mom just got a galaxy gray 06 hch in the garage, non-navi today



parked right next to my 04 hch

first driving impressions: the 06 cvt and ima system feel very different from my 04 hch. the pedals felt much ligher, and the engine is more than willing to give full assist and rev to 3000 RPM starting from a light, something i rarely see in my 04 hch which likes to stick around 2000 RPM and 3-4 bars of assist.

however, once the 06 gets going about 20 mph from the light, assist drops to 1-2 bars and the engine revs quickly get back to 2500 RPM without me moving the pedal's position.

regarding highway acceleration and passing power (50-70 mph), the 06 hch accelerates much faster on the highway, but for some reason, it's slower than my 04 hch up a 35 degree hill with higher revs (04: 2900 rpm @ 31 mph, 06: 3200 rpm @ 28 mph).

The 06 also has a tough time getting up my steep driveway (takes twice as long as the 04) and revs way higher, moving much less distance.

my thoughts are that the two trannies are geared differently, the engine designs are different, and the ima assists variably. however, it feels totally different when driving compared to my 04.

i'll post more as i drive more it's only got 24 miles on its odometer

 

Hi BlueCivcHybrid:

___2 small items …

1. Can you post a pic that is a bit smaller resolution

and

2. Can I sleep in your garage tonight

___Let me guess, she gets to drive the 04 now

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

Congratulations on the new HCH.

There's no such thing as a road with a 35 degree incline. That's a 70% slope. You might find some double diamond ski slopes that are that steep.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. We are much better for it.

 

Myles, that is so cool. Thanks for posting the picture and the comparison. The information is quite useful.

I'm hoping to become a two-HCH family also, except that in my case, it's me that's the old person. And I'm just waiting for my son, who is your age, to get his butt out of the house and off to college, so we can replace my wife's minivan with a new 2006 HCH.

Two HCH's in one garage: priceless!

 

Congrats, and enjoy! I'm curious to hear more about your comparisons of the 04 vs. 06, since I only have experience in the 06.

 

sorry i meant to say 35 degree incline not %

some more stuff:

the steering on the 06 hch is much, much lighter than the 04 hch; it feels very artificial and almost like a video game accesory. on the 04, i can actually feel the surface of the ground through the steering wheel (that "road feel") that i love. however, the turning radius on the 06 seems tighter to me, as i always make the same very tight u-turn over two lanes and it's easier to do on the 06. so it balances out.

the HUD-like speedometer in the 06 is very useful in keeping my eyes on the road. my periphery vision is much clearer on the road when i glance at the speedometer, and the large numbers make it easy to know exactly how fast you're going. on the 04, the close incessed dash makes it harder to switch from the road to the dash as quickly.

at 3000 rpm, both 04 and 06 engines sound identical. sort of a muted growl. kinda interesting, b/c the tweaks on the 06 engine seemed not to change the sound. or it could be the muffler/exhaust system is very similar.

to elaborate on my previous post about "ima variability":

In the 04, there are certain places where the assist likes to "stick" or "settle"
Very slow acceleration = 0% assist
Fair acceleration = 15% assist
Average acceleration = 25% assist
Strong acceleration = 50% assist
Stronger acceleration = 66% assist
Flooring the gas pedel = 100% assist

But in the 06, no such "intervals" exist. Assist varies from 1 to all bars and changes very quickly. The IMA is very sensitive to pedal input, and I see the full range of bars when i'm driving normally. Sometimes it changes assist based on speed and incline without me changing the throttle at all, as if it is driving itself.

Another thing: Auto-Stop
There doesnt seem to be a way for me to disable it. At the same time it is MUCH MUCH smoother than the 04 auto-stop

04 autostop sequence:
1) 100% regen while braking
2) Decrease regen to 10% slowly
3) Cut regen and engine simulataneously
4) Car lurches slightly because of the sudden drop in braking power - both regen and engine braking
5) Come to complete stop

06 autostop sequence:
1) 100% regen while braking
2) Decrease regen to 0%
3) Slowly and smoothly cut out the engine so that there is no "lurch" whatsoever
4) Come to a complete stop.

I don't know how it does it but it auto-stops so much smoother than you can't notice it without looking at the tach even if you try hard.

 

oh and wayne, my mom and i are sharing the cars. so we'll switch them whenever we feel like it

both are excellent cars. the 04 is great to toss around on the road - feels down to earth and really connected to the road. i wouldn't mind driving either

another thing about suspension: the 06 hch handling (and all the other 06 civics as well, i suppose) feels much nicer than the 04 hch. it's both softer and firmer - if you know what i mean. It absorbs surface bumps and road irregularities much better, but feels much more stable during turns. something to do with balancing center of gravity, shocks, etc, and honda did a good job.

read more below v

 

I noticed this too. Pumping the tires up to 40PSI gave me some of that feel back.

Maybe due to the fact that the 06 is throttle-by-wire? The gas pedal is now just another input to the computer; it looks at that plus other factors before deciding what to do.

 

A 35 degree slope is 70%. I believe it's impossible to climb such a slope on rubber tires. You'll skid back down.

A 19.3 degree slope is 35%. That's very very steep but may be doable.