I had read that in some Honda technical documentation, but now that I think about it, I believe it was referring to the HCH-I, which only seals 3 out of 4 cylinders. The HCH-II also added some lower-friction piston rings, and some other features to cut friction in the ICE.

 

This is the thread I was remembering where the discussion centered around the CVT transmission and coasting in neutral/FAS/gliding...

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...&highlight=FAS

The responses by GoNavy and ZimBop are most pertinent to your question. Somewhere else the posters on this forum had pretty much concluded that FAS in the HCH2 was unnecessary due to it's "glide" capability as described by Tarabell in her article over at CleanMPG which has also been posted here. Good Luck, Aussie, in coping with that moving parking lot!

 

HiC-dude

Thanks for the post and the link. I'm not sure I agree with the others conclusions. One guy is assuming that the Honda folks are smarter than he is. Maybe, maybe not.

Another person makes an issue of the display being maxed out. Just because a display maxes out a 120 or even 150 does not mean that there is no room for improvement! There is a huge difference between 150 mpg and infinate mpg.

For example to go 1500 miles at 150 mpg (impossible with current hybrids) you would burn 10 gallons of gas. If you could FAS the same 1500 miles (also impossible) you would burn zero gallons of gas. Trust me this adds up over a tank or over the lifetime of a vehicle.

Finally a word of advice:

Look at the MPG of the person giving mileage advice. When someone's mileage is equal or higher than yours perhaps you should listen because odds are they know what they are talking about. When Dan, Hot Georgia, Rick, RJ or Xcel talk, I listen (sorry if I missed anyone).

 

Thanks, Lakedude. Good advice. I have noticed a difference in how quickly my tank average mpg increases when in EV versus say 90mpg glide. It does seem to make a difference, whether actual or psychological. And, I agree with you that when the "hypermiling gurus" talk, I listen! Their guidance has gotten me this far and I'm very happy with my latest tanks.

 

Listen to whoever you like. But keep in mind that someone who drives 53 MPH on the freeway and doesn't live at the top of an 800 ft hill doesn't necessarily have better advice to give.

 

Wow, I just realized one important thing... If I was ever to achieve hypermiler status and I operated my vehicle at a lower latitude... say continental US would that be indicative of my proficiency and forum leverage compared to someone else (equally as good) that drives mostly in Alaska- but can NEVER register the impressively high MPGs?


There's is no question, that the folks that have pioneered the hypermiling techniques have made a monster contribution for the benefit of us all. But, I hope that that is not a criteria of perpetual entitlement to used override everyone else - who may or may not be right.

MS

 

You and msantos are of course 100% correct. Local conditions can make all the difference. A member's MPG could be low for any number of reasons from cold climate to short commute. A member with lower mileage could of course give perfectly good advice.

FASing a CVY may not be a good for the car and FASing is dangerous if you don't fully understand what will happen to your PS and PB. FASing is not a good idea if you SOC is low or if a hill is really steep. That said nothing uses less gas and causes less drag than a FAS because a FAS uses no gas and causes no engine drag. Hard to beat that.

 

I just did some checking and none of the advice givers mentioned by name (including myself) are in the best position to give advice on the gen 2. GoNavy is beating EPA but drives an Accord, Zim drives a gen 1 and lastly I drive a gen 1 manual. I would defer to any of the top gen 2 drivers like Kenny (long time hypermiler) or Nangoku, TreeHugr, Postman, Goodka or PCK. Of course anyone could come up with a good idea but I'd listen to Kenny over pretty much anyone else on gen 2 MPG issues. That is just me, YMMV, listen to who ever you deem credible.

 

Just did some more checking and Kenny is NOT FASing his gen 2. While I believe that the FAS is impossible to beat, I'll defer to Kenny and butt out.

 

OK my last tank ran at 67mpg without using any FASing, so you can see that you can
get great mpg with the right conditions and technique without using any of what people consider extreme techniques.
Now with that said I still wouldn't rule out that if I used FAS I might have gotten an
80mpg tank. I did try it out on an empty road back when I purchaced the car but
was so new to this style of driving and had nothing to compare to so I just gave
up on using it because it wouldn't work well in my commuting conditions.
It might be worth another try just for my curiosity not to use in my normal drive.