I test drove a HCHII last weekend and I liked it. I have a tendancy to get ticked off easily, and I saw a complaint about autostop on edmunds reviews.

If I stop at a light in heavy traffic and then everyone slowly creeps forward, does the engine have to restart for me to move 10' forward? Will it stop again?

Does autostop get annoying if you *almost* stop at stop signs and for right hand turns at lights?

Yea, it'll start again then stop. It takes a while to stop so it's not like your engine is cutting out. It really isn't a problem and is kind of cool because you really feel like you're not wasting fuel.

I think you have to get over a certain speed (8mph?) before autostop will kick in again. It is annoying when people start creeping up. It doesn't happen to me much, but I am more likely to just leave a gap.

This can be avoided by shifting into second (S) as you approach the stop. When in S, the autostop feature will not function. It also gives the added benefit of boosting regen as you are slowing down for the stop sign.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the car.

I thought I read that you have to get up to 8MPH or autostop won't engage again. Is that true? Was that just a limitation with the original HCH?

In order...

- Yes. The engine will restart when you take your foot off the brake, whether you intend to move 10' or 1" (or not at all). If you can't reconcile this amicably, you may want to explore a Toyota or Ford hybrid, instead.

There's only one exception to this rule with IMA, and it's if you're on a downward slope...and then you must keep your foot on the brake, with light pressure, without coming to a full stop. Takes practice, and most people aren't constantly travelling downhill for 100% of their commute (I do have a couple of grades in my everyday rush hour commute that allow this, however, and I use it where I can).

- Yes, twice more, without regard to the speed you attain while creeping up. If you reach 8mph during one of those two 'creeps', you'll gain another three autostops in your line of traffic. Thus, in a longer line of traffic, increase your buffer so that you can maintain AS. You'll pick this up quickly, and the people behind you realize that they can't really go anywhere even if you're taking an extra second or so to start moving forward.

The HCH-2 and it's IMA battery will allow you AS capability for a long time if you're stuck in traffic (with my Accord Hybrid, I'd lose one 'bar' off the 6-bar meter for every 4 'continuous' AS I made, and lose it outright at 2/6 bars...so the increased AS capability of the HCH-2 is a blessing for me).

In these cases, AS becomes invaluable (to demonstrate, just sit in traffic for a light with the engine running, and watch your averaging display tick off 0.1mpg from your hard-earned average every 10 seconds. Once you see that in action, you'll probably start shutting off the engine manually if you miss an autostop at a stoplight (it can be finicky, depending on how you modulate the brake pedal, if the engine / ambient temp is cold, etc).

It's also better to just turn the key to 'off' for very long stops (ie; waiting for trains, etc), rather than sit there with your foot on the brake, letting your IMA battery slowly run down.

Note that the second and third AS' differ from the first one. The first one shuts down the engine while you're at about 6mph, as long as you keep your foot on the brake. The subsequent AS' won't occur until about 2 seconds after the car has come to rest. The logic is that you might not *really* be stopping, so IMA tries to make sure. After awhile, you'll learn to use this to your advantage - ie; when you can see you won't be stopped but for a second or two, you'll actually try and defeat AS.

- AS *can* get annoying if you're encountering stop signs every block (ie; you're in a busy urban area). Same if you were turning right at every intersection, I guess. To be honest, I don't notice it much - except when I drive into the urban centers of Chicago. Then I notice it, and sometimes defeat it through (non-) use of brake or dropping the gearshift into 'S' while I'm in that 'in-between' mode. Kick it back into 'D' when you start moving forward, though, or you'll notice the engine revving more than usual (because you're forcing 'low gear' range on the CVT).

Since I'm generally coasting up to a stop, I see things in 'big picture' terms, and think of the fuel cut / regen I encountered for those many seconds while coasting up to the stop. The AS then becomes 'gravy' for those short stops, as it were. Just think of it like that, and it's not so annoying. As you become more practiced, any EV-modes / glides that you can tack on to extend those events just make you forget all about those 'wasteful' autostops that happen to all of us on occasion.

After awhile, you look at the overall fuel efficiency of this car, and you tend to overlook 'missed' or 'wasteful' autostops. I don't think about them any longer, to be honest (except for the longer stops I describe above). Doing so is just a waste of *my* energy (I get frustrated easily sometimes as well, so I empathize).

Driving is an inexact process. Too many variables involved in order to be able to *always* obtain 100% efficiency. So don't sweat it - just enjoy the car and it's capabilities as well as you can. With practice, your capabilities will improve and make up for the few 'shortcomings' of the car.

Mark

Sometimes we could all use a little less

My hybrid automobiles:

Current:
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid (CVT, w/o Nav)
Magnetic Pearl / Blue - 008661, born 12/28/05
Mods: Neck pillows, Garmin C330 Nav, Draw-tite 1.25" hitch (for bikes, not towing!), Pioneer Inno XM receiver via Aux jack, OEM mud flaps, more to come!

Hypermiler status on 3/12/06 @ 3077mi.

Previous:
2005 Honda Accord Hybrid (5AT/Navi)
Desert Mist / Ivory - 001254
Retired 1/21/06 - LMPG 34.1

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Does anyone know how to force the A/C to use IMA battery while the car is parking? I've tried to turn the key halfway on, before cranking to the start engine. But leaving the key at this position would turn on all the lights in the dashboard and I am not sure if it gets all that power from the little battery in the hood or from the IMA batter in the back. Anyone knows the answer? The reason I ask is that I want to use the A/C while the car is parked and do not want the engine to be running... Thanks!

Thanks for that detailed reply Mark.

Yes, thanks, Mark. I had noticed that it'll auto-stop a few times before deciding not to, but hadn't figured out the pattern.

Would-be hypermiler

Use the automatic climate control which regulates the fan outlet/speed as needed to keep the car at a set temperature. As long the fan is at a low speed (automatic climate control has been engaged long enough), the car will reliably autostop with the a/c running. I do this all the time on hot days.

However, I don't think there is a way to keep the car in park with the a/c on and the engine off.

LAME! I"m hoping it would be like the toyota prius, use electricity until bat is low then gas engine ONLY COMES ON TO RECHARGE THE BATTTERY. Then shuts off again!

booo... at least you get regen while your idling... unlike my car ;(


question guys, if your battery is full (8 bars) and you decided to run the ac and say autostop in a parking lot for awhile. How long it would take to get the battery drained to the point where engine would come on?

and does your 12 volt outlet says "125 watt max?" there are two right?

i got around 20 km a liter when i drove a civic 5 spd using advanced hypermiler techniques
and now I drive a salvage nwh20 prius that gets almost to 25 km/l with 192,000 km to date.