, I decided I needed a hybrid. As the Toyota looks like a green house on wheels to me and I didn’t like the stigma of being a Prius driver, I decided on the Honda Civic Hybrid. Besides, everyone knows the Toytas are in short supply, expensive and marked up….. that wouldn’t happen with a good old Honda would it? My driving style by my reckoning would be considered fast, by my wifes reckoning, insane. (that’s why we have life insurance dear)



I’ll start off negative:



The really really really bad /buyers’ remorse:



The HOV stickers. Before buying I checked the DMV website and that said the program expires in 2008 (fair enough) and that if it got too crowded in these lanes, they’d pull the plug on the program (again fair). However, since buying the car I start to find on websites like this there are 8000 stickers left, it’ll take months before I probably get my plates (my record is 6 months before receiving them – I am a resident Alien, I think they run background checks on me) and so I’ll probably miss out. So the main reason I purchased the car, I’m unlikely to get. Also, I have to purchase a FasTrak transmitter before I can apply (Bay Area rule). I go across the bridges here about twice a year, so I am paying for something that I probably won’t need and wastes my time before trying to apply for the stickers without my license plate in the unrealistic hope of missing the cut off (I’ve got to try). The DMV in CA should make this clearer on their website.



You hear about some idiots paying 5K over MSRP…yeah, that’d be me. I checked the prices at several local dealers and they were all within a couple of hundred of each other. It was very much “you know how fast I can sell this car if you don’t buy this?”… I try to bargain and, okay “you pay our price or someone else will”. I got a bit extra for my trade-in but I think they were humoring me. Even with tax breaks and fuel economy, I’m never going to make the money back. Yes I know that’s not the point and how much a sucker I am….. I get reminded enough about these facts by my friends, thank you.



The Bad:



The dealer tried to rip me off on the warranty. I told him I could get that a $1000 cheaper online, he scoffed. I showed him I could get it $1000 cheaper online, he was impressed. Score one me….. The score so far: Dealer $5000 of my cash – Me: Smugness



The front seats aren’t that comfortable. Maybe I’m just used to the leather interior of the Volvo, but its not as nice and gives me a bit of a downer. (that said I didn’t like the new Volvo V50 seats in the car they lent me while repairing mine last month)



The sat nav is garbage. I have a TomTom from my previous car and this was way better and cost a quarter of the price. The controls are in funny positions, the clock position moves so I can never easily satisfy my obsession with the time, it’s not easy to use, nor does the creator seem to have had an ounce of common sense. Where’s my multi disk CD player and did the designer recover from being cryogenically frozen in the 90’s? This is the only reason I can think of that they decided to use full size CF cards (which then the player doesn’t support mp4 (which I copy from my iTunes), play the tracks in order or even display the track correctly). Very poor show Honda.



Voice activation – Maybe it’s my funny accent but:



Me: CD Play track 2

Car: Air Conditioning off

Me: Air Conditioning on

Car: Air conditioning on

Me: CD skip track

Car: CD play track 11

Me: CD PLAY TRACK 2

Car: Air conditioning off

Me: &^%* off

Car: Audio off



The brakes – I haven’t quite got the hang of the hydraulic help yet…. SCREECH ! Leave plenty of space behind me

5x3 point seat belts, yet 2 cup holders. Is this progress?

It took me three days to work out what color it really is. I think it’s grey.


I want it to drive totally on electric…. Even if it’s just for a couple of yards. Has anyone actually managed to get their Honda to do this?


It’s not got a 250BHP supercharged engine. I was aware of this fact before I purchased it, so I only have myself to blame. I raced a Pontiac GTO at the lights on Sunday night…. I got better fuel economy than him so as far as I was concerned; the environment was the winner that night.



The Good.



The car itself. As a proud ex-Volkswagen owner who likes his cars put together well, Honda have done a fantastic job. This car feels fantastic, way better than the Volvo and as good as the previous model Golf (we don’t mention the rabbit, it upsets me). It gives me safety equipment, lots of, as standard. Bravo Honda! I also like the look. People say it looks very sporty…. Well it looks it…..

The acceleration – Okay, so a golf cart could leave me at the lights and it could do with a bit more horse power, but it’s adequate. I found this surprising. I’ve not felt yet that I was in danger due to not being able to accelerate fast enough and it merges well. I drove an EX as a test drive, it’s a close run thing for acceleration between the cars

The trunk – I was told it was small because of the battery there.. Fits my golf clubs and shopping. Do I need anything else?

