I don't see many questions about Honda hybrids. Are they posted on another board?
We bought an accord hybrid 3 months ago. It is my wife's car. I drove it last night. I seldom drive it. It was cold during warm up it rev's quite high. Backing out of the garage, you had to be very careful and keep the foot heavy on the brakes. I also have a new Odyssey. Cold starts and backing out of the garage is not an issue. I am going to get the Accord checked but I suspect they will say it is controlled by computer and that is the way they all are. The Accord hybrid is a 2005. The Odyssey a 2006. The only thing I don't like about the minivan is the radio. It sucks.
It is just a matter of sales numbers. Not that many hybrids have been sold, so not too many folks have questions to post.
My 05 Accord Hybrid has been a bummer. It averages 29 MPG, stumbles and shakes during idle, jerks when accelerating and braking, has a 1-2 second downshift lag, the engine light blinked until a software upgrade, the lugnuts on one wheel broke, the tire pump sometimes shorts and blows fuses, it sometimes stumbles when the engine comes out of idle-stop, climate control is fussy, radio sucks, the electronic noise cancellation system is better off disabled, and the electric system that makes this car a hybrid does virtually nothing. Overall the car feels like an unrefined hack to get a "Hybrid" label. It's not the elegance typical of Honda cars; you'd think it was a Ford. The milage increases come from Honda's usual engine tricks while the electrical system does little more than be a large virtual flywheel. When the electrical system is active, the car tends to jerk and surge. I've come very close to starting the lemon law process in the past because the blinking engine malfunction light couldn't be fixed for nearly a year. I might start up the lemon law process still based on the number of hours my car has spent in shops for repairs. Honda techs don't know how to work on the Hybrids so even the most trivial repair requires one or two full days in the shop. Technicians are not willing to troubleshoot problems that would be unacceptable in any other $30000 USD car. What does work is the basic Accord systems. Traction control works great in snow, the interior is comfortable, and the build is mostly solid.
I advise you to keep track of the factory related defects and have them repaired while the vehicle is still under warranty. If you plan to keep the car for many years--consider a 100,000 warranty. It's my understanding that it costs over a thousand dollars to replace the batteries. If the batteries are guaranteed for 100,000 miles or more--don't waste your money on the extended warranty.
Which one? Civic? Insight? Accord? I had an SRS warning light come on in my 2003 Civic Hybrid when it was about a month old. Three years and 60,000 miles later, it's been oil changes and a set of tires. The postings here go in bursts. Someone asks a question, FanJet says hybrids are worthless, and then it dies off again. You could do a google search here for honda hybrid to get some older reading material, but I think the Honda Civic Hybrid is so normal that the only posts of value are how to hook up an MP3 player. http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ef86546/ has some postings of interest, but "Honda Civic Hybrid" has dropped way off in the number of posts.
I read an excellent article in a car magazine several months ago about "plug in hybrids". One of the posters to this newsgroup was able to make his Honda Civic Hybrid a "plug in Hybrid". It appears to be a great idea. I saw a recent post indicating that someone has an Accord Hybrid. The poster indicated that it came from the factory with lots of defects. It's my opinion that hybrids are a great investment--but only if you do lots of ciy driving. If you do most of your driving outside of cities--they are a bad investment. Jason
The Honda hybrids would not be good candidates for plug-in conversion. The engine has to turn all the time, since it is mated directly to the IMA. The Ford Escape/Toyota Prius style of "full hybrid" doesn't have to turn the engine to drive the vehicle, and have already been converted to plug-in, although the price is a little high, and voids warranty, something to consider if you live in California, where hybrids come with 150,000 mile warranty. Again, a confusion between the Prius and the Civic. The Prius is better in the city, but my Honda gets 50+ mpg on the highway in real use.
Hello, It's my guess that you are correct. The articles that I read in car magazines are about all hybrids. Jason
I had a 2003 Civic and traded it in on a 2005 Accord. Love both. I wanted to keep the Civic but the wife did not like its feel on the highway and could not get used to the slipping clutch feel of the CVT. I live in the south and the Accord gets pretty much the rated mileage in town (28 to 30), but about 5% under on the highway. I use cruise control at all opportunities, which does not provide the best mileage on the routes I drive. Drops out of 3-cyl mode just seconds before it tops the small hills and starts back down. I have had only two problems. The Civic was that something came loose in the battery tray. It took awhile for them to track it down and several consultations with the factory to figure out what to do about it. The Accord got a punctured Air Conditioning Condensor (aka radiator) that carried a hefty $750 price tag. Damage from flying debris is not covered under the warranty. Fortunately the Comprehensive insurance covered it. ($0 deductible finally paid for itself). Both of us love the Accord, with Navigator and XMradio. Too bad NASCAR goes to Sirius next year. I love the power of the Accord Hybrid and have soundly dusted a few of the non-hybrid V6's. There is no doubt that the Accord is about performance with improved mileage and the 'faux-ego' of being GREENer ish. Not many vehicles that can carry 5 get both its performance and gas mileage. I wish Honda would give access to the GPS and NEMA data from the Navigator; I have to install a separate GPS for the Ham Radio APRS. I have not tried to do any electrical noise quieting for the Ham, yet. The 2-meter is ok, but the 70 cm appears to get a lot of converter noise from the electronics and is un-usable for now. Don't need it since I dedicate the second side to the APRS. The radio is remote mounted in the trunk. The car has cabling paths up the driver's side, even for power all the way to the battery. I just wish I did not have to trade in the Civc (which I had Leather interior installed) to get the Accord. TTFN (Go Home Depot #20, Tony) (Condolences to IRL Paul Dana's friends and family)
