Hi Friends,
I have traded my 2006 HCH2 for a Brand T Plug In. I am writing to say that without a doubt, my Honda HCH2 was a very good automobile. In 139,000 miles we went through 3 set of Bridgestone tires with no wear issues on stock control arms in the rear suspension. Tire rotation every 10,000 miles during the oil change, also at 10,000 miles with Mobil 1 0-20wt. The interior held up admirably. I did three transmission oil changes along the way. Replaced the 12 volt battery after 5 years just because 5 years is long enough. I did all the maintenance listed in the owner's manual myself.

The car has only visited the dealer twice. Both for software updates and recall items. Until this last software update, I was truly super happy with all aspects of the car. Honda "hosed" us all with the last update to overprotect the battery so they would not have to replace it. The performance hit and rescheduling of the assist and regen made a car that was pleasant to drive, pretty gutless and unfulfilling to drive. Honda's biggest mistake.

Thanks to all of you regular contributors for all the great information and opinion. It was great to have this forum as a resource.

If the HOV stickers had been renewed for HCH2, I would have installed a new battery and kept the car. That however was no the case, so she had to go. Her last tank topped off at 51mpg. I will miss her.
Adios HCH! Adios!

 

I still have my 06 HCH2 and I am still a very pleased with it! No plans to dump it. Just returned from a BC to Saskatchewan and return netted 53 mpg at speed limits using CC almost 100%. I am happy!!! H

 

Adios HCH, indeed!!

We also just traded in our 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid with 47231 mi on 4/27/12. The dealership could only pay $5000 for it due to problems with the IMA battery, A/C, and it had a salvage title (thats roughly what we bought it for anyways). We were really disappointed with Honda and the poor performance of the IMA battery. It ran really well for the first year we had it, but has been nothing but problems since.

The Honda dealers and AHM corporate simply don't care and will do whatever it takes to avoid servicing your car under warranty. The BCM had to be replaced March 2011 under warranty. Now the battery is almost dead and recals every 2-3 mi but Dealer says the car is "functioning normally". MPG is 33.7 for the last 2k mi. Originally got 42.0mpg on a regular basis 25k mi ago.

Our new 2012 Chevy Cruze is the best car we have ever owned... even gets the same mileage our deteriorated HCH got (33mpg)! Opted for the base LS with the non-turbo engine, we got burned on the "advanced powertrain" upgrade w/ Honda obviously. Beautifully crafted interior and doesn't even compare to the new Civics (Our 07 Civic had better styling than the new '12s!).

So long, Honda!!! Adios.

 

Got rid if mine 2 months ago. Replaced with a beautiful Hyundai Sonata Hybrid ultimate. I could not stand any more the constant recals, bad mileage (had gone down to 32MPG in city) and lack of power, while Honda was saying it was normal for a 2006 to be like that, since they had other cars from the same year on the shop with the same behaviour... Arg! screw it.

Traded in with just 66000 miles on it. Interesting enough, on it's way to the new dealer it ended up with 52MPG... A recent trip from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz, CA on the I-5 and back to Los Angeles on the 101 with 1 person onboard and driving like a hybrid netted 43MPG, a couple of weeks before finally trading it in. I was following my Ford Escape Hybrid (2006 AWD) and that car did 35MPG... with 5 people on board and luggage.

My first long trip with the Sonata, from Los Angeles to Stockton and back, netted 38.6 MPG, car has now just over 3000 miles, still breaking in. On the city I'm getting about 31-32 MPG but I'm doing just short trips, which is around what the Honda was doing but with a much nicer car. I do miss the CVT, but the panoramic sunroof, navigation, iphone integration etc makes up for it. And now I can stomp on the gas pedal and the car will respond to me and not let me wondering if it will move.

Bye bye Honda. Had a 2003, then a 2006 and now no more Hybrids from you.

 

Wow, yeah you were in the exact same boat as us and I'm sure theres spades more people out there with similar stories. That kind of performance on a 5-6 yr old car not even out of the Federal Emissions Warranty (8yr/80k) is downright disgraceful on Honda's part. And lying to customers or shruggling their shoulders at poor performance just pisses people off and pushes them over the edge... to ditch Honda forever and find a company much more willing and able to work to earn your business (what looks like happened to both of us).

