The last few days of colder weather have really placed a hit on my fuel economy. When we were having days where temperature was up in the 50s and 60s I was looking at a 65mpg tank. Three days makes a difference, when I parked from getting lunch yesterday (2/23) the tank was down to 59.2 mpg.

The cooler weather also affects the small 12 volt battery that Honda has equipped the HCHII and the 2^nd Gen Honda Fit, I do put some load on the 12v system with the engine and IMA system offline and the car won’t take much of that in these temperatures. In the summer I was usually good for a good 10-15 min listening to the radio with the DC/DC converter offline (that’s what I’m calling it, its actually an advanced technique but no matter), but in the colder weather under 40 degrees when I last timed it, the system could only take about 1-3 minutes before I had to start the car.

Photo by: edwardleger

First, I want to thank all the Fuel Station owners who opt not to put ethanol in our gas if they are not required to do so by law.

Many areas of the country are required to use oxygenated gasoline because their air quality is so poor.  For a long time this was done with MTBE when that became illegal, or at least frowned upon, in most parts of the country due to concerns about contaminated groundwater  gasoline retailers switched to Ethanol from MTBE.

I had a customer yesterday, express concern over the way their CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission or Constant Velocity Transmission) felt when compared to a relative's conventional automatic transmission.

The main concern was that the car felt sluggish, conventional wisdom would suggest that the smaller engine on the Civic Hybrid is the source of the concerns. One must figure in the way a CVT works and the instant torque provided by the IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) Motor. The HCHII can keep up with (or outpace most) traffic if watching based on one’s position relative to the other cars on the road, or based on the speedometer.  Judging by feel will make the car seem slower than it actually is due to lack of shift shock. 

On a conventional automatic transmission, there are four, five, six, or now seven separate gears with separate gear ratios.  The Civic Hybrid when equipped with an automatic transmission uses a CVT transmission; specifically it uses a CVT with two cones and a belt.  The belt is tensioned by the two pulleys, which can vary their diameters together to provide different gear ratios.  They do not need to disengage to switch ratios, but on a regular automatic the engine must temporarily be disconnected from the wheels while the car changes gear ratios (by changing the physical gears)

Going Faster

On a conventional AT (Automatic Transmission) when you want to go faster, the engine must also turn faster (excepting overdrive and torque converter lockup to some degree).  When you get out of the engine speeds where the engine’s peak power output is, you must change the gear ratio to get the engine back into its power band to continue to accelerate rapidly.

Yesterday’s post generated a nice amount of email, by popular request we have all the new colors of the 2009 HCHII in a row.  In the order of the leading photo from foreground to back ground: Crystal Black Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic, Atomic Blue Pearl, And Spectrum White Pearl.

One reader asked why I haven’t include all of the colors available instead of the new for 2009 colors.  The answer is that the older colors are available elsewhere and nobody has yet asked to see what they look like on the ‘09 body, if you are curious about the existing colors or just want to see all the possible colors lined up, drop a comment before the gas price forces these bad boys to go to their new families.