The lurch is when the regen stops, and you are barely touch the brake pedal... the car is no longer being stoped by regen, so you need to apply more brake pressure.

 

I take advantage of this "lurch" to get as much engine-off coast as possible before stopping. It's usually enough to get the length of the driveway into the garage, creep up to the car in front at a stoplight, or bridge the time waiting for the light to change so you don't have to come to a complete stop.

 

errrr.... What ELSE would you be doing in the last few seconds before stopping, with a car in front of you?

NOT the best time to take a big bite of that double Whopper with Cheese!


(FWIW - the "lurch" is much more noticable on the Accord hybrid than on the civic. but the regen seems to be more agressive on that car, as far as self-braking the car. Especially when the cruise control is engaged.)

 

Agreed with nimbus2k, from my experience...after awhile, I could tailor the braking to coast nicely on downhill grades, using just enough pressure to keep the AS engaged, but not enough to actually stop the car (traffic depending).

With the new Civic, it's a different story - you better not have far to go on a coast when the car hits 10mph, becuase it's going to just about stop in it's tracks. Then you'll give it a little gas to get the last 50 feet you thought you were going to cover - and you miss the AS cycle. Exasperating as hell, for the experienced Accord Hybrid driver (but then, that's the difference in the AT vs CVT, and longevity issues aside, I'm liking the CVT muchly right now, compared to the Accord Hybrid's AT)

W/ regard to the regen being more aggressive on the Accord - I believe that's because of the torque converter, if I were to guess. IOW, it's the same programmed regen, but the TQ exacerbates the regen. It wasn't too bad until it downshifted to 2nd at about 25mph...then you felt like someone threw an anchor out of the trunk. But once you adjusted your coast points to compensate, it wasn't too bad.

 

I don't see a problem there. If you're braking gradually toward a stop, the engine should be in a valves-shut mode with zero fuel consumption. You don't need AS for that.