JHZR2
Staff member
Must be something in the water... Here we just bought the Odyssey, and now I just bought a new Honda Accord Hybrid! And it is not a manual transmission either (actually there really isn't any transmission...). And, I traded a bunch of cars to consolidate (Im sure someone will want to give me a hard time over that, but it is what it is, fewer cars, which is sad, but less insurance and each one needed some repair over $1000). The real deciding factor was when we could fit our two year old, in child seat, behind my seat, all the way back, which we couldn't do in either the Saab or VW. LOTS of interior space...
So I got a killer deal. Some may know that Honda is spooling up production of a bunch of gas cars in the USA, and moving ALL hybrid production to Japan, seemingly to get some better economies of scale or move parts closer to production. So I guess that fact, coupled with the 2016 refresh, meant they wanted to move cars off the lot at this time of the year, and I got the car way under invoice, with a few things thrown in (some mud flaps, cargo tray, wheel locks). And, I got good money for my trades, which also offset sales tax.
First drive home, about 10 miles, I got 60.8 MPG. That same night I took a 180 mile highway trip, and got almost 44. The next day I took the reverse trip with a bit more traffic and averaged 53.7. My commutes are returning 55.x MPG pretty consistently. Its light, agile, quiet, and pretty comfortable. I can't complain.
To make things even crazier, I got a black on black car. We had one of these, a 96 E300D diesel, which we finally got rid of with nearly 300k and a lot of rust. Hopefully this car will do that well. Black cars scare me, but the AC has been great in the heat/humidity wave of recent... Will have to think about and be careful about detailing....
Yeah, its an accord... yeah, its a Honda. But its pretty neat. It operates differently than most hybrids, and is more akin to a diesel electric locomotive with a battery in parallel. The engine will go on and off randomly, but the engine also operates with only a one speed transmission, and runs either as a genet only, or clutched in directly, so the RPMs and operation can be matched to the optimal SFC. Apparently this is the most thermally efficient Atkinson cycle engine out there - better than the Prius I guess... Its an interesting concept, though Ill say that on the highway at speed the car does switch between direct couple and EV only mode quite a bit, I guess to try to gain economy, which Im not a huge fan of... Reality is that a 2.0L engine, propelling a 3500 lb car at 75 MPH is going to get like 35-40 MPG. Id probably prefer if they just accepted that and kept it engaged and only used the EV mode when decelerating. Im just not fond of the engine going on and off when driving at speed and load... But I suppose the electric water pump keeps the cooling system active so perhaps its moot? Time will tell...
Its light, nimble, it takes the bumps much like my saab did with the Bilsteins on it, though the bilsteins make the big bumps hit a bit harder than this does. The car feels agile and toss able, though its a big car. I heard lots of complaints about the audio and bluetooth (apparently they are why Honda has fallen in quality ranks recently), but Ive been happy with the sound quality of a variety of music via bluetooth/pandora, and bluetooth phone has been pretty flawless after the first few uses, where I think it must have learned my voice.
Ive been really happy. Sad to see my cars go, but given the deal, and the savings of gas and insurance, there will be a benefit to the bottom line.
Id say after 500 miles, if I were truly a highway driver with little traffic, Id have instead bought either a passat TDI MT or an E250 bluetec (I probably will but the MB diesel at some point regardless), because at high unencumbered highway speeds, you can't beat a 42ish MPG diesel with a small ga$ engine... even with a hybrid setup where the EV traction approach optimizes the thermal efficiency and RPMs of the engine. But the reality is that I do a lot of mixed driving and my trips to DC, which are routine, cause me to sit in a lot of traffic. A bigger car, with slightly better posture for my 6 ft 4" self, is also probably better overall. And anyone, tall kids in child seats and adults alike, can fit in the rear seat, even behind me, which is a first!
The trunk is smaller. There is a set of storage in lieu of a spare tire (concerns over crash effects of the tire by the battery), but it is hidden by a panel. Ive seen some folks fit some really big stuff in there, despite the inconvenience due to the battery taking some place in the trunk. Overall though it will be manageable, and for routine use, since my 318i was my daily driver, Ill still have about the same trunk space with a lot more back seat space than the 318i.