Gas – It’s been mentioned that the engine breaks in at 3500 miles and you get better mileage. I have 700miles on the clock and have been getting nearly 50mph

Me – I drive safer, slower and a bit more considerate. It’s a strange feeling having cars pass me though.


The car part II – I’m still enjoying driving it. It’s like a video game. Can I get the battery fully charged?, how long can I go without accelerating down this hill? I’m doing 100mpg here… stay green, stay green, stay green….. NO!!! it's white. Why does it feel so good when the engine cuts off when coming to a full stop? Eat clean emissions Toyota driver, maniac passing (with cruise control on of course to make sure I’m getting good fuel economy)

The insurance – Despite horror stories. 8 bucks extra for 6 months. I asked if I could pay in installments.



The super bad



I like having a hybrid….. I may even be slightly smug about the fact of owning one. This is not me. Maybe I’m growing up



I’m off to hug a tree now





CM

 

mr_132,
Well written . Funny, we share almost the same experience with the civic hybrid. Im coming from an 2001 Audi S4 to the 2006 HCHII. Overall i'm very pleased with my decision to go Hybrid.

Observations/Adjustments/Differences:
- CVT from 6SpeedMT
- HCHII gets its butt kicked by gusts of wind vs. rock solid s4
- Floaty Handling vs Quattro
- 50mpg vs 19mpg
- Passive Drver vs. Semi Passive Agressive Driver =P
- I always laugh when i press lock twice on the remote *beep beep*
- COOL SHIELD WHEELS *nuff said*

I'm at almost 4000 miles on the hybrid and driving at 80mph on the highway is a distant memory. I get scared driving in the fast lane now =P. I always find myself glancing over at the Assit/Charge bars and the mpg meter to the point where it's getting distracting/dangerous.

I just got my car to get 500miles on one tank (full to gaslight(+5 miles)), happy day hehe. I didnt drive the car all weekend because it was so hot in the bay area and didnt want to use A/C to mess up my mpg's! (yes im going crazzy like that)

I think i've gotten the car to go all electric once... for like 2 seconds (i think) then i had to brake for a red light.

Yes the voice activation can be silly at times

Me: Play Track 3
Car: Fan Speed 2
Me: Hyphy Hyphy Hyphy
Car: Audio Off

Good luck on your stickers. Just make sure the dealership sends all thier paperwork asap and call up dmv everyso often on the status. tell them you need your stickers NOW!

Well good write up again and have fun with ur TreeHuggerMobile!


Hybrid Remix - Now ECO-Friendly for the '06!

 

Great post, Colin. I've also had my HCH II a week and can very much empathize with your impressions. The weirdest thing of all to me is the overnight transformation into paying-serious-attention-to-FE, something I gave hardly a passing glance at before. I ride motorcycles (a couple BMW's and a Suzuki sportbike) and rationized those vehicles were more than enough to get me the performance hit I crave (and still with excellent - relative to cars - FE).

I love this new Honda...

Jeff

 

Your purchasing experience sounds sadly familiar to a lot of other drivers in CA if you read through some of the posts on this site. The negative experience behind you, I think you will love the car more and more as you drive it. (I know I do.)

Once you read through some posts and familiarize yourself with the car, you will learn how to get it to run in electric only mode. I thought that this would bother me, but it doesn't. In fact, it has very little impact on fuel economy (the Prius and the HCH are neck and neck in FE if you check out the Green Hybrid DB). Plus, think of all the great things about the car, including all the safety features which come standard.

 

And me, too. But we've got the car now, so that's behind us. Until it's time for me to trade in the Acura and get another hybrid.

Quote:

Maybe I’m just used to the leather interior of the Volvo, but its not as nice and gives me a bit of a downer.

We're getting the aftermarket leather interior. While test driving cars we drove a Camry that had it, and we really liked it. I called the dealership, found out who did the leather and called them. $995 for the interior, in any color leather we want. They do the seats, the center console and the door panels/armrests.

Quote:

Where’s my multi disk CD player and did the designer recover from being cryogenically frozen in the 90’s? This is the only reason I can think of that they decided to use full size CF cards (which then the player doesn’t support mp4 (which I copy from my iTunes), play the tracks in order or even display the track correctly).

