I recently bought a new 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid; I have about 700 miles on the odometer and my initial impressions lead me to disappointment.

The car seems to handle well. The gas mileage is impressive. The Horsepower and Torque numbers look great on paper, but I drive in the real world. The car is slow to accelerate, and when you push it, the car starts screaming. These sounds are unbecoming of a $36,700 car.

I find myself in a situation where I am pulling away from traffic lights, looking at the gauges trying to avoid pushing the accelerator so far that the engine races off and freaking out my passengers. What's the point? Why drive an efficient car when you are worried about someone running over you on your trip to 45 mph?

Am I missing something? What's the strategy in driving this car in a way that prevents too much engine noise?

-- AtlantaRene

 

Sounds like you have it figured out already.

 

I don't know what to call it other than a "race away problem."

It seems to me the car appears to be labored accelerating from 25 to 45 mph. In many driving conditions in the Atlanta area, I often find myself with a need to accelerate to 45 mph at a reasonable clip... and there are several small hills near my home.

I see a lot of owners only returning 40 mpg. Is this because you're running without Econ mode? Do earlier versions have the sport button? Do you use it?

-- AtlantaRene

 

Hi Atlanta,
I too have a 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid. Are you driving it with Econ turned on? The engine races more when this mode is on. I figure it's lowering engine load. Throttle response is sluggish, etc, in this mode. However, when I turn it off, those problems go away. I may use a little more fuel. But I've figured out how to drive it where mpg doesn't suffer too much. Now if you want to get even less mpg but get more getup and go, press the SPORT button below the shifter.


Even with Econ off, in commute traffic, I'm still getting 51-52mpg. With Econ on, I can get 58-59MPG. But yeah, definitely in the 50s and I'm not driving as to **** of drivers behind me. I don't want to be the LEAF and other Electric Car drivers that are going slower than already slow traffic.


This car loves stop and go traffic. Without trying, I can get 50 mpg in non-econ. Put the freeway in there, ~the advertised MPGs. Btw, temperatures around my parts are moderate. Typical California weather. I do notice a little drop when it's cold. The engine has to warm up in the morning no matter what. So the further the distance, the better my mpg avg is.


Did this help or not? Please let me know.
Cruzen

 

@CruzenAccordHybrid You are doing better than me. I topped off my first tank by accident so I am at 49.3 calculated mpg / 51.0 indicated mpg.

I am at about 950 miles now. I believe the car is now behaving differently or I am getting used to finding the perfect pedal positions. The car initially would only charge the battery to 50% or so. Now, I am seeing that it's more often at about 70% charge. So the car seems to be letting out a little more electricity when I need it.

I am currently running on Econ mode at all times except at times when I think I may need performance (tight high-speed traffic, for example).

I am avoiding Sport mode except for those times that I want to pass.

I also notice that if I have the stereo running at say 10 or so, it's seems quieter. I am wondering if noise cancellation is active when the stereo is off.

-- AtlantaRene

 

I also just purchased the Accord hybrid touring model. I can see way OP is confused. The engine may rev up pretty high in some situations. I notice it climbing a hill and some mid range acceleration. It's usually when battery is low. First tank so far is averaging 55mpg. This mornings commute was 89.5mpg about 14 miles 40 minute drive.

 

Just did a 1000 mile road trip in the car, it seems to behave well enough on the interstate. I cruise at 70 to 75 mph. It seemed to return about 43 mpg over the duration of the trip. It impacted my overall MPG which I hope will improve with "city driving".

 

Hi AtlantaRene,
I noticed you're avg.46.1 mpg. Is Honda's computed number?Or is that calculated at the pump? For validation today @ the pump, I computed my mpg. Dashboard stated 47.1. My calculations was 40.7. I expected a difference but not that big. How did I lose almost 7mpg. So I'm curious if you're validating as well.
Thanks,
Cruzen

 

The banner you see on the footer of my messages is calculated from fuelly.com. I record all of my fill ups there.

Your calculated gas mileage can change a bit depending on how you tank up. If you top off the tank, you can fit 1/2 to 3/4 gallons additional gas that could change your calculation.

If you use fuelly, regardless of the way you top off the tank, the cumulative MPG calculation should be accurate over several tanks.

When I fill up, it set the pump on the slowest flow rate and stop when it clicks off. Since we can get over 600 miles per tank, I didn't feel like I needed that extra 25 miles of range.

I hope this helps.

 

@CruzenAccordHybrid My last tank was 45.2 indicated / 44.5 measured so that's close enough for me.