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>>> This covers: ......Battery assembly (including all internal components)
- DC-DC converter ... etc etc.....
Azhah,
Are you saying the items you listed (and more) are covered 8 yrs/ 80,000 miles on the standard "3/36" warranty, or only on the 10/100 extended warranty ???
I am still debating whether to get the extended Honda-care warranty because of the newness of the hybrid components (IMA motor, battery etc) but if they are included for 8/80 in the standard "3/36" warranty then there is no point.
Also, the cost: My local dealer only talks about a 7 year , 100K miles (from new) bumper-to-bumper "Honda-Care" warranty for $1400 ( + $200 if I want to get the $1400 back at the end, assuming no claims).
So I'm not sure how all this relates to your 10/100 warranty for $715 - do the dealers get to set their own prices for the extended warranties ?
Any ideas / clarrification ???
According to my Honda Factory Warranty info book in my "glove box" pack of books the IMA system and battery pack (including the batteries themselves) ARE covered by the 8/80. This, and the other items I specifically mentioned, are STANDARD and was NOT part of my negotiated extended warranty. I also asked this question several times until I was convinced. I am very sceptical myself by nature. I too did not want to get stuck with expensive new tech that might fail prematurely. I would have been more concerned had it not been for Honda's track record. I believe that they waited to introduce this top-of-the-line model Hybrid until it had been well tested. Based on my experience so far (3 months 5000 miles) the car was ready!!!
As for the cost and terms of extended warranties your dealer has more power to adjust cost and terms than they would have you believe. Negotiate terms right into your deal. Often if you aren't getting the best deal on buy or trade you may do well on warranties and/or accesories. I've had many years of new car buying and have learned many tricks. Even though I had no choice but to pay invoice in this case, I did well on the "rest" of the deal. I did buy the car outright with no financing so that did give me a little more leverage. Personally, I would always recomend an extened warranty if you can afford it and if it is a good deal (cost and coverage.)
Hope I answered your questions. If not I'd be glad to go into any specifics you want.
Good luck!
"Honda Motor Co.'s domestic production in February climbed by 9.4 percent on year to 114,576 vehicles, marking the fourth straight month of gains due to strong demand for exports.
It boosted exports by 21.3 percent to 48,254 vehicles, mainly because of strong exports to North America as sales of its Acura RL and its Accord gasoline-electric hybrid model remained strong. Honda raised overseas production 11.2 percent to 165,960 vehicles for the 13th straight month of increases."
So HAH sales are hot.................
Honda does/did have too many non "Trucks" and put up to $600 in dealer money on Accords (non hybrid, I assume) and Civics to try to help move them out. In the Accord prices paid forum folks are getting under invoice deals on Accords right now - some way under ($1k or more).
Can't get as much of a deal on the CR-V, Odyssey, or Pilot though.
I test drove the new RL and it is head and shoulders better than the older, weak, FWD RL. It did think the backseat was too small, and overall if you can put up with the FWD you could save a lot of money and just get the TL w/NAV (or the Accord hybrid w/NAV) rather than the RL. Too bad for Acura the new GS and new Infiniti M cars are out now and competing at the same price point for the same shoppers. I don't think there are enough $50k sedan shoppers for all 3 (plus the BMWs, Audis, etc) so sales will slow on SOME of them and prices will fall. Right now, with these being new and hot not much dealing going on with the RL, GS, or Ms.
Dennis
With my wife along I tened to get even better mileage - since I don't drive quite as hard :-)
Dennis
I think to think of it as a rifle bolt on a very expense weapon :-) Snick, snick - get out and get in another manual transmission car and the LONG and sloppy throws feel terrible.
My 'vette was a long throw (and sloppy) 6 speed manual, when I first test drove the S2000 I thought something was wrong with the tranny - like it had jammed. Since I went to pull it back into 2nd from 1st and it jammed and would not go any farther. Ha-ha on me - it was in 2nd, just not far to move the lever :-)
Dennis
Again, I don't understand why Honda would not but this obvious selling point in the literature or on the their page. Like you I would be worried about long term expenses of new tech stuff.