I disagree. Honda could have gone with a microdrive format, or a memory stick format, but by using the PCMCIA format, you can use anything you want. They sell adapters that will go from most any format to PC Card, so you can use whatever type you want. Personally, I'm going to get the microdrive/PC Card adapter and use a 6 GB microdrive with it.

Quote:

It took me three days to work out what color it really is. I think it’s grey.

We got the it's-blue-no-wait-green-no-pink-no-white color. It's odd, it changes colors depending on what angle the light hits is.

Quote:

I want it to drive totally on electric…. Even if it’s just for a couple of yards. Has anyone actually managed to get their Honda to do this?

Not with a 20 horsepower electric motor. Not gonna happen.

Quote:

Gas – It’s been mentioned that the engine breaks in at 3500 miles and you get better mileage. I have 700miles on the clock and have been getting nearly 50mph

Same for us. Commuting from Ventura to Santa Barbara it's averaging 48 MPG. The truck we traded in got 18 MPG. Now if I can just figure out a way to get a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" plywood in there we'll be all set.

Quote:

The insurance – Despite horror stories. 8 bucks extra for 6 months. I asked if I could pay in installments.

Our insurance dropped. We took of a 2000 Mazda B4000 pickup and added a 2006 HCH, and the rates went down. Hooray. AAA Insurance.

 

Mr_132 - I'm right there with you. I've had mine since the 17th (I had to check my records) Funny, I thought it's been over 2 weeks now, but it does still feel so new, everytime I sit in the car. And I know exactly what you mean about it being like a video game- although, with all the trying and trying I've been doing, I haven't been able to fill up all my battery bars. I've gotten all but one, and that last one just never seems to want to fill, no matter how many hills I go down starting with all but one bar.

The nav/voice system. LOL- I've gotten the EXACT same results. I think we need to relearn our language, because when I say "CD Track 2", I get the "A/C Off" too, BUT, when I say "CD Track 8", the computer responds with "CD Track 2". LOL.

I'm not disappointed with the power of the car. I've tried a couple of times, going FT, and had all the power to get out of my own way- I thought.

My insurance, on the other hand, went up by about $150 for 6 months. But then again, I was going from a '99 Ford Escort ZX2, with over 100,000 miles on it, so the replacement value is quite a bit different.

The only thing I would want them to change, is the E-Brake. I'm sure the women in the forums don't have this problem, but I'm a guy. Guys sit with their legs flaired to the side, not their knees tucked togethor, and the side of my knee is banked right up against that E-brake. With a knee that goes numb because of some pinched nerve or something, whenever I kneel down for something, I get the same result with that thing.

Plumbing foam tube insulation has too small a diameter in the center, but since it's split down its length, it still fits over it. Looks silly (a little redneckish even), but feels so much better.

 

Yes, our HCH-II can do this - of course your distance travelled may vary depending on several factors all of which are not that difficult to manage:

- You need a reasonable good state of charge.
- You need to manage your pedal (throttle position) gently so that you can not only kick it into EV-only mode, but also keep it there for as long as possible.
- You need to have some momentum (speed) and on a level road to maximize the distance travelled on EV-mode only.

I use this mode on ocasion if and only if my IMA battery charge is generous and I can maximize my fuel economy. On hot summer days, I will save my battery for the operation of the air conditioning and avoid getting it into this mode. In these situations I give preference to "gliding" rather than EV-only operation.


Cheers;

MSantos

 

mogryph, I highly recommend you review this excellent article. In it, you may find a few valuable tips on how to best manage your IMA battery charge. I haven't worried to much about getting a 8 bar battery charge - but come to think of it - I never got a full-8 either.



Cheers;

MSantos

 

Quote:I want it to drive totally on electric…. Even if it’s just for a couple of yards. Has anyone actually managed to get their Honda to do this?

Yes, driving with the electric motor only is possible. Don't expect miracles out of it though. Once the car is up to speed it can be used with the gas motor off to help maintain your speed.

 

MSantos: Yeah, I read the article last week, and have lived by it since.

Even with an extremely hilly terrain in my area and my commute to work (about 85% highway), getting out of my car this morning, my Trip A read 52 mpg (~280 mi).

Tarbell's article certainly is the best source of information I've found.