I got mine today. Whooopeee!

Alabaster Silver with Nav. I like it!

Traveled 60 miles from El Cerrito to Davis to buy the car. Last Thursday I decided that I didn't like the idea of waiting an extra two weeks in January, since the lease on our RAV4-EV ends in less than three weeks. So I started emailing requests for quotes to all the Honda dealers in the area. About 15 requests went out, and then the phone rang and the dealer in Davis had exactly the car I wanted. I gave him my credit card number for a deposit (although it turns out he didn't charge it).

When we looked the car over today it was funny how much more I knew than the salesman - thanks to this forum. For example, he was explaining to my wife that we had XM radio with the first three months subscription free. Of course he was wrong. I had to explain to HIM that it was only XM ready. After that we didn't waste too much time going over features.

I drove the HCH back home and my wife followed in the Accord. We drove pretty slow because she wanted to stay within sight and because the weather was nasty. Rain, wind, heavy traffic with incredible amounts of spray. I put the CC on 60mph whenever possible. The trip MPG started at about 20 from the 14 miles that were there before. It gradually crept up as I drove and got to 45mpg when I got home. Not too shabby IMO. Lost 1 mpg in the last 2 mile climb up the hill to our house.

The thing that struck me most was how the various indicators of FE were constantly changing. On flat sections of road, at constant speed, there was some regen early in the trip because the SOC was low. As the trip progressed there was less regen. The surprising thing was how much it changed from zero to some assist to some regen with very slight, even imperceptible, changes in terrain or speed. If the road climbed a bit, the ICE would at first remain at the same RPM and instantneous FE, and some assist would appear. If it took more than three bars of assist to maintain speed, the engine would kick into higher revs and the assist would quickly drop. Then, as the terrain leveled, the engine would first keep the same RPMs and I would see some regen kick in. But not more than 3 bars of regen. At that point RPMs would drop back and regen would disappear. Watching the instantaneous FE gauge was even crazier - it sometimes jumps up and down quite radically without any perceptible change in driving conditions. And keep in mind that all this is going on with cruise control which has a very steady "foot on the pedal".

My overall impression is that the IMA is used as the quick way to respond to changes in power demand on the engine, both up and down. The IMA handles those changes as much as possible, and the ICE reacts to changes much more gradually, usually if the change in demand persists for more than a few seconds.

Next chapter - a few hours after we got home I took out the sale documents to look them over, wanting to figure out what I would need for my carpool sticker application. Then came the shock - they had backdated all the documents to show a sale on December 29th 2005. Boy, was I POed! My whole reason for waiting till now was being shattered. With a 2005 sale I can't get the tax credit. I called the dealership at 8PM and surprisingly they were all still there. After some initial song and dance they agreed to print out new documents with the correct date and FedEx them to me tomorrow. Apparently it was an innocent mistake. The lesson - even in all the excitement of buying a new car, take the time to look carefully at what you're signing.

A corrolary - I've been getting many more calls from dealers eager to sell me HCHs. I get the feeling that demand for these vehicles is collapsing, or rather was never as great as we have been led to believe. Some dealers will still tell you there's a three month wait, but if you call around you can find one TODAY. I know Honda of Hayward will have at least one available for delivery at the end of next week after I call him tomorrow. It seems to me that the pent up demand due to the initial delivery delays of the HCH had the dealers seeing $$$$. Now that they are being delivered, each sale takes a potential buyer (like me) off the waiting lists of two or three other dealers.

 

--

 

Congrats: Elan; and I am glad that you ttok the time to read over your sells contract and caught the Dec. date on it.

Regards;

Terry

 

Congrats, Elan, and welcome to the club! I look forward to your thoughts as you drive it more.

I noticed this too (for the instant FCD), but I also noticed that it settled down considerably once the car had about 1000+ miles on it. I'm comparing the behavior on cruise control in both cases, so it's not my driving technique, but I also noticed that it's easier to hold a specific MPG on the instant w/o cruise than it used to be (like when doing DWL). Maybe the mechanics just smooth out as the engine breaks in?