Like you, I have never seen a geniuine HondaCare plan that is longer than 7yrs. So unless they have a NEW plan for the hybrid I would not think this would be a HondaCare program.
The dealer DOES have a lot of room to mark up the plans - and it sounds like yout dealer is doing this. You can buy the HondaCare plan from any Honda dealer - CurryHonda via their web page (for example, may not be the best price) will do the 7/100k/$0 for under $1,000 on the hyrbid. My 7/75k/$0 for the S2000 was less than $800 via a discount dealer back when I purchased the warranty.
As far as I know, the dealer does not have any way to sell you a longer plan than what HondaCare offers.
From the Honda web page here
http://automobiles.honda.com/info/hondacare.asp?Num=0&ModelName=
"Plans and Eligibility
Honda Care plans are available with terms ranging from 4 years/60,000 miles up to 7 years/100,000 miles. Honda vehicles within the original-factory-warranty period are eligible. Ask your Honda dealer for details."
Dennis
Cruis'n in 6th,
MidCow, the Manual Shift Man, 2005 Accord Coupe 6-speed with Borla and K&N
i love shifting, that is why I got the manual 6-speed. I probably would have got a HAH if it had a manual shift.
I don't know if I will ever get old enough to switch to a auto, but I have only been driving a little over 40 years. Life is too young not to shift between gears and Honda does it best!
However, Viet, I am glad you enjoy your HAH and I really enjoy reading your enthusiastic comments,
Later,
MidCow
But on those occassions, a two pedal auto tranny would sure be nice....
Or when I have a gout attack and my foot or ankle are hurting.
Other than that, I really like the control of shifting for myself. Kudos to the car makers though, almost no MPG penalty on most cars with a manual VS auto now.
Dennis
80+ for about 40 miles. Let me explain...
Coming down from Mt. Lemon in Tucson I reset my computer at the top. Mt. Lemon is about 8000 feet above the valley floor. I discovered that the max MPG displayed on the HAH is 80. I got up to 80 on the display very quickly. Since this was essentially a coast of about 25 miles I would have expected such. I did maintain a speed of about 50 MPH but did not have to get on the throttle much. Once at the bottom and cruising through town it took 15 more miles before the gauge dropped below 80. After an additonal 10-15 miles I was down to 49 MPG. I know this is not a fair mileage test but it was fun. I actually have a photo showing 50 MPH, 30 Miles on the ododmeter and 80 MPG on the mileage display. I estimate that I may have been close to 100 MPG during my mountain descent.
I tend to agree with everyone here on the auto VS manual shift. While manual is always more sporty it does require more thought and a little more work. I would never want to loose my manual on the Rubicon or the VW but for the HAH it does add to the luxury feel. It is a lazy car to drive (in a good way!) I have found that the HAH does respond better to semi-manual shifting better then any auto I've had though I don't do it too much. The slightly lower gear ratios (except for the top two gears)in the HAH contribute to that. If I remember correctly the lower ratios were done to increase the regenerative power system.
Cheers.
"i love shifting, that is why I got the manual 6-speed. I probably would have got a HAH if it had a manual shift."
.
You could have bought the Civic hybrid w/ manual. I have a friend who drove stick-shift his whole life, but now he's ~45 and he said it hurts his legs to constantly press the clutch in.
I don't understand the "shifting an automatic" deal? I have a standard automatic, and I can do exactly the same thing (shift L...shift 2...shift D), so what the big deal?
troy
But now it's too late, as it would embarrass Honda to come out with a diesel TSX (euro accord) that beats the HAH in speed, price and economy.
I for one would buy a honda diesel in a heartbeat (lower cost than hybrid, better economy and proven reliability).
