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Originally Posted by kcrossley
If I encounter this a lot in my daily commute, what can I expect in terms of FE with the HAH? Do these constant stop and gos hurt the HAH? And finally, with this type of driving am I better off with a traditional gas-powered vehicle?
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I think in the entire time I had mine, I never saw less than 26-29 in these conditions. However - it will vary greatly depending on the length of your commute and other factors like temperature, the greatest factor being operator input.
The sad part is having a nice average built up and then hitting a long traffic jam and watching your efforts up to that point go out the window (or, tailpipe, as it were)
IMO, the only two things to worry about, longevity-wise, would be the oil (possible shear / acidity buildup from the starts/stops), and the IMA battery getting extra wear from discharging during all of the auto-stops (you'll note the loss of one of the six charge bars for every four auto-stops you make in bumper-to-bumper traffic - till you get to one bar remaining, and then you'll lose auto-stop entirely). I had my oil regularly analyzed by a lab, and it held up very well (I used Mobil 1 5W-20 and changed at 7000-7500mi intervals when the 'service' light came on). W/ regard to coolant / engine temp - I don't see that as an issue, to be honest. I'd be more worried about the oil condition and it's ability to lubricate effectively. That's why they tell you to change it more often if you short-trip the car on a constant basis. Honda's 3.0L V6 is darned near bulletproof; however, it does still use a timing belt, so change it at about 90K or so to be safe (spec'd for 105K replacement interval per Honda)
Are you better off with a traditional gas-powered vehicle ? Well, it depends. Are you buying the car for the mileage improvement only, w/o regard for the refined power of the V6 ? Get the Accord with the 2.4L engine, because you'll never, ever make up the pricing delta between the I4 and the V6 IMA with gas savings alone - unless you drive the car for about 200K mi.
Are you buying the car because of the improved (greatly lessened) emissions ? In this case, the IMA Accord makes better sense - because of the auto-stop (makes more difference than you think), and the fact that it runs on 3/6 cylinders at steady-state cruise.
Would you not buy the car with a four, but only with a V6 ? (this was me, btw...) The IMA Accord makes sense here, too, because you've got the nice attributes of the V6 (very smooth and powerful throughout almost the entire RPM operating range, PLUS the added torque of the IMA motor!), but will also get about 10mpg better, especially if you do a lot of suburban / highway miles.
As an open road highway car, it has very few peers, from an all-round standpoint, and you can get low- to mid-40s with the car without much effort at all under those conditions. But urban city driving kills the mileage. Can't lie to you there.
Oh, and finally - the tax credit for the '06 HAH is $1300, as long as it has the 'calibration control update' (cars built after April have it from the factory, earlier cars have to be updated at the dealer).