 

<sigh>
Just had a call from my dealer. They've been striking out trying to locate a Mag Pearl HCH w/Navi for me in the 'region'. They are going to continue to search, but in the meantime they are going to put one on order for me with Honda. Worst case, I'm told is that if they have to wait for the ordered HCH, it'll be approx 100 days.

I'm pretty darn frustrated at this point. I ordered my HCH from the first dealership in October - and should easily have picked it up yesterday if not for their incompetence.


On the positive side - the first dealer told me it came with XM pre-installed. If it weren't for this forum, I wouldn't have known to tell my new dealership to order the XM 'guts' for me. I would have been REALLY perturbed if I had waited until March/April and found out after I picked it up. I would have had a hard time swallowing the $600 cost for the XM system as a separate charge.

They are charging me 2 hours labor for the XM install, although the service manager said they can take up to 4 hours to install in the HCH.

Oh well...nothing to do but read all the posts from happy new HCH owners!

 

Jim I am in the same situation as yourself on the wait thing. The 1st dealer that I ordered my HCH ll from was , lets say going to make a (Real-Good-Profit) on the sell. I told them to sell the HCH ll and then found myself another dealer and now like you, I am waiting. I do-not have the vin # yet so I imagine it will be awhile in getting here.

The good news is I don't mind the wait now that I am dealing with an "Honest" dealership and to me personally it is worth the wait.

So; lets both hang in there, knowing one of these days we can add our Names to the ever growing list of HCH ll owners.

Hang-In-There

Terry

 

Thanks for the encouragement Terry. I keep telling myself that I'm going to have this car for 5 years...probably 140k + miles...so I want it to be RIGHT.

That said...I'm so impatient...I WANT MY CAR NOW.

I'm tempted to try some of the other dealers in the area...but these guys gave me a good deal on my Insight trade-in - and so far haven't given me any BS - so I'll listen to my wife and sit down, shut up, and WAIT.

 

Jim-Jim; Listen to that very Smart Wife of yours:

I'll try to practice the same on my end and that "Ain't" easy HUH?

Two Guys, Waiting for their (Big-Boys-Toys)

Give Us Both Strength

Terry

 

Make that Three Guys...
My dealer is still trying to work out a trade. No word yet if/when that will happen or the next delivery. I'm also perterbed since I should have had it yesterday, but they didn't verify the color when the original dealer trade came in. Going to push for FREE XM install since they screwed up...If not, we'll work down from there, but after four cars purchased since '99 at MSRP (well, the '05 Ody was $500 off MSRP), they have made enough money off me...

 

mochisushi, JimHolmgren, and Terry,

I just thought of the reason (Getting-Old) I was and still am not so Very-Upset at this waiting thing.

Guys, if you can stand it and I can, get your Dealers to order your new HCH ll's and remain calm. The reason I say that is because it seems like to me there are more and more Members complaining about their FE Gauges (Not-Working/Reading) Correct and I am hoping with Fingers Crossed that by waiting awhile longer to get my HCH ll that the Factory will be installing the (2nd Generation) or at least the I guess you could say (Working) right Instrument Clusters. It is just a thought but you know that Honda is Not wanting the word to get out to the Magazines/Public Sector that the 2006 Civic Hybrid ll has a Problem with the FE Gauges.

So I don't mind waiting and hoping that as time marches by that Honda Corrects what ever is causing the FE Gauges to not work/read correctly.

So, looks like that there could be a "Very-Positive" side to us that are having to wait longer to get our (New-Big-Boys-Toys).

Thinking Positive For The Three Guys Waiting:

Terry

BTW: say do you guys remember the Prius and the Major-Stink over it Cutting/Stopping while driving down the road. Well I am a Member of that Forum and the Truth was that was a very few of the Prius Hybrids and it was a simple computer software update that took care of the situation but the (News-Media) beat it to Death. I don't think Honda is wanting to go through that Scenario with this Brand-New HCH ll. Do-You????