I'm an 06 Prius owner and my mom recently bought a leftover white 07 Altima Hybrid (w/o technology package) over the weekend. Even though I don't see my mom that much and wouldn't be driving her car more than once a week, I'm curious to compare and learn about its quirks/characteristics. I hope to get good mileage while driving and pass along tips to my technophobic parents.

I apologize of these are FAQs but I couldn't find a NAH FAQ.
- What's the max speed you can run w/o ICE on? Is it 42 miles per hour like the Prius?
- If you have the heater on w/cold ICE, does it tend to keep the ICE running? Same question if you use the auto-climate control and have the temperature above the lowest setting.
- Can one pretty easily pulse and glide w/o the LCD of the technology package? I guess I'm asking if the "power meter" on the left and EV mode indication are sufficient.
- Does anyone know what the switchover point in miles per hour is from regen to friction brakes while braking lightly? Is it ~8 miles per hour or so?
- Does the NAH have the goofy bladder system tank that the Prius has?
- How accurate is the trip computer's MPG vs. actual calculations?
- Is the ICE started by the big HV battery?
- Can the ICE be started via the 12V battery if somehow the HV battery runs too low? (Can't do that on that on the Prius but I hear the Ford Escape Hybrid has a procedure to do it.)
- Is it safe to use the 12V battery to jump start other non-hybrids? (On the Prius, it seems like it's not a good idea because the 12 V batt is so small.)
- Is there a thermos to keep the coolant warm like the current gen Prius?
- Does the ICE sometimes do a rough shutdown, esp. when cold? (By rough I mean, shake very noticeably or almost sound like it's dieseling for a fraction of a second.)
- Does the ICE run if you power up w/a cold engine until the catalyst is up to operating temperature?
- How's sensitivity of the traction control system? The current gen Prius' TCS is VERY sensitive (common complaint) and will trigger VERY easily over bumps compared to my 350Z.
- Does the paint on the front of the hood chip easily? I had a silver 02 Nissan Maxima (liked the car a lot) but the paint chipped REALLY easily. After several stone chips (maybe 5-8) within a few months, I ended up getting a clear bra installed. My Daytona Blue 350Z doesn't seem too bad in this department.

I'll probably have more questions if I can think of them.

 

Hello,

March will be our one year anniversary with our NAH, we love the car.

1) The NAH max speed in EV is 42 miles per hour.
2) The ICE runs more often if the heat/ac is on but not all the time. I've noticed in the winter that the ICE tends to come on when the charge meter is about half way down as opposed to three quarters normally. The NAH does not have an ECO button like the Camry.
3) I don't have the Tech. package, but the normal mpg readout should suffice. Pulse and glide does not seem to make a big difference in mpg for the NAH. Most of us seem to get in the mid 30's no matter what we do.
4) I believe it is 5 miles per hour.
5) No, the NAH has a normal gas tank. One of the quirks of the NAH is that it has a 20 gallon tank, but seems to use the same computer chip as the Camry, which only has an 18 gallon tank. This means that the NAH gas countdown is off and shows out of gas when there is 3 to 4 gallons (100+ miles) left. This is a well known quirk.
6) The trip computer seems to be fairly accurate. Some feel it may be 1 to 2 mpg too generous, however this could be do to the amount of gas in the line, or overfilling. There is also no car (including the Prius) that has perfectly accurate odometers ether.
7) I don't know but I think so. The engine rarely starts the instant you push the button until you put the car in gear.
8) Not sure.
9) The battery is small but you should be able to jump start with it.
10) The general consensus is no thermos. However, the NAH retains heat well. After a 40 minute stay at a supermarket the NAH will go straight to EV mode. After 3 hours at church, the NAH starts with almost no warm-up. After a full work day it needs a warm-up but it’s not as bad as the morning.
11) Yes, but rarely.
12) Yes, but usually only after you put it in gear first. In the summer, warm-up last about 5 minutes. In the winter it's 10 to 15 minutes. The blue temp light goes out a few minutes too soon.
13) The traction control, stability control and anti-lock breaks work perfectly and are some of my favorite features of the NAH.
14) I have not noticed any chipped paint, but extra protection is good for any car.

The only other issue you should be aware of is the NAH does not give a lot of warning if it is accidently left on. You get one small beep when you open the door, then three small beeps when you close the door and that is it. One of our members even claimed his car never beeped. You should test this and make sure your mom is aware of these warnings as running in a garage is dangerous and there is no auto off. If you put the car in gear with the power off, many warning lights on the dash come on. These same lights come on if the power button is pushed but the car is put in gear before the “ready” light comes on (usually only a second or two). This can be confusing as it seems the car was left on when it wasn’t.

I hope you enjoy this car as much as we do.

 

Wow! Thanks for all the answers.

Regarding the gas countdown being off, I think it might be a case of Nissan being very consecrative. When I had an 02 Maxima, when the DTE (distance to empty) on the trip computer got down to --- and I filled up, it seems liked I had at least 3 gallons left. I don't know for sure as I never looked inside the tank or ran it bone dry till the car stopped running.

As for trip computer, ok, that's not too far off. On my 02 Max, the trip computer was ALWAYS 2-4 mpg too high compared to actual. My Z is much more accurate, within 0 to ~1.3 mpg of actual but usually less then 1 mpg off.

 

Ok, I've got more questions.

- Is the EV Mode indicator in the center a 100% reliable means of determining that the ICE is off? In the Prius, there isn't any ICE on/off indicator. No arrows doesn't always mean ICE off.
- Has anyone done something similar to CAN-view (http://hybridinterfaces.ca/) for the NAH? How about what the project at http://www.vassfamily.net/ToyotaPrius/CAN/cindex.html? (On the latter, be sure to check out the movie about 2/3rds of the way down the page.)

 

As far as I know, there has not been a plug-in conversion for the NAH yet, however anyone that is made for the Camry Hybrid should work with little effort.

As far as extra readout displays the scangauge should work.

 

Yet another question, what does the emergency start procedure on page 6-7 of the manual do? It refers to going to ACC mode, holding down the brake pedal (normal) then pressing the "power" button for 15 seconds.

What's it doing differently than a normal start?

As for my earlier query, I wasn't so interested in the plug-in modification part. I was more interested in all the info that CAN-view can display.

 

I have been running a test to determine the error in the MPG meter over the last 5 tanks and it is consistently overestimating by 2.1-2.3 MPG.

Something that may (partially) account for this is evaporation. I usually go 2.5-3 weeks between fill ups and from what I have been reading on the web gasoline usually evaporates at around ~.07% per day, which over say 18 days is 1.26%, or ~.25 gallons. That accounts for around 35% of the computer overestimate in the MPGs...

 

The NAH is AT-PZEV which means that there's almost no evaporative loss.

Personally, I found the difference between the computer and manual calculations due to the odometer under reporting the mileage by about 2% which I find a positive as it also extends my warranty by the same.

 

I also found that my odometer was reading low (about 2%, compared to highway survey markers, on repeated tests), which accounts for part of the discrepancy between my trip computer and my hand-calculated mileage (the computer is about 5% high, over 10 tanks).

 

.07%/day *is* almost no evaporative loss

I didn't know about the mileage underreporting in the odometer, but I like it!

So, as the bottom line, it seems that the 2% odometer under-reporting and the ~1% evaporation taken together account for pretty much all of the difference in computer vs. hand-calculated mpgs.