So that's that. I love it. Its not as substantial feeling as our euro cars, but I still own two MBs and a BMW, and so Ill still have my fun driving. The odyssey also feels pretty different though a similar platform, so Im guessing it has some to do with being electric/hybrid. Im pretty thrilled with this car and how it operates, rides and drives. Hopefully it will do me well for a very long time at over 50 MPG!!!
So I got a killer deal. Some may know that Honda is spooling up production of a bunch of gas cars in the USA, and moving ALL hybrid production to Japan, seemingly to get some better economies of scale or move parts closer to production. So I guess that fact, coupled with the 2016 refresh, meant they wanted to move cars off the lot at this time of the year, and I got the car way under invoice, with a few things thrown in (some mud flaps, cargo tray, wheel locks). And, I got good money for my trades, which also offset sales tax.
First drive home, about 10 miles, I got 60.8 MPG. That same night I took a 180 mile highway trip, and got almost 44. The next day I took the reverse trip with a bit more traffic and averaged 53.7. My commutes are returning 55.x MPG pretty consistently. Its light, agile, quiet, and pretty comfortable. I can't complain.
To make things even crazier, I got a black on black car. We had one of these, a 96 E300D diesel, which we finally got rid of with nearly 300k and a lot of rust. Hopefully this car will do that well. Black cars scare me, but the AC has been great in the heat/humidity wave of recent... Will have to think about and be careful about detailing....
Yeah, its an accord... yeah, its a Honda. But its pretty neat. It operates differently than most hybrids, and is more akin to a diesel electric locomotive with a battery in parallel. The engine will go on and off randomly, but the engine also operates with only a one speed transmission, and runs either as a genet only, or clutched in directly, so the RPMs and operation can be matched to the optimal SFC. Apparently this is the most thermally efficient Atkinson cycle engine out there - better than the Prius I guess... Its an interesting concept, though Ill say that on the highway at speed the car does switch between direct couple and EV only mode quite a bit, I guess to try to gain economy, which Im not a huge fan of... Reality is that a 2.0L engine, propelling a 3500 lb car at 75 MPH is going to get like 35-40 MPG. Id probably prefer if they just accepted that and kept it engaged and only used the EV mode when decelerating. Im just not fond of the engine going on and off when driving at speed and load... But I suppose the electric water pump keeps the cooling system active so perhaps its moot? Time will tell...
Its light, nimble, it takes the bumps much like my saab did with the Bilsteins on it, though the bilsteins make the big bumps hit a bit harder than this does. The car feels agile and toss able, though its a big car. I heard lots of complaints about the audio and bluetooth (apparently they are why Honda has fallen in quality ranks recently), but Ive been happy with the sound quality of a variety of music via bluetooth/pandora, and bluetooth phone has been pretty flawless after the first few uses, where I think it must have learned my voice.
Ive been really happy. Sad to see my cars go, but given the deal, and the savings of gas and insurance, there will be a benefit to the bottom line.
Id say after 500 miles, if I were truly a highway driver with little traffic, Id have instead bought either a passat TDI MT or an E250 bluetec (I probably will but the MB diesel at some point regardless), because at high unencumbered highway speeds, you can't beat a 42ish MPG diesel with a small ga$ engine... even with a hybrid setup where the EV traction approach optimizes the thermal efficiency and RPMs of the engine. But the reality is that I do a lot of mixed driving and my trips to DC, which are routine, cause me to sit in a lot of traffic. A bigger car, with slightly better posture for my 6 ft 4" self, is also probably better overall. And anyone, tall kids in child seats and adults alike, can fit in the rear seat, even behind me, which is a first!
The trunk is smaller. There is a set of storage in lieu of a spare tire (concerns over crash effects of the tire by the battery), but it is hidden by a panel. Ive seen some folks fit some really big stuff in there, despite the inconvenience due to the battery taking some place in the trunk. Overall though it will be manageable, and for routine use, since my 318i was my daily driver, Ill still have about the same trunk space with a lot more back seat space than the 318i.
So that's that. I love it. Its not as substantial feeling as our euro cars, but I still own two MBs and a BMW, and so Ill still have my fun driving. The odyssey also feels pretty different though a similar platform, so Im guessing it has some to do with being electric/hybrid. Im pretty thrilled with this car and how it operates, rides and drives. Hopefully it will do me well for a very long time at over 50 MPG!!!