Car and Driver reviews the Accord hybrid

[Kevin Dougherty]

Hello Group,

CD just reviewed the Accord. I wish the Insight had the electric air conditioning.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp ... e_number=1

[ElectricTroy]

Bottom Line: They made two major changes from the current Civic Hybrid:

- Installed an engine that can switch between V6 & V3 on demand
- Installed a small secondary A/C to keep cabin cool during engine stop


I don't think I would buy one. I prefer efficiency to speed. (Which is why I bought an Insight.) Also, I don't understand why the highway mpg is only 36? If the car operates on just 3 cylinders while highway cruising, which is 1.5 liters, shouldn't the highway MPG be up in the 40s?

[Hambone]

Actually, the engine switches from a V-6 to an I-3, as it deactivates one bank of cylinders in the Vee. The mid 30's mpg is probably related to the fact that even though the car is more efficient than the standard V-6, it weighs over 3K pounds and Honda didn't make the effort to pare weight or use low rolling resistance tires and some of the other tricks they have on the Insight and the Civic Hybrid. The Accord Hybrid is being touted not only for its improved mileage compared to the normal V-6 but also for the better 0 to 60 times possible with the electric boost. In highway driving, the gain from only using 3 cylinders probably isn't as drastic as using the normal 6 cylinders at a low amount of load, i.e. the 3 cylinders are probably revving higher than the engine would need to were it operating all 6 cylinders at a lower rpm, thus offsetting some of the mpg gain. And, it may kick over to full 6 cylinder operation enough in the EPA highway cycle that the full effect of 3 cylinder operation is under-utilized. Hopefully real-world highway numbers will turn out better than the EPA estimates. Honda itself has marketed the Accord basically on the premise that it has the performance of a V-6 with the efficiency of the 4-cylinder Accord, so they weren't going all out to max mileage on the Accord Hybrid.

Honda can only advertise the EPA estimates, even though the particular test cycles the EPA uses often don't reflect real-world performance. There are so many variables that can affect mileage, an area of the test cycle that may not make a difference for a normal car may not play into the hands of a car like the Accord hybrid, but the EPA doesn't have the time or funds to modify the test to account for individual vehicle nuances. So don't be too upset by the stated highway mileage number, if the lot of Insight owners is any indication, I'm sure a bunch of Accord hybrid owners will do much better. Then there's the people like me (I'm on the low side of Insight lmpg due to my lead foot), who won't achieve the EPA estimates and don't care.

[ElectricTroy]

Check out this Accord Diesel I just found

... it gets ~45 mpg (U.S.) highway:

http://www.honda.co.uk/

[No. 166]

Top speed is 131 mph. Now if THAT isn't a blow for Toyota.
Remember the top-speed of the Salt-Flat modified Prius ? Wasn't it 131 mph

[The Citrus Smoothie]

That is a good review for the Accord Hybrid. This car will go a long way in making hybrids acceptable to the masses.

[meow77]

Again not a good marketing job from Honda on the Accord Hybrid.... not to impressed with its gas mileage either.. and a 16HP electric egine ? Anemic...I don't understand why they don't put in a more powerful electric engine????

[jsanford]

...but when I looked at Ford's corporate site last weekend, I noticed the Escape Hybrid was the second-most expensive vehicle in their lineup. Only the six-figure GT cost more.

Yes, the Excursion, the Expedition, the Behemoth...all cheaper. Gah.

Hi Jsanford:

Originally Posted by jsanford

but when I looked at Ford's corporate site last weekend, I noticed the Escape Hybrid was the second-most expensive vehicle in their lineup. Only the six-figure GT cost more.

___The Escape HEV is only more expensive then the regular Escape and the new Freestyle and only by a few grand in the case of the Freestyle. The Explorer, Expedition, and Excursion are far more expensive and I am not even considering the HD Trucks that can easily run up to double that of an Escape HEV.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:26axr25d]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:26axr25d]

[AZCivic]

Originally Posted by jsanford

...but when I looked at Ford's corporate site last weekend, I noticed the Escape Hybrid was the second-most expensive vehicle in their lineup. Only the six-figure GT cost more.

Yes, the Excursion, the Expedition, the Behemoth...all cheaper. Gah.

...which first of all has NOTHING to do with the Accord Hybrid, which is what this thread is about, and which is a TOTAL misrepresentation, since the Escape Hybrid lists for $26,700 in 2WD and $28,405 in 4WD. The absolute cheapest stripped Explorer has a base price of $26,850 and goes up to $37,600 for a loaded 4WD model. F150's can run well over $30k with lots of options and the Expedition lists for $32,900 to $44,000.

Back on the subject of the Accord Hybrid, it basically offers all the power of Honda's fantastic V6 engine with better economy ratings than their dinky little 4-cylinder engine. In fact the Hybrid's city rating is 5mpg BETTER than the 4-cylinder model! It's a whopping 50% better than the standard V6 model, which is astonishing (20mpg versus 30mpg). The Accord Hybrid was a move of brilliance on Honda's part. It proves that you can get excellent gas mileage without giving up an ounce of performance from even a top of the line model.