I get a recal every weekend. Not surprising as the only thing I do is a 3 mile round trip to the grocery store that eats the battery up (especially on cold days where car isn't warmed up enough to allow regen til I'm already heading back).

 

Still getting recals- about once every two days on average at the moment. 2009 model with just under 5,000 miles. I noticed the first one happen about a week after taking delivery in April and started logging them until June when I simply stopped because they started occuring so often.

Now that the weather is cooling off a bit, I expect it won't be as bad. Will be getting the latest software upgrades during first oil change within the next few months. I doubt the car has had any updates since manufactured in September 2008.

 

Kristian how are you adjusting since the new software updates?

It took me a good week or so to adjust. There seems to be a slight boost in the acceleration which I have to watch or the rpms get too high.
I still get recals everyday, but they're less likely to occur if I start my commute with 6 bars of state of charge(SoC) versus 7.
I'm also not crazy about the lack of auto stop when it's at a low SoC while re-calibrating. However, I believe we can shut her down as long as the SoC is below 4. She will still continue with the recal when turned back on.

Jess

 

I've been crashing every couple of days still, but I'm also seeing it go down to 3 bars sometimes when it would have crashed before so there is some improvement. I don't really care for the extra assist affinity when the pack is full, but I've stopped worrying about it, and I let it assist as much as it wants to. This means that my pack is usually at 4 bars when I hit the biggest hill up to my house, so the ICE has to run about 3,000 rpm to get up since there isn't any assist.

I'm not sure about the fuel economy effect of the new version--my numbers have been bouncing all over the place on the short commute so I don't have a good comparison.

The transmission feels like it's on valium still, which makes it hard to get going again if I stop in the middle of my dirt driveway hill. I think that it has a larger range of "stops" on the CVT though, so it can push taller gears for a given speed at a steady state. I have yet to do a longer distance drive on the highway with the new software, but I'm hopeful for good results.

 

Mine hasn't gone down to 3 bars, but definitely 4 on a couple of occasions. I have also noticed that large assist affinity even with the EV Glide w/ Assist. It seems that 4 bars of assist is no longer the limit. I don't really use assist w/ the Glide but I've accidentally done so and have seen 6 or 7 bars of assist.

The SoC primarily stays around 5 or 6 for me. Rarely at 7 and scarcely at 8 except after a recal.

The overall feel of the car is less smooth for me. I can recall how smoothly it felt w/ the previous updates. Can't quite put my finger on how it feels this way, but the word "rough" has been in my mind since I drove it out of the service dept.
The week after I got the updates a cold front moved in along w/ rain, so my mileage was all over the place too. By Saturday, though I finally pulled 70+mpg over 40 miles along w/ 2 stops, so I started to feel better about it.

A long distance drive has not presented itself yet either, but I am curious.

Jess

 

Wow, up to 6-7 bars with EV Glide? I suppose it's nice to have that option if the conditions warrant it, like before starting a downhill run.

I have noticed that recent recals on my car have finished a good deal faster than before. It will recharge back up to 4-5 bars then suddenly jump to 8 in only a few miles. Hopefully this means that the BCM is simply not doing a great job with its SoC calculations and can be improved with new software. I'm sure it's more complicated than that.

 

Yes, I've noticed this too. Strange behavior for me since before the update, it didn't do the "force all the way to 8" routine--it would just get up to around 5-6 and drive normally.

 

My '09 will also occasionally makes this rapid jump to full charge.

 

I've recently witnessed mine during a recal, go from 1 to 4. At a stop it went back down to 3. Next stop jumps to 8. Crazy.

Jess

 

John, if your grocery store trips are regular/predicable, a block heater might help, year 'round. It will get you through the warm-up period and regenning faster.

Honda's official one is likely the best (only?) option. It replaces the engine block coolant drain plug. It is doable yourself if you have the tools, but access is fairly difficult and involved, and you'll likely need to drain/replace coolant (unless you're very quick at pulling off the drain plug and slapping on the block heater). The dealership's price installed should be around $120US, not too bad.

An electronic timer capable of 7 day, multiple event programing will allow you to set it up for specific times on specific days.

As rule of thumb, about 2 hours will get it 100% warmed, the first hour get's you about 80%. Depends on your area and utility rates, but I worked out for us it's about 6 cents per hour to use it.