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Originally Posted by srenga
Thanks, that seems good advice. I recently bought a HCH 2006 (about 1000 miles clocked). I live in Singapore, where we don’t have big and long freeways as much as you do in the US, But even at around 50 mph speeds, I notice that I get a strong engine-brake like effect when I lift my foot off the gas pedal. The effect is much stronger than on conventional cars, e.g. my old 2002 Corolla. This effect tends to dampen the coasting speed, and pretty soon I have to apply foot on the pedal again to accelerate to highway speed, which tends to bring down the mpg, etc.
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This is probably my biggest gripe with Honda's design. Their engine actually has the least engine braking of any engine I know of -- the cyclinders completely seal so there is no compression braking, and there are very low friction piston rings as well. Making the charging kick in automatically I believe was done to simulate the feeling of a "normal" car as a marketing decision.
The 2006 model actually has a workaround for this though. Since the car is throttle-by-wire, tapping the gas pedal very lightly will not actually burn any fuel, it will cancel out the unwanted charging, but keep the engine sealed shut (minimal engine braking, no fuel consumption). Though I haven't driven a 2006 HCH, apparently the engine friction is so low, others have said it's like coasting in neutral on a standard vehicle.
There is no explicit indicator light, but the instant mileage gauge should be maxed out at any speed if the valves are shut off. There will still be RPMs showing though as the engine is still spinning, it's just sealed shut.