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Honda Accord Hybrid

I tried the Honda Accord V-6 Hybrid the other night.

Very strong acceleration, well beyond needs.

What was cool:

-stop at a light, engine shut off; let go of brake, engine starts smoothly and immediately.

-cruise at 120 km/h, three cylinders shut off (little light on dash "ECO" turns on).

-let off gas during cruise and you could feel the electic motor "drag" as it generated electricity for the battery.

-apply brakes, and even more energy was diverted to the motor/generator.

(There's a little meter bar that shows when the battery is discharging or recharging)

What was not cool:

- automatic transmission

- ... and not so well programmed at that

- 3 litre engine

- no fold down rear seats (the battery is there)

- 253 total HP.... what's economical about that?

- does not qualify for the Quebec hybrid rebate (misses the mileage goal)

-stopped the car in "D", engine stops. Shifted to "P" and the engine started up again. Should have remained off, IMO. I guess it's the way this is mechanized that allowed the engine to restart.

- price ($39,400 in Canada, $31,000 in the US). The CAD $ is running 89 - 90 cents these days... I could probably talk them down a couple K on the car; and up a couple K on the trade in, but it's still not worth it to me.

I take it that they put in a 6 banger in order to get 3 cylinder cruise on the highway, and that this might not have worked well with a 4 banger. Why not a 5 banger? Why not a smaller displacement 6 banger? I simply can't believe that a Honda Accord really needs 200 HP, never minf

253 with the assist.

Any Canadians here who can explain the price differential (US / CAD) that is way beyond the exchange rate?

Cheers, Alan FreeLunch.

Reply to
Alan Browne
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I can't explain the vast difference in the prices. But I can tell you that I like the 200 hp under the hood of my '01 Accord.

Reply to
Brian Smith

IMO the Accord Hybrid is a dumb marketing/engineering move. The standard V-6 Accord already has more power than any reasonable North American driver needs. Why add a hybrid boost on top of that?

An ~2.0l four cylinder hybrid Accord would make much more sense for fuel economy.

John

Reply to
John Horner

I agree completely and I've posted on the subject (and the "cons" reflect that.

I don't see hybrid "boost" as a performance item but as reuse of deceleration. Period.

Part of the problem, I suspect, is how well would the 2 litre engine behave with two cylinders shut down?

Cheers, Alan

Reply to
Alan Browne

The way Honda is doing it on their production models that is mostly true. Their concept car, the Dualnote, is a different story:

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to the September 2002 article in Popular Mechanics, Honda engineers say the electrics effectively double the off-the-line acceleration to roughly what is expected from a 600 HP conventional power train. As the electric technology improves we will see performance increasingly being a reason for hybridization. But the Accord "hybrid?" Hardly worth the effort, IMHO.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

With a small 4 cylinder motor you don't need cylinder deactivation. Cylinder deactivation only seems to provide a minimal fuel economy boost and is mostly be used on V-8s and V-12s (MBZ).

John

Reply to
John Horner

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