I think it's really interesting you have another hybrid to compare to, from the same model year even! Have you had any similar problems with your Escape? Any evident battery deteroriation? It seems that only Honda is having this issue in such widespread form.

Congrats on your new Hyundai, they are gorgeous vehicles (I'm slightly in love with a close friend of mine's Sonata, on the side). It seems most people are turned away from Hybrid's after such a bad ride with their HCH. I read an article just a few weeks ago that said the "retention rate" was really low, like 20% for Honda Hybrid's specifically. What gave you confidence in this new hybrid? Hyundai seems to be very firm about how they will stand behind their product... gotta love their ads on TV about the battery warranty (all the dead batteries around the house... frustrating enough as it is w/o having to worry about your car!)

 

The escape has had 0 issues. No battery degradation of any kind. Always there. I just made this month my last payment on it and it's a keeper. I have driven it from California to Florida, to Illinois, Colorado... back to California, and have used it to support car rallyes in the Grand canyon several times. Got it where the guys with the big SUV's went (not that that was too much of a feat...) but at a half or one thirds of their gas costs. The design does show age already, and I wish the AC was electric...

In regards to the happy HCH2 owners, a warning: You could join the unhappy ones any day. I was happy too with mine for some time, like most all the owners with issues here. It can change any day. It has changed for many people here.

In regards to the Hyundai Sonata hybrid, have been following the model since I saw it on the LA auto show 2 years ago. They had some kirks here and there but acknoledged the problems and got them fixed. I checked the TCH and not only did not like the interior, but to get something with rear AC (a must my wife wanted to have) you had to get into their most expensive model, way over the Hyundai price. Dealers werent dealing or having any incentives on the car either. Even when the TCH may promise a bit better mileage, it did not make sense financially since it was going to put me well north of $32000 equally equiped.

I also had a Plan A discount from Hyundai, 0.9% financing for 6 years and several $500 incentives more. I can live with a bit less fuel economy. My payment now on this car is under what I paid when I first leased the HCH2 (I know, that was stupid, and more stupid to purchase after the lease... the car was just begining to show battery issues but I believed that Honda was going to take care of them) So yes, I got burned several times with it.

In regards to the lifetime warranty ad, it's pretty much useless... only applies to the original owner of the car, and in California you still have the 10 year warranty on it anyway. Same as the HCH2 did, but even with the Honda Care warranty that still didnt make any difference since they wouldnt acknoledge that there was an issue to begin with.

I wish this car could be plugged in, even a 5 or 10 mi plugin would be great. When the battery is full it really kicks in electric mode (after doing a long downhill, for example) it will still push on electric mode at 80MPH but you can see the battery drop by the second... definitely could use a plug-in option (even if speed limited) it would make most short trips gas free.

Juan S. Fernandez

 

That's awesome the Escape has held up so well, I feel a little better knowing there is hope for hybrid technology as a whole. I'm betting your Escape MPG can't be too far off from a deteriorated HCH-II under some conditions, what a feat for a 4WD truck.

Everyone in my neighborhood seems to be picking up Kia and Hyundai's left and right, they are really pushing the deals right now. We were looking for a direct replacement to the size/capability of the HCH, so we considered the Elantra. But the Chevy Cruze has the edge for compacts right now and feels like so much more of a car than the HCH ever was for only $18,000 w/ automatic trans & connectivity package! I would have been so pissed if I bought my HCH brand new and dropped $23+k MSRP.

I agree that a lot of people are in an ignorant bliss with their so far problem-free HCH's. It seems as the years go by, only more and more cases of the same are popping up. I think Honda will eventually do the right thing and come up with a solution but that may be years down the road after relentless litigation. We couldn't afford to wait around on a defective powertrain fix.

 

Same here- moved from HCHII to a T brand. A much more consistent behavior I must say- 50+ MPG with AC on, and 60+ on the right roads. Still angry at Honda though for not accepting the fault and taking care of it..