Just got my brand new HCH II with Navi and I have a few questions.

1. When I closed on the car the person I did it with really made a hard sell for the extended warranties. After politely declining a few times he kept pushing it until I had to be a little more direct in telling him that I was not interested. His justification was that since it was a Hybrid it would be much more expensive to fix. I understand all that but I figure I will take my chances. SO, does anyone really know if a hybrid is more expensive to fix? Of course down the road the battery could cost some cash but if I understand them correctly it has like a 120,000 mile warranty.

Are the extended warranties that good of a deal? Since they push for them so hard I am thinking that they get quite a hefty commision for selling them and I am leary of buying one. Case in point when I spoke with the gentleman in the service dept he told me point blank that, "These HCH II's never breakdown." And that I would only be there for routine maintenence. Anyone have an opinon on the extended warranty programs that Honda Offers?

2. While driving the Civic home I was noticing that I was averaging only 30 MPG. It was 55 degrees out so I didn't have the air conditioner on. I was also light on the pedal. Is there a problem here?

3. I am having a little trouble with the Voice commands on the Navi. I will say something and the computer will do something totally different. Anyone got any helpful hints with that?

Anyone other advice you give as well would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the help and advice.

DK

 

DK,

The only item in the Hybrid that I've heard some questions about (other than the IMA system - which is at a minimum an 8 yr/80k mile warranty - in some states it is more) is the CVT. I don't know if it fails that often, but I have heard that they are VERY expensive to repair/replace. I think I saw a $3500 number somewhere - do a search of the old threads and see if you can find it.

There certainly are better prices available on the Ext. Warranty. Also a number of threads on that - check out pricing on some of those sites, I think I looked at the 7/100 warranty for $800 or so. You have until the car has 6000 miles on it to buy a HondaCare Warranty and you don't have to buy it at the dealer that sold you the car.

Regarding mileage - how long was your drive? (Car takes a bit of time to warm up - and doesn't get great mileage until it's warmed up). Was the battery pack mostly charged (6 bars or more). I have noticed lower mileage when the battery pack is at 4-5 bars than when it's at 6-7 bars. Did you reset the trip odometer before you left the dealership? Beyond that - it just takes a few weeks to get the feel for how to drive the car to get maximum mileage.

Good luck

Eric

 

[QUOTE=dangerkitty]Just got my brand new HCH II with Navi and I have a few questions.

1. When I closed on the car the person I did it with really made a hard sell for the extended warranties. After politely declining a few times he kept pushing it until I had to be a little more direct in telling him that I was not interested. His justification was that since it was a Hybrid it would be much more expensive to fix. I understand all that but I figure I will take my chances. SO, does anyone really know if a hybrid is more expensive to fix? Of course down the road the battery could cost some cash but if I understand them correctly it has like a 120,000 mile warranty.

Are the extended warranties that good of a deal? Since they push for them so hard I am thinking that they get quite a hefty commision for selling them and I am leary of buying one. Case in point when I spoke with the gentleman in the service dept he told me point blank that, "These HCH II's never breakdown." And that I would only be there for routine maintenence. Anyone have an opinon on the extended warranty programs that Honda Offers?[QUOTE]

The thing about "expensive to fix" is BS. The people offering the extended warranty aren't suckers. If they expected a lot of repair expenses under the warranty they would charge more for the warranty. If the extended warranty on the HCH costs the same as on a regular Civic (I don't know if it does), then it means that whoever is offering you that insurance policy expects his costs to be the same.

I've owned about ten cars in the last twenty five years and I've never had a car that had more repair costs than the price of those extended warranties in the first five or six years. I never buy an extended warranty for anything - TV, fridge, car, camera, you name it. In the aggregate, I'm saving enough from not buying a bunch of warranties to cover the occasional breakdown.

[QUOTE=dangerkitty] 2. While driving the Civic home I was noticing that I was averaging only 30 MPG. It was 55 degrees out so I didn't have the air conditioner on. I was also light on the pedal. Is there a problem here?[QUOTE]

Doesn't sound right. But don't jump to conclusions. It may be a number of things. Did you get the car with a few miles on it? Maybe somebody test drove it the dealership or idled it for a long time, so you got it with a bad start on the MPG. Check out your tire pressure. Make sure it's at least at the recommended level. You can go quite a bit higher for fuel efficiency. Be patient. Track your first couple of full tanks before you reach a conclusion.

[QUOTE=dangerkitty] 3. I am having a little trouble with the Voice commands on the Navi. I will say something and the computer will do something totally different. Anyone got any helpful hints with that?[QUOTE]

Never tried it.

 

You bought a Honda.
As far as I'm concerned the Honda name is warranty enough.

If you are in one of the 5 clean states your hybrid battery is under warranty for 10 years or 150,000 miles.
75 other hybrid or emssions-related parts are warrantied for 15 years or 150,000 miles.

If you are in one of the other states I think the numbers are 80,000 miles or 8 years.

The reason I never buy extended warranties is I buy a Honda.
Now if I was buying a GM car . . .

 

Thanks for the info folks.

Y'all (sorry I am southern) pretty much confirmed what I thought about the extended warranties. The salesman was really really pushing it making me suspicious. I almost never buy extended warranties because I view them as a rip off, especially when buying a Honda. This is my third Honda. I drove an Accord for 3 years and my wife had an Accord for 7 years. We never had one problem with either, so in my opinion buying an Extended Warranty is just too much insurance. The dang things never break so why buy a warranty.

As far as the MPG goes the battery was somewhat discharged and since then I have charged it up to the max and have reset the trip meter. I was averging around 45-50 mpg in a somewhat hilly environment just a few minutes ago.

Thanks again for y'alls help.

 

My sister's radio malfunctioned shortly after the 3 yr. warranty expired on her CR-V. The warranty paid for it. Honda's in general are reliable but they break like any other car - if you can buy the warranty for a good price (and there are many posts here on what those prices are..) i would do it.

 

Extended warranties are a bet.
You are betting that expensive repairs will be needed.
Honda is betting they won't.

Honda has the repair statistics and set the price of the warranty so the odds of making money are in THIER favor.

This means the odds are you won't need the extended warranty.

But they are good at marketing.
They play off your fear.

 

Well, there you go! You should feel good about dodging the salesman's volleys, IMO. Look at it this way - you've gotten 10 good years out of your previous Honda vehicles without having to pay anything for non-routine maintenance. Even on the outside chance that you have some problems with your new HCH, you're already way ahead of the game, so look at it as "you were due". And on the LIKELY chance that you continue to have the same good luck with your HCH II, take your wife on vacation or something with the money you saved!

And welcome to the HCH family. You're going to find that it's an awesome vehicle, and you're going to learn a whole new (and exciting) way to drive!