For Honda IMA hybrid owners, is this what it takes to keep ICE off in drive through?

I have an 01 Insight. It is true that the engine has to be on to move at all, but you do not have to reach 10 mph for it to shut back off. I do agree that the Prius has a better hybrid system, but you cant argue with the 1st generation insight MPG.

 

You can creep now, but the engine does come on then off. Before I bought my Prius I looked at a new HCH and the salesman said it was possible to move around on all electric power. However he was unable to demo that to me since the engine turned on every time. Could be a "stage" system like the Prius has where certain conditions have to be met? I frankly dont care, Honda's IMA tech is like the Flintstone-mobile and wont even bother looking until they have something to compete with HSD.

Of course you can. I love that the 1st gen insight started them off, but nothing has changed since. It was a very small, very lightweight vehicle with no room for anything. It worked very well. Now however a gigantic beast of a car like the Prius matches its economy. Great improvement as expected over a couple years. But Honda hasn't done anything... It's so sad when Ford has a better offering than Honda. So backwards. I'd still buy the InsightII over a Fusion though.

 

It's up to the driver. Put someone who at least half-way knows how to drive an Insight & you'll be hard pressed to come close to their numbers. Some years back Meredith won our rally with 75mpg. Hobbit was closest with 60 something. The next year another Insight won with 125 mpg. For the record I did beat an Insight in my Gen2 because its driver was so be he was almost a DNF.

 

Your original quote sounds like description of Forced Auto Stop. As long as the car has sufficient charge, it's going to shut down anyway, in that situation, so no need to shift to Neutral and key-off.

The second gen Civic Hybrid cannot start rolling by electric power only. The only time it will use electric only is at moderate speeds, near-level (or down incline), with no need to speed up. And it will do that just for short durations. An ever-so-slight increase in gas pedal pressure and the gas engine will kick in again.

 

Not surprising as it's not a full hybrid.

 

ASIMO is f***ing awesome! When my family dragged me to Disney-Whatever in California, the only thing I wanted to see was ASIMO at the tech centre. Also had the Microsoft Smart House there, Segway rides, and other miscellaneous robotics.

The rest of Disney sucked big time, but those are wonderful gems.

Maybe Honda can release an army of piggy-back giving ASIMOs

 

This is the major area where my Prius completely outshines my Insight. When in a drive through or at a stop sign with several cars ahead of me I cannot predict how well the autostop will perform. Most of the time, it does what I need, which is kill the engine when I stop and start up when I lift my foot off the brake, but sometimes the autostop will not engage, and I'm sitting still burning gas. I HATE THAT. My Prius, however, never runs the engine at all. Much, much better performance.

 

But once again we are comparing a tiny, lightweight car against a much bigger and heavier machine. I used to get great mileage in my Honda CRX, and it had zero hybrid components. It was a two seat roller skate with an engine. The first Insight was essentially a lighter version of the CRX, plus the hybrid system. I suspect HSD could do pretty well with that chassis too.

Tom

 

I've heard various iterations of this phrase. Coming from 2006 Civic Hybrid ownership, to me it seems pure semantics. I know in our first test drive of a 2010 Prius, I was impressed: driving back into the dealer's lot, had come to a full stop, then started slowly up a ramp, and noticed it was running on electric-only.

Yes, that would not happen with a second gen civic hybrid (still remains to be seen with the 3rd gen), and it's true: the gas/electric ratio is more tipped towards gas with the Civic, due to it's smaller battery pack.

So, does this make it less than "full", maybe "half", LOL.

 

The best I have ever done in my insight was from Moreno Valley, Ca to Huntington Beach, Ca. I was trying VERY hard to use as little gas as possible and was able to average 106mpg. Thats about 60 miles.

 

We have an '08 Prius and a '10 Insight. The biggest differences: the Insight was $5K cheaper, it gets about 10% less gas mileage (low 40s)and is slightly smaller inside--mainly due to the center console, which my Prius II doesn't have.

If I could have bought the Insight for $5K cheaper when I bought the Prius, I probably would have bought the Insight. The series vs parallel electrical configuration is of secondary importance to me. The bottom line is value.

Pay no attention to the junk floating around the media about either car.
That's your oil lobby at work.

 

I thought they did something where they open up the engine valves so the engine could spin freely, and thus allowing the car to move on electric only, despite the electric motor being glued to the crankshaft...

Or was this a prototype?

 

someone hacked their 1G insight to have a creeper wheel and motor!

edit: why the heck didn't he just connect the motor to a rear wheel?


http://www.wired.com/autopia/2007/09/maximizing-hond/

 

I'm new to the forum but I've been driving a 2000 Honda Insight MT since February. My autostop engages any time I am slowing when I go below 20 mph. If I want to start the engine, I shift into first. If I want the engine off, I shift into neutral. I don't have to get up to 10 mph between shut offs.

For example if I am in line at a fast food drive thru... Each time I want to move, I shift into first move forward and then shift back to neutral. My engine is only running when I am moving forward.

Actually, besides the backseat the ability to move on electric only is one of the reasons that I am considering adding a Prius to my vehicles.

 

But you can't even do that with an Insight II or civic hybrid... The manual Insight I was and still is great. And with tricks like this, you can get better mpg's than a Prius (albeit with a much smaller vehicle). But these tricks don't carry forwards to other Honda hybrids.

 

Yep, I had to laugh.

As a result of learning about Hybrids and hanging around Prius Chat, that's almost exactly the same thing I do with my Non-Hybrid Honda Fit in that situation.

So basically they are saying...You want the Honda Hybrid to "idle" without the engine running...turn off the engine...

Wow...cutting edge stuff there...HSD beware....