Well, I finally got my HCH CVT. It's my first car. It's an 04. I love it. I don't know much about cars, so my first question is whether there is a good book out there on car maintenance generally that I should read. I have yet to read the owner's manual in its entirety, but I will this weekend.

My bigger question has to do with gas - there's this warning on teh Quick Guide and in the Owner's Manual about using fuel with MMT and it causing problems and those problems not being covered by the warranty. How do I know if the fuel I use has this additive? What kind of fuel do you use? Does it have MMT added? Has it affected the way your car runs?

 

I've not heard of MMT but I'm sure someone else here has.

HCH does not require special fuel.
Regular unleaded 87 octane fuel available everywhere.

Maintenance-
Other than the ususal wash and wax it requires no special maintenance.

I believe most people will fall into the "severe" maintenance schedule of every 5K miles.
(Fluid change, tire rotation, checks etc)
Be sure to read the manual cover to cover, there is much info there you never knew.
Personally, I've read mine a couple of times.

Congradulations on your first new car and welcome to greenhybrid ! B)

 

Great choice in cars! I also have a '04 CVT HCH, now with about 3500 miles on it. So far no problems. Defintely read the owners manual, some great information there. You can also purchase a service manual for your car. It is approx. $75 at your dealership. Somewhat technical but more in depth explination of the various systems of the car. Warning! Your miles per gallon might vary greatly, especially at the beginning. At first check I was only getting 37 mpg but with learning some driving techniques and with the car breaking in I am now at 48.8 lifetime mpg. Note also I think the coolest thing about the car is the blue instrument cluster!

 

Hey! Thanks for the info on the mileage. I was cranky on my way to work because my mpg for the first 150 miles or so is REALLY low, like about 33 MPG. I do mostly city driving, so any tips you have on increasing my MPG would be much appreciated. I'm still wondering about the MMT additive in gasoline. Seems that there are some websites about it in Canada. Maybe they don't add it to the US gas? hmmm

 

Just an update. My mpg has been pretty low. I just filled up last night and figured my mpg at 34.75 even though the reading on the car says 33.6 overall, and 37.8 for the past week. I hope the numbers go up

Anyway, I found out about MMT. Fuel companies started adding it after lead was banned as an additive. But the US has prohibitted the use of MMT in gasoline for decades, so it's not in the gas you'll find here. It has, however, been allowed in the fuel in Canada, and has been the source of controversy. At least it's one less thing I have to worry about