Do you think Honda shot themselves in the foot by banking entirely on Hybrid tech in the US? What will they do when the market opens up to euro diesels in 2006? Will people even buy a HAH if they could get an accord diesel for only $1500 over the v6 price (and get better mileage than the HAH)? Is the HAH not long for this world?
Oh well, at least there is a possibility of the new Saturns (which will be imported Opels) will carry over the diesel options to the US in 2006.
I don't think hybrid are a fad at all, but I do admire Honda's Accord take on it - like Lexus they are not trying to do the mileage king car. They are trying to give good performance with decent mileage. That may be a smaller niche than the real high-mile hybrids are in so it may not sell well. But for the right person - performance with good mileage it will still be a nice option.
Some folks are truly "hypnotized" by the hybrid stuff. Local Toyota dealer has loaded-up (leather, NAV, etc) Prius sitting there with an extra $3,500 padded on the sticker (listed as "unloading from the truck", "cleaning up", "5 gallons of gas", etc) - and folks are paying it. Some folks fly in from out of state and pay that much over sticker and drive them home! If they drive the Prius 200,000 miles they will never make back the extra money they spent on it. Now that is just nuts.
Nothing "wrong" with the Accord take on the hybrid - just like the new Lexus hybrids that put performance first - as long as the buyer understands what they are getting.
Dennis
I think ultimately once/if the US public and government understand and get behind biodiesel we may find that the diesel hybrid makes the biggest splash of all. Imagine the combination of torque, mileage and low emissions that this combination could produce!
The real gains in the current hybrid technology is in regenerative braking. You know, attempting to capture that energy that is usually lost as heat by traditional brakes as electricity to be stored for later. Any improvement in this process for gasoline-electric hybrids can also be applied to diesel-electric hybrids, natural gas-electric hybrids, or even full electric engines!
Other technology in the Hybrid Accord (such as VCM, active motor mounts, etc.) really have little to do with hybridization at all! But most of those could probably be also applied to a diesel setup too.
Hmm.. A manual tranny diesel-electric setup would be quite nice, no?
Dennis
The Euro Accord w/ the 2.2 L iCDTi is kind of slow in comparison to an AH 0 - 60 in ~ 9 seconds with a stick or about the same as the I4 equipped PZEV Accord with an Auto. This is not anywhere near the performance spec of the AH in the low to mid 6 range with its std. Auto tranny. The Euro Accord/TSX also has an interior the size of a Civic and its emissions wouldn’t allow it here in the states on low Sulfur Diesel, Bio-diesel, or not after this year. Euro IV isn’t good enough to meet Tier II-Bin 5 which is where the minimum will be very shortly. FE in the low to mid 40’s is the ~ EPA estimate you would see here with it. This is not too shabby for a well-equipped TSX imho. Add a DPF, SCR CAT, and now you are talking clean and FE ;-)
Good Luck
Wayne R. Gerdes
.
I thought we were *driving* to work, not racing the daytona 500? Isn't 9 seconds good enough for routine driving? YES. I drove 15 years in a car with only 12 seconds time, and never got myself killed. It was more than adequate.
.
Main benefits of hybrids:
- shutting off in stop-n-go driving
- recapturing energy via generator braking
These two techniques could be and should be applied to normal non-hybrid cars, using the current starter/12V battery arrangement. There's really no need for full hybridization like the Prius/Accord use.
troy
Yes, here is at least one reason there is a need for the hybridization of the Accord:
1. Being able to get 37 MPG (and better) on the highway from a "no compromises" 255 horsepower 5 passenger family car.
And I don't even want to list all the benefits of hybridization of the Prius - everyone knows that list is huge....
However, power and acceleration are very important to a large part of the car-buying public, as evidenced by the popularity of all the high-powered sedans out there. At least the HAH provides those buyers with a hybrid alternative.
