thats exactly what I do also. I turn the key while I'm still with my foot on the brake. then, change in P.

I was a bit concerned about the autostops myself but now I'm ok with it. today I drove 120 miles city/highway/bumper2bumper highway and averaged 50.7

Man, I love my new car.... It's so smooth

 

lars-ss, It has been a few days since I could get on ... I am not sure which thread I read the 7 second rule, I will try to find it this weekend and put a link up here. I will believe you moreso, that it doesn't take that much fuel. I just was trying to figure out the best way to get around town with the lights being programmed counter-intuitive. Instead of being staggered to where they turn green in sequence, they turn red in sequence, so you hit every red light ... downtown is the right way, if you catch the first red light, once it turn green if you go speed limit, just before you would start braking it turns green and you can get through the whole section without another light.

mexikan, I only used FAS a handful of time in one trip, maybe 10 times to 'try it out'. My mpg is from executing control over acceleration rates, coasting without regen, trying to hit traffic lights properly, etc.

If I drive the car like a 'normal' driver, then I get mid-40s. That is in a lot of stop and go traffic and mildly hilly area. I have been trying some different things to see if there are any benefits, sometimes usung S accelerating and switching to D to cruise will get better mpg and sometimes not. I easily get more boost, but it depends on if I will be able to (invisible) regen from driving long enough or get a long enough regen braking up to a light to make up for it.

I have found from my driving that I would do better if I had an 06. I managed 101.3 mpg over 4 miles, and if I could have had some assist without ICE a few times I might have gotten quite a bit higher. This was in D ... no FAS, just pedal control. The roads were nice and smooth, and inclines were complimented by equal downhill levels.

I will always say to drive the car how it will make you happy. Enjoy your 20k+ purchase. Have fun!!!

 

My HCH ('05) does not auto-stop nearly as often as I would like it to, although hopefully that is mostly due to cold weather and will rebound when Chicago warms up. I spend a fair bit of time driving around without heat because when the heat is on (even in economy mode and whether or not it is on defrost) the car often will not auto-stop. It must have to do with engine temperature.

I had a disconcerting moment yesterday- maybe someone can explain it to me?

I was stopped at a light, the auto-stop had engaged, my foot was firmly on the brake and suddenly it vibrates and the engine started back up again. It was a long light, so it was annoying to have to sit there and idle after I'd already braked properly to get it to auto-stop. I'd like to prevent this from happening again. The only thing I can think of is that the engine had just warmed up to the point where it starts to auto-stop, and maybe while it was sitting, it cooled down enough that that function stopped working? But would simple chilliness be enough to turn the engine back on in a situation like that? That seems nuts to me. (no, my foot did not let up on the brake, it's not that.)

Anyone?

 

That happened to me once, very recently after I had purchased my vehicle, so I did not give it much thought until now.

I don't recall the details. All I can say is that it was not cold or even cool weather....... but I had had started the vehicle perhaps just a minute earlier.

 

--

 

Could it be that the battery reserve was low enought that the engine popped back on to recharge it?

 

when your gliding in N and you put it back into drive does the whole car clunk? or you can rev match to avoid the syncing.

 

I rev match, just like double-clutching. Works great.

 

Xcel- I guess it must have been the coolant temperature, then. I didn't have the A/C fan on (it would have been off in any case because I was in Economy mode, and if I hadn't been the AS wouldn't have engaged) and the car had been on for about 10 minutes. As for jaykay's idea, the battery was about 75% charged, maybe a little more. One thing, though, xcel- I believe the 2005 is an HCH I, not HCH II, so it might be different.

The question is- how can I avoid having it happen again? Or is it impossible to work around it? If that engine gets cold while I'm sitting, it will just turn itself back on? Maybe I should just keep driving around without heat and hope for the best. It was warmer than 10 F out- has been for most of the month. I've been trying to DWL, but I'm reluctant to FAS despite the disadvantage of Chicago weather. I need to check IL traffic laws to see if it's legal, and even if it is, I don't know if I'd feel secure.

 

From the week and a half that I've had my Civic, I can say with some certainty that it's the coolant temp dropping and causing the car to restart. The other factor is loss of brake vacuum for the power brake booster - if you're on a really extended AS in the warmer months or when the car has fully warmed, you can get caught by this, as I was once on a stoplight from hell in Glenview, IL last summer. For longer stops where you *know* you'll be stopped for awhile (like for a train), just key off as soon as you stop - it's much easier on the traction (IMA) battery.

From what I've noticed, it seems to take a hella long time for the Civic's 1.3L four to reach sufficent operating temp to allow AS to engage - way more than for the V6 that was in my Accord. As low as 2 bars below normal (which is 2 shy of the halfway mark on my car) will cause the car to skip AS entirely. Absolutely kills me to see this.

I've had AS engage early in my trip, only to have it start up again in a minute or so - sure enough, a quick check of the temp gauge shows a drop of 2 bars vs where it had been.

I've started resigning myself to keying off the Civic at the first couple of stops that the Accord would handle with aplomb. You watch the cross light, and when it turns yellow is when you turn the key, wait 1 sec, shift from N to D, let the CVT kick back in gear, and go on your way. If farther back in a line of cars, then you start the car when you see the brake lites go out on the 3rd-5th car in front of you, so as to give yourself just enough time where you're not holding up traffic behind you, feeling rushed, and being tempted to give it more gas to accellerate as a result. A little practice, and you'll be a champ in no time

It's more of a contaminant for the oil this way, rather than let the car continue to run / warm up (the Cat converter allows emission of a few more fumes longer, as well), but AS is why I bought the hybrid Civic over the LX/EX, too - I want that ICE off when I come to a stop!

The thing I didn't factor in was the heater - I'm apparently actually robbing the engine's heat just keeping myself warm (and I've got my tstat at 62, not 80) . But considering the car has auto climate control, it's not blowing out air until it detects there's sufficient heat to warm the cabin. So apparently, Honda decided to maximize our comfort at the expense of FE. Ostensibly, this would be laudable from a humanitarian standpoint - but Honda hasn't met us - we'd rather be cold, and have the car engage AS a little earlier. I will tell you this - since auto climate control is another reason why I sprung for the extra bucks, I will *not* turn the heater down or off. I'm not going to freeze on an extended basis, and I don't want to have to cycle the heat off / on, depending on where I'm at in my trip. Nope - I'll key off the car instead, if I'm stopped and the ICE isn't.

Regarding 10F - Xcel's talking about the lower limit of the car to be allowed to engage AS, as per the manufactuer's spec. This was the same spec as in the Accord - although I remember having AS available to me in 5F temps, if the car was sufficiently warmed up. Below 5F, though, and no AS occurred. The upper limit is supposed to be at 100F (where the IMA charge / assist is limited / disabled to preserve the battery / electronics) - but I'm glad we don't have to normally endure 0F winters *and* 100F summers!

Note that I'm talking about FAS while stopped. If you're not comfortable with doing this while moving, then don't. I don't myself, although if things get really bad with regard to fuel availability, I will start practicing it. While I generally regard myself as a good driver, I get a little antsy doing the dance between shift to N, wait for revs to drop, key off, key on, potentially have to restart the car, and all the while watch out for traffic and my position in space. So I tend to not FAS while moving at this point in time. Another reason I don't is because of potential longevity issues with the CVT - it is a rather delicate transmission - and because the Accord's AT wouldn't shift past 3rd again until you came to a complete stop. So I never made FAS while moving part of my own repetoire.