Very encouraging replies! I go in for my 60K service next month. To date no problems either. Change the oil, put gas in it, go. Just tires at 40K, but that was by choice. Could have gone 50K easily, maybe more. I'm beginning to wonder if that extended warranty is going to pay off or not. I'm torn whether I want it to or not.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

My '04 CVT has about 82,000 miles and has been nothing but wonderful.
Other than regular maintenance it has only needed a new 12 battery ($59 AutoZone) last summer.
I'm on my original Dunlops which now need replacing-

But the most amazing thing which strikes me is the engine does not burn, drip or otherwise use any amount of oil that I can measure.
10,000 miles after an oil change it is still as full as before...and with the super-thin 0-20 viscosity oil.
My battery shows no sign of degradation as well.

My car has a wonderful beginning to a (hopefully) 350,000 mile service life.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

z64dan,

I would love to know how things go, especially your battery behavior. Mine appears to be fine, but I have nothing to compare it to, having purchased it used.

I am up to 115,000 miles now. Just like Hot_Georgia, I see no sign or burning or leaking any oil at all – most impressive.

Been getting very good mileage – was aiming for 53mpg plus average until winter hit. Just got pounded with a 43mpg 1/2 tank; it was very cold and windy and there was about nothing I could do to stop the mileage from dropping, short of turning the car off. How sad is that!

I am also hoping for that 350,000 miles of service, as I had to take a loan to buy this thing and I will be paying on it for years to come.

kernk

You mind letting us know how much you paid for one with those miles? I'll be selling this one soon:


and I need a ballpark price to set on it.

PS. I have an '02 Prius with 136K that I bought with 125K and have only spent $30 for an oil change.

about $10,600 for mine when it was at 96,000. But it is a manual, so its price was less then a automatic would have been. Worked for me because I didn't want an automatic.

I'd love to get a 5-speed in my next car, but my partner adamently refuses to learn how to drive a manual transmission. That's a real shame, since I had my eye on a Honda Fit Sport with 5MT. There's a *huge* performance difference between the automatic and manual version, as well as a hefty price difference. Oh well.

You know, that is one of the things the Europeans have down. Everyone (I generalize) knows how to drive a manual. Therefore, they can have smaller, less powerful, more efficient cars but get the “performance” of larger engines when they want it by using the manual transmission aggressively.

This is why I wanted the Civic Hybrid, because I had driven the automatic and thought it was lacking (that is the older versions like the 03 that I have, don’t know about the newer ones with more HP from both the engine and the motor). The manual lets me “make up” for that lower HP (somewhat) when I feel like it. It also lets me “push” the FE in ways I could not with the automatic.

Quite sad, I think, that Honda no longer offers a manual HCH. Do they still offer it overseas - anyone know?

kernk

I am just shy of 103K and have been having a great time with my HCH MT. My MIL just lit up yesterday morning, so I might have to head to the dealer for a new catalytic converter.

Only problems I have are some dash rattles (both A pillars and maybe around the passenger airbag), the Auto thermostat seems horribly inaccurate and now the MIL.

What else should I get looked at while I am there? How much does the 105K tuneup mentioned above tend to run in the DC metro area?

Thanks!
--Larry

You sure the MIL isn't from not tightening the gas cap? It could be an indication of that, or a bad gas cap, or something cheap like that. Don't fear the worst yet. Also, since the cat is part of emissions would it be under warranty? If not maybe you could bring up the fact there was a recall that was related to the cat and it is possible the cat's life was lessend because of the problem requiring the recall.

My hydroponics experiment

You ever notice how hard it is to lip read cartoon characters?
"Crazy is what the sane call Delta Flyer"

The first thing I did since getting the lamp was stop at a gas station, top it off and pay special attention to putting on the gas cap. The lamp stayed on for the rest of my trip and the 50 mile trip home so I stopped at AutoZone to ge the code read. The reader showed 2 hits of P2000 which I guess is related to the cat. I don't know what code the "something's wrong, maybe tighten your cap" throws, so if someone knows that would be awesome. My lamp has since gone off (~3 days after lighting) so now I am stuck wondering what to think. I'll keep an eye on it and maybe have AutoZone clear the codes so I start off fresh if it comes back. My car is at 103K and I have heard that the warranty on cats was ~80K, right? Had the lamp stayed on I was *definitely* going to work the angle on many cat failures reported for our cars.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed now that the lamp is off? Get the tune up (or do it myself if there is a list of areas to hit) and go from there?

Thanks!
--Larry