While I agree in principle, you really do need an IMA or some electric motor component to achieve this. Regenerative braking requires something to generate the power and the starter just won't do it. Additionally I wouldn't want to rely on a standard starter/battery to recover from autostops. Firstly the standard starter motors do not have the torque and power to fire up the engine quickly. This is compounded by the fact the the driveline is engaged and the conventional starter not only has to start the engine but begin moving the driveline forward as well. When you start the HAH it fires up incredibly fast. There is no sign of the traditional er, er, er of the starter... just voom! Sorry for my poor verbal description. You really have to experience it for yourself to see what I mean. Secondly if you were having starter or battery problems you might face having a car autostop with no chance of firing back up in the middle of traffic. Yikes! Thirdly, a standard auto battery simply does not have the capacity to do things like recapture energy and handle the multiple restarts one might need in traffic. Nor does a standard alternater have the capacity to recharge quickly enough to handle those kinds of increased power demands on a regular 12 volt battery. The battery packs in hybrids have much more charge depth and amperage and have the added benefit of the standard electrical system as back up.
One way around these issues (including the ability to start a diesel quickly) could be to add a flywheel system to both recapture energy and provide for high torque restarts.
>>quite nice, no?
I was thinking about this - I don't see a manual hybrid in the future. For proper regenerative braking the computer needs to control the braking - not the driver. Big difference if you leave the car in 6th or 5th until stopped or bang downshifts as you slow down.
If the diesel would be a slug, why bother? Just do the Geo Metro 3 cyl motor type deal (or the old Honda HF design) - little motor = slug like driving but high mileage.
The Prius to some extent and the Accord hybrid to a much larger extent are the first hybrids that a lot of folks have WANTED to drive. The new Escape seems to be selling well too - sips like a 4, drives like a 6. I expect the Lexus models will too - sips like 6, drives like an 8.
If they can make a diesel that has the performance folks want AND get hybrid or better mileage AND not pollute then folks will start to buy them. Slugs with super mileage will still sell - more the higher gas gets - but for volume sales the car will have to be less "economical" feeling.
Dennis
You mean for the Accord Hybrid, no manual tranny?
Because the Honda Civic hybrid has a manual, as does the Insight, and they perform marvelously, actually rated higher than the CVT versions of the car in the MPG race.....
But, I guess this debate is getting a little off topic...
How about that awesome Accord Hybrid!!!
OMG, what a car!!!
Your post was relocated to this discussion:
Honda Accord Hybrid - worth the extra $$$?
I think you'll get a more on-topic response there!
kirstie-H
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Share your vehicle reviews
.
The accord would still get 37mpg highway, even without the battery. Why? Because the high MPG does not come from the battery. It comes from the "3-cylinder mode" in the *engine*.
The engine is the thing that gives 37mpg.
troy
ASHAH: "While I agree in principle, you really do need an IMA or some electric motor component to achieve this."
.
The starter IS an electric motor. It can do the job of regenerative braking. (And before you say that wouldn't work... look at the Chevy pickup... it does exactly that.)
troy
Do they have a V6 Accord gasoline engine which achieves 37 MPG? No. So the Hybrid is the only one that does that. If the technology was not in the hybrid for that, then it would not achieve that. If they could do that in all their regular fuel V6 cars they would.....
.
There are lots of things manufacturers COULD do (like sell 60mpg european Civics in America), but they do not. It proves nothing.
Are you incapable of imagining the Accord Hybrid w/o a battery? Perhaps because you're not an engineer like me. I CAN imagine it. Take the Accord. Strip the battery. Will the highway mpg change? NO. It will still have 37mpg highway.
It's the ENGINE and the ability to act like a 3-cylinder engine, that allows it to achieve that high cruising efficiency.
troy
I'm not arguing that - but my point is, THAT ENGINE IS IN THE HYBRID, not in the gasoline only V6......and the "engine" has nothing to do with the city MPG numbers.
