Keep in mind that a big reason for the dealer incentive on the Hybrid is that it's still a 2005 model. Most people shopping for new cars right now are looking for 2006 models, as they don't want a car that's already a year old as far as depreciation.

It seems likely that Honda is offering incentives on remaining 2005 non-hybrid Accords also. When the '06 hybrids come out, the incentive will be gone.

That doesn't mean the HAH is selling as well as it should. From what I have seen, most dealers have them in stock. They usually had the Civic Hybrids in stock also, however. Only the Prius has the long waiting list, and I think that's mostly a function of advertising and media reports. Everybody seems to know about the Prius. Lots of people don't even know Honda makes hybrids. (People also don't have much of a clue what hybrids are or how they work, but that's a different story).

All the media stories that the HAH is focused on more power instead of more mileage is annoying. They ignore the fact that it gets better mpg than the 4 cyl Accord, implying that there is no mpg benefit to the HAH, only a power benefit. In reality, the power benefit is pretty minimal.

 

I agree 100%. Honda blew it here. People really interested in a killer machine don't buy an accord anyway.

The Accord is a family car and the Accord hybrid should be marketed as such.

4 cyl + electric could have close to V6 performance and probably get around 38mpg. And achieve SULEV emissions.

 

It will be 4 cylinder + electric. We've seen that doing this generally results in a 30-40% gain in fuel economy.

The 4 cyl Camry gets about 28mpg combined and the V6 gets about 24 combined.

I suspect that performance wise the hybrid will be somewhere in the middle, so a gas only engine with that hp would get 26mpg. But since it is hybridized 35mpg would seem more likely.

By the way, keep an eye out for the Altima Hybrid which will be running a Toyota HSD under the hood.

In general, Altimas are more known for performance than FE, but it will also be using a 4 cylinder + electric design.

In case you could not tell I am very interested in these two cars... even have a thread about them somewhere.

 

For the Honda public, priorities dictate which model.

Accord + power - $$: straight V6
Accord + FE -$$: straight V4
Accord -$$: straight V4
FE + FE: HCH
FE - $$: Honda Civic

A V4 accord hybrid *might* sell if FE is clearly superior, but it will likely compete against a VCM V6 Accord

 

Probably wont see many v4's in cars, but in cycles, and outboard engines, they are have them out there. Honda will probably stick withan I4 for its cars.

 

When I started looking at cars back in June, I was set on a performance sedan. The Acura TL had my interests peaked. I drove it, along with several other cars. I really fell in love with the TL, but at the same time I was reading a lot about the HCH. I even took one for a spin! Loved the FE, but couldn't see myself driving it. I wanted more. At that time, I kinda grouped the HCH and HAH together, so I didn't even drive the HAH. I made my decision to stick with the performance of the TL. But then, the day I was driving down to the Acura Dealership, I was driving past several gas stations with their high cost of fuel, seemingly lit up with Vegas lights, gleaming right at me. That did it. I did go to the Acura lot, talked with the salesman briefly, told him I wanted to check out one more car. I then drove down to the Honda dealer, realized the performance wasn't the same as the Acura, but a whole hell of a lot better than the HCH, and bought the HAH that day!

Out the door, the check I wrote for the HAH was just about $4K cheaper than the TL. And I've saved even more money with the FE I've been getting. I'll edit this post in a bit with the fuel costs for both cars in a few minutes. I have to find my spreadsheets to get the $.

 

$365.33 in fuel costs
135.2 total gallons used
3,680 total miles
27.2 mpg (GH must average tank to tank to get 28.3 mpg, as in my sig)
$2.70 per gallon over life of the car

So, going by EPA combined mileage of 32 mpg for the HAH and 23 mpg for the TL:
27.2 / 32 = x / 23
Finding x will give us a good real world combined mpg for the TL, since I'm only getting 27.2 mpg and not the 32 mpg the EPA says I should get. Of course, this is for calculation purposes and may not reflect actual combined mileage for the TL.
So, x = 19.55

My math may be skewed, but this is all I've got to work with!

3,680 miles / 19.55 mpg = 188.2 gallons * $2.70 per gallon = $508.14 in fuel if I were driving the TL!

So, I've saved $142.81 over the past two months. Continuing at this rate, I'll save $856.86 at one year. I plan on keeping this car for at least 10 years, and at my current mileage and fuel costs, that's $8,568.60 in fuel cost savings over the TL.

Yeah, all these numbers are arbitrary.

 

But anyways, the reason I started my posts was to say: I bought the HAH not only because of FE, but also because of it's performance. At 255 hp, it was no slouch! And really not much slower than the TL. The handling isn't as crisp as the TL, but then again, the HAH is a family sedan, and I didn't expect it to be. Overall, I don't think I stepped down very far at all by choosing the HAH over the TL. But, if it wasn't for the performance of the HAH, I would have just bought the TL. So yeah, Honda building a performance hybrid is what hooked me.

 

Pics from Honda's site of the '06 HAH

http://www.hondanews.com/CatID2134?m...59655&mime=JPG

http://www.hondanews.com/CatID2134?m...59587&mime=JPG

I'm definitely not fond of the rear end. I really like the looks of the '05. But I do like the signals in the mirrors and the sunroof option. And somebody mentioned it was going to have the VSA? I like that too.

 

The '06...pretty fugly...looks now like everything else on the road. I'm glad I got the '05. I'm with Savvy, I live in a major metropolitan area and I never see any other HAHs on the road. After 3 1/2 months, I assumed that I would pull up next to one at a light or something...but no...no others in sight. I like the exclusiveness of having one of the few on the road.

I love my HAH!