I'm pretty sure the charge guage would indicate if you were on electrical power only (with the valves shut down). Wouldn't necessarily be able to see it on the rpm guage, I take it....

Don

Question about the current 2003-2005 mpg indicator:

The max it will display is 120. The max average digital number it will show is 120.0. There are times, though, i.e. when coasting (I'm not even going to mention FAS), that the instantaneous mileage is higher than 120. The FCD just "maxes out", but does the computer factor this higher number into the running average? In other words, if I'm actually getting 150 mpg for even a few seconds, do I get credit for that?

This has been discussed recently, forget which thread, but the answer was a resounding yes. It keeps track of the gas used vs miles driven, so while it will cannot display over 120mpg instantaneous or average, when the average is below 120 it includes full credit for what you did even if you FAS'd downhill for five miles getting infinite mileage for that stretch of road.

When the engine is off, your MPG is literally infinite for that point in time. You never really get 100 mpg, or 120, or 150; that's just what it says when no gas is being used at all.

Is there a separate indicator that shows that the valves are closed? I wouldn't think that the charge guage alone would tell you; it would show a drain in assist mode (with the engine running) and in electric-only mode.

Point well taken. In our Highlander Hybrid the only way I can tell is from the display that shows specifically where the motive force is coming from -- battery or ice or both. I certainly can't' feel anything, the transition is so smooth!

I hope the HCH is similar.....

Don

It's possible they hacked the tachometer so it displays 0 when all the cylinders are shut, even if the engine is still technically spinning. We'll see.

In any case, the Assist bar is based on the percentage of power coming from the motors, AFAIR, so it will only be full when the ICE is turned off.

Me too! I'm all for information overload I'd like to see an indicator that actually shows the valve mode for each cylinder (low-speed, high-speed, off). Preferably as a 3D animation on the NAV display, like in the video Honda put out

That's good to know. At least there's some way to tell.

Yeah, and sound effects when the ICE comes back on VROOOOOOM (or maybe PUTT PUTT).