In February I bought a 06 HCH which was to be mine, but my mother crashed her car so she borrowed mine... and liked it... and she will have it for an undefinite ammount of time.

At first I thought it was defective because of low mileage (30 mpg), but then I drove it in Querétaro City and got 42 mpg, in Guadalajara and got 39, and in the highway I get 48mpg. So I think now that the problem is the roads of Mexico City, filled of holes and bumps, of traffic and traffic lights, and uphills and downhills...

I have been reading the forums and noted some differences with the 06 HCH described here:

1) Mine doesn't have Daytime Running Lights. The bulbs which are supposed to be used with DRL are used for High Beam lights. That makes my high lights extremely powerful, as the second bulbs are pointed slightly upwards and are very bright.

2) Fuel efficiency is meassured in mpg or km/l, not l/100km. There is no way to display in l/100km.

3) Engine is less powerful. The gasoline engine is rated at 93hp, and the electric motor at 15hp. However, the engine is powerful enough except when you have almost no fuel. In that case I think it switches to some way of fuel-saving mode and cuts power of the gas engine a lot, a couple of times I couldn't get uphill (the engine would sound a lot and go 3000 rpm, with IMA at maximum and still wouldn't run a lot). It feels much more powerless when you have the orange low-gas light on.

4) According to the manual it needs 92 octane gas. (I'm not sure, but I think american version requires 87).

Also, (I could be wrong) but I think the manual is wrong in the part that states that the S in the CVT is for "Second" and is to be used for going uphill, and the L is for "First" and is also for going uphill.

The manual has a funny mistake, it states that the "Mntnc Rqr'd" light is for "Remain Seated in the Correct Position".

Greetings,
Pepe

Interesting....

Wow, those are some pretty significant differences. 15 hp vs. 20 hp? Why on earth would they do that? Did they happen to mention if there are also corresponding differences in the battery pack?

Why they would require 92 octane is also strange. And I always assumed that l/100km was the international standard. I guess that must have been an incorrect assumption...

DRL's only operate with high beams - well, there you go - a switch to turn them on and off!!

And the engine is rated at only 93 hp? Do they happen to mention at what rpm? Is there something about Mexican laws that would necessitate Honda underpowering the car, or is this somehow the normal HCH II, and they boosted the power for the American market? And the explanation you give for the performance when it is low on gas is just, well, strange....

The gasoline engine is 93hp@6000rpm, torque is 89lb/ft@4500rpm. I thought the IMA engine was 15hp, but just checked and it reads 20hp@2000rpm. Batteries are the same.

If it is a Mexican version, can you make the front end hop up and down off the ground and make each wheel squat or go up high?

Yes, it can do that. Also when you play the horn it sounds to the tune of "la cucaracha".

Your octane requirements may be due to elevation but if anything it should require less octane the higher the elevation... so it may be due to how Mexico rates their octane?

RON
MON
or
PON

You will get different rating per method.

Here in Europe we have 95 and 98 octane gas. Is this strange?
Also the 06' HCH have some minor but welcome differences:

- Both front and rear disc breaks
- Engine rated at 115hp (95+20)
- VSA (stability control)
- Front fog lights

On the other hand it also costs more...

Regards
pac

Octane testing varies nationally. In the US we use the average of a specified lab (research) test and a test in a specific motor (R+M)/2, as defined by the American Society for Testing and materials, ASTM.

There are other methods and other crietria on other countries, as livvie mentioned. They may or may not use or coexist with ASTM.

Similarly, engine/motor power is measured differently in different markets- net, brake, etc etc.

Pepe, I doubt there is actually any power difference between your version and the USA version. Honda certainly wouldn't detune it for Mexico. Someone already mentioned that it could be because it is measured slightly differently. Another possibility is that insurance concerns, or licensing concerns might make it cheaper to appear to be slightly less powerful.
If Honda did any actual detuning it would have been with such a light hand that it wouldn't be real world noticeable. With the electronic controls, if they actually wanted 3 less HP it could be done in such a way that the power would just be shaved from waaay up the power curve where it would be unnoticeable.
CR did get fairly low mpg (26 I think) in their very rugged city loop, so numbers in the high 20's wouldn't be unusual-especially in mountainous areas.Your elevation must be~5000 ft, so your actual peak power will be down maybe 10%.Still, if you have to live in mts. you will do better with a Hybrid. If you are coming down a hill and know you have to stop at the foot of it, you can start braking early and steal of bit of the lost energy.Without a hybrid you lose all the energy as heat.A hybrid is the right car for hilly cities.
Luck,Charlie