Honda Accord Hybrid: 50 MPG City - clone Toyota

The new Accord Hybrid does not have a spare. They will try to tell you it is a weight reduction issue to give better gasoline mileage. BALONEY!!! Gas mileage is not improved even the slightest. It is a money saver for Honda as well as the other auto companies, just like when they went from a regular sized spare to the donut. Just ruin a tire and be out in the middle of nowhere with your repair kit and see how late you are going to be home for dinner.

 

Yes, looking at cars for daughter, and the new Corolla is hard to beat. I had a new one from Toyota rental, and it did 40 mpg on my 75mph highway trip. The new Corolla is not only better looking than the previous gen, but much nicer inside, included maps navigation, and far nicer inside and more fun to drive. My only gripe was slower speed gas pedal response was quirky.

The Fit is a nice choice as well, but it's definitely not very Cool looking for a younger person.

 

Of course no sparegets the company more money; particularly if they charge $300+ for the spare upgrade as some do.

The weight reduction can also mean improved window sticker numbers. Lets look at the Sonic. It is offered as a sedan and hatchback with 4 trim levels for each. We can ignore the RS for this because it is geared for acceleration at expense of fuel economy, and it only has a spare. There is the usual manual and automatic option. Then two of the trims have an option for a more powerful engine with more efficient drivetrain.

That is 20 combinations of body, engine, transmission, and trim. To save on time and money, EPA rules allow a certification to be applied to multiple, similar models. Ford overstretched this rule when they used Fusion hybrid numbers for the C-max, but testing one trim level and using its results for the entire model line is the accepted way to using the rule. It may even be used to apply a sedan's or hatch's results to apply to the other.

So Chevy doesn't have to test all possible combinations. They, and the other manufacturers, will use the lightest trim; which will likely be the lowest, least equipped one. For the base 1.8L engine this will be the LS trim. For the 1.4l turbo, it will be the LT. Which is the minimum of 4 engine and transmissions to be tested.

This is where to spare tire enters the discussion. All Sonics come with a spare tire, except for the LT manual sedan with the 1.4L turbo. If it were about increasing profits or reducing advertised price, the LS cars would be without a spare at the very least. So why that one combination of body, trim, engine, transmission out of 20(24 counting the RS)? The trim and engine upgrades have increased the price over the base MSRP, and a manual is going to be a small seller to begin with.

The answer is 40mpg for advertising. The 1.4 turbo will sip gas during the less demanding portions of the EPA test compared to the 1.8L. Its increased torque output allows the use of taller gearing in its transmission. The manual mated to it has entire extra gear, which is a second overdrive one, than the one mated to the 1.8. The sedan likely has the aerodynamic edge over the hatchback, but it is about 80lbs heavier.

Deleting the spare in that one, low demand combination of equipment, model probably meant the difference between a 39 and the 40 on the window sticker.

As to the Accord hybrid, I highly doubt Honda left out the spare in order to squeeze out a few more bucks from a customer. It is a mid-size sedan; most models that have deleted it for profit purposes are smaller, entry level ones. Those models will likely have a spare tire option, sometimes at ridiculous cost. In addition to nearly all its competitors having a standard spare, the HAH doesn't even have it as an option. The cars in its price and/or class range that deleted the spare are plug ins. they did because they needed space for the battery. The HAH battery doesn't need the spare tire space, but it does give a little more cargo space for spec lists. Then it is entirely possible the design team for it and its PHV brother didn't allow for the mounting of a spare. Some police officers were injured because the Ford Crown Vic was designed with a spare tire in place during crashes, and it is