Just thought I'd mention that Frank Giovinazzi's Accord Hybrid Review at GreenHybrid comes up #1 on Google for the search term "accord hybrid review." Neat, eh?

 

Hi Jason:

___I did not even know this article/review was posted at Greenhybrid!

___A good review but in one place Frank says, and down a few paragraphs on the same page,
___So what is the difference between the std. V6 and the AH V6 in the latter situation? The AH’s V6 is fully online, Assist is helping it to the tune of maybe another .05 G’s if that, and it is receiving the ~ same FE as that of the std. V6 while driving under that scenario (which isn’t much) if not less given the extra weight it is carrying?

___From the very early pre-drives in Japan first reported over at TOVTEC to the latest personal experiences of ExTex in his brand new AH, it sounds as if IMA has been tamed in terms of power flow as well as VCM w/ the ANC and ACM keeping all the tech hidden which is exactly what it should do. The item I am looking for and have not really read of are the critical fine points of real world FE in temps, how natural or “grabby” is the Regen during braking as well as transition to the mechanicals, VCM enabling/disabling load transitions, and SoC variations in a variety of traffic conditions. The performance appears so close to that of the V6 that it isn’t worth commenting on except for possibly the car mags and the average driver but many here are not average drivers when it comes to Hybrid or regular automobile nuances

___Finally, and this should be of great interest to you, I am seeing Greenhybrid threads and posts pop up more and more in my own Web researches for everything from Diesel emissions technology to Hybrid FE techniques. Very interesting except more then half the time it is my own posts that pop up

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Wayne, you very well may be the speaker of the house when it comes to qualifying our hybrid bias. It serves as a form of irritation and entertainment! haha.

An owner of another hybrid site told me today that he believes GreenHybrid is THE authority on real world mileage. It got me thinking: who really is this authority? It isn't me. It's GreenHybrid as a whole. It's the community.

The homepage of the website now says

 

Hi Jason:

___Politically correct to a Tee

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

A few comments after 580 miles today - mainly non-interstate highway in rolling country with quite a few small towns. Indicated fuel consumption was 37.8 mpg - I had it nearly to 40, but then my co-driver took the controls and it fell back some. Ambient temperature was 45 - 62 - 45 deg F. I am happy to see EPA estimates already being achieved with a tight engine.

VCM kicking in or out is not perceptible from the passenger seat and feels about like a shift from 5th gear to 5.25 gear when driving, if you know what I mean. Assist only helped on uphills about 5% of the time according to the gauge, with no apparent pattern. Normally transition was into VCM at the crest and out of VCM about halfway up the uphill segment.

The regen is pretty natural - feels slightly more in gear than a normal automatic when slowing (although not as much as a manual transmission). The transmission downshifts smoothly but perceptibly when slowing/coasting to a stop. There is a more noticable decoupling of the transmission when auto-stop kicks in around 10 mph as you are coasting or braking for a stop. The regen meter shows about halfway when coasting down, and between 50 and 100% depending on the brake application.

SOC I have noted is between 2 bars and 5 bars (out of 6). At 2 bars, the regen/charge indicator shows that the battery is being charged by the engine at times, but autostop still functions. Have also noted once or twice that with 5 bars, regen/charge indicator indicated no charge on slowing or braking, but I have not determined a pattern for this behaviour.


Extex

 

Hi Extex:

___Thank you for the nicely written reply as it is detailed enough for the average hybrid driver to get a feel for one (an Accord Hybrid) without spending an hour or so behind the wheel. This of course would be very unlikely unless of course we (any Hybrid driver reading this post) were to purchase one for ourselves.

___As an additional note or two. When you are ready to push your AH into its maximum FE envelope, I have a few tricks you might want to use given the details you have posted to date even without an instantaneous that the NAVI unit provides.

___The other tip although nothing to do with FE or the AH for that matter is that in the MDX, I use an i-Trek mouse based GPS receiver, an iPAQ 2215, Mapopolis, and a Panavise mount. You can read some of the details from a post entitled “Hot Deal for PDA NAVI users?” as well as the installation details with pics at the following thread entitled: “Pocket PC GPS”.

___The attached pic should give you an idea as to what the iPAQ on the Panavise mount looks like. She now looks even better with the iPAQ in its all black Sena case. You can follow the second thread linked above for what the GPS unit itself looks like mounted up and to the left of the Rain sensor in the X …

___Good Luck with your new automobile.

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net