Well, after two months, I'm FINALLY driving my new 06 HCH, silver with nav. Delivered last night (4/5), VIN is 12,274... purchased for MSRP on 3/1 (paid in full, prior to delivery so registration could be submitted for carpool stickers).

Unfortunately, my dealer messed up by delaying submission of the registration to DMV. As a result, my California carpool sticker application (submitted on 3/8) was rejected. I'll now have to wait ANOTHER month for that . I complained that they've had my $$$ for a month, and my warranty period started on 3/1, and the only thing they were supposed to do, they messed up on! They owe me an answer. At the very least, they should be able to adjust my warranty start date to true delivery date (yesterday).

At least I'm driving it now, and it's great! I had never even test driven one (none were ever available at my dealer in So. Cal). Great to finally see and feel all the things which I read about in these forum posts.

Initial impression, after only 25 miles... it's a great car. The Nav system is amazing, but I have a LOT to learn regarding the voice commands.

MPG currently shows only 25 MPG, but that's because of the pre-delivery inspection and intial testing. Hopefully I'll be in the upper 40's (or better) by the time this tank is finished!

I'm driving it to San Diego tonight, so I'll get some decent time to play with things.

Congratulations! I'm now an experienced HCH owner (will be a week tomorrow). It's a great car. Today I got 56mpg on a 45 mile trip; I'm getting the feel of driving it now. I only wish my carpool sitcker could be expected within 30 days! No such luck in WA.

Congrats, silver is my favorite color. :-)

The first time you go on a long trip and see 50+ it is a joy,
especially seeing an all day drive take only half a tank. :-)

I got the carpool stickers too, ugly, but worth it. :-)

Congratulations!

We picked up our 2006 HCH seven hours ago and got 50.5 MPG on its 116 mile maiden voyage.

I traded in our 2005 Element 4WD (23 MPG) and have zero regrets. The HCH drives like a dream and feels like a spaceship. I was really surprised when I pulled up next to a Porsche Boxter and noticed we were at the same level, coming from an Element I was used to sitting way up high off the ground.

The Honda engineers have done a great job, the HCH is a fantastic car at a great price!

I doubt very much that it's legal for a dealer to register a car before he has it on the lot and hands you the keys. They probably made a promise to you that they couldn't keep. You should complain that they mis-led you about it being possible and took your money early for no reason.

Your warranty should and most likely will start as of yesterday. What date is on your bill of sale?

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

The bill of sale was March 1st. That's the date the contract was completed and the money given. At the end of the process, the salesperson was holding the temp registration paper, already in the clear adhesive tape holder (ready to be attached to the windshield). Of course, there was no car to stick it to, so it went back into the file. The day after (on 3/2) I called them to get a copy of that registration application, as I needed it to submit with the sticker app. It was a little bit of a hassle, but they finally faxed it to me. My application for the stickers was submitted to DMV on 3/6, and DMV date stamped it 3/8. They rejected it around that time, so there was at least a week delay from the time the vehicle sale was completed and the date DMV rejected me. I assume DMV registration is electronic, so why at least a week passed is beyond me.

The reject note was sent back to me... but from 3/18 to 4/5 I was away on vacation. Thus another 2 weeks were wasted! Oh well.

Now an update... Just called the DMV and they STILL don't have any registration info submitted. I called the dealer, and they acknowledge that they did not submit it... and have not submitted it yet. Crap. They say the best they can do is submit it on Monday. I sent another check to DMV with another application yesterday. hopefully the registration will beat the application, or they will reject it again!

Well, like I said, I think it's illegal for the dealer to submit a registration to the DMV before you have possession of the car. That's why they kept it in their drawer and didn't send it in. They pretended to complete the sale to make you happy, but they knew they couldn't go through with it.

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

Well, they say they fixed the warranty start date, so that's good... and I just noticed that they installed mud guards and wheel locks for free... so I guess we'll just call it even. I'll be fine if I just get my stickers before they run out of 'em!!!

They lied to make the sale.

What sticker number are they on?
Somebody yesterday said there are only 5000 left.

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.