And about "imagining" a Hybrid without a battery, that's a ludicrous thing to imagine - why would a hybrid NOT have a battery? Can you imagine a "flashlight" without a battery? How about a cell phone without a battery? Or an electric shaver without a battery?
I get what you're trying to say but you've overlooked at least two key issues:
1-Autostop in traffic. Granted this may or may not affect mileage on the highway.
2-More importantly is the IMA itself. Whan you hit the gas pedal you are getting electric motor assist. Besides the important fact that you are not consuming the amount of fuel that you otherwise would. It can keep the engine in three cylinder mode loner then if you had no IMA at all. This wouldn't be an issue if you never had to adjust your throttle setting for hills and traffic. Unfornutaley that is rarely the case.
I'm surprised an "engineer" would overlook such details!
http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=8254&sid=275&n=157
It looks like this is much closer to an IMA setup than a starter motor! It is integrated between the engine and tranny like the IMA. The electrical system is upgraded etc etc. Point is it is NOT just a regular vehicle with minor mods. It is STILL a hybrid albeit a "mild" one. That is what they refer to the HAH as also, so this doesn't reinforce that arguement very well.
(more below)
================
"1-Autostop in traffic. Granted this may or may not affect mileage on the highway.
"2-More importantly is the IMA itself. Whan you hit the gas pedal you are getting electric motor assist. Besides the important fact that you are not consuming the amount of fuel that you otherwise would. It can keep the engine in three cylinder mode longer"
.
1-autostop doesn't affect the accord's 37 highway mpg (no stops)
2-The way the Accord Hybrid works when you demand acceleration:
---(first) Deactivate 3-cylinder mode... go to 6-cylinder mode.
---(last) Turn on IMA.
There's no such thing as a 3-cylinder+IMA mode.
TROY
That mode for that particular car does not exist....the non-hybrid V6 accord is rated 21/30 - cannot use VCM...
I didn't say it did. But it COULD exist. That's my point. If Honda can use the same lean-burn tech as the Civic Hybrid, in a *non*hybrid, then they can do the same with VCM.
troy
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2004/12/comparing_civic.html
I still remember my friend's Honda CRX. Maybe the most fun car to drive that I can remember. And it was capable of 50 mpg.
troy
I recommend the rest of you try thinking *outside* the hybrid box, instead of constantly playing the "hybrid... hybrid... hybrid" record over-and-over. There's more to life than just hybrids. Like Accords & Civics that are NOT hybrids, but still get >35 mpg:
Alternatives:
=========
Civic Diesel = 54 mpg highway
Accord Diesel = 44 mpg highway
Technology borrowed from Hybrids:
==========================
Accord 6-cylinder w/ 3-cylinder eco-mode = 37 mpg w/o a battery
Civic HX Lean-Burn = 50 mpg w/o a battery
troy
I don't see any reason why Honda does not want to put VCM in all it's 6 cylinder cars, but even if they WOULD, it would STILL not be as efficient as their existing Hybrids......So what's the point of doing it?
Honda must be way behind in diesel technology then. The heavier VW Jetta TDI wagon is a consistent 45-50 mpg car. The much heavier Passat TDI automatic is a consistent 37 mpg car. Also the Civic is using decades old Isuzu diesel engines. And maybe the greencarcongress is a bit biased toward hybrids.
But it's still fun to BE alive. Likewise, it's fun to think about "what if" hybrid technology (lean-burn/3-cylinder mode) was applied to non-hybrid cars. "What if the Non-hybrid Accord was equipped with a 3-cylinder mode? Would it still get 37mpg highway"?
I think yes.
Now stop spoiling my fun Lars. Let me live.
.
The NEW civic diesel is rated at 54 mpg highway... higher than the hybrid version.
The NEW accord diesel is rated at 44 mpg highway... higher than the hybrid version.
troy
I was interested in the Odyssey with V6 VCM engine. The owners posting on Edmund's are not showing great numbers for mileage. Under 20 mpg is not what I call great mileage.