Actually that's due to the setting sun which is casting very yellow light onto the car. blue + yellow = green. I took the shade picture exactly so the true color of the car would be easier to see, but this weekend I'll take better pictures.

 

CGame,
Have you noticed a slight vibration when it's coming out of auto-stop? In the "First Impressions" thread a couple owners say it lasts for a split second.

 

Most definitely. When I take my foot off the brake, it takes 1-2 seconds for it to actually get 'in gear' and begin moving forward. When it does, there's a small shudder. I don't care about the vibration but it is a nuisance that I can no longer take off the instant a light turns green.

 

Yeah, one thing I've done about that is if I suspect the light is about to turn green (ie, I spot other cars on the perpendicular street slowing down to a yellow) I'll let go of the brake and let the tranny engage just before the light turns.

The place where I find auto-stop annoying is at stop signs, where as soon as I stop, I have to wait a second for the engine to spin back up etc.

 

Strange, I haven't noticed this much of a delay. It's definitely obvious when it's starting, and there is a small shudder, but the engine is running and ready to go ny the time I move my foot onto the accelerator. I'm also trying to accelerate as smoothly/slowly as possible as I experiment with trying to maximize the instant MPG indicator, so maybe that gives it the extra time it needs.

 

Seat covers?

You have side airbags that deploy from the the seat back.
Covers would prevent them from working, and might even be hazardous.

 

Honda was supposed to fix this in their production vehicles. USATODAY.com wrote up a test drive of the pre-production vehicle and listed this a negative:

•Vibration. The gas engine in the preproduction test cars shuddered when it restarted after the idle stop. Honda promises to banish that in showroom cars.

Here's the full article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...c-hybrid_x.htm

I'm wondering if a batch of cars don't have the fix?

 

Well mine was built a full month after the first production cars and the problem is still there. It's not a big deal and if they issue a recall eventually then great.

 

The seat airbags have holes to account for that. They're custom made for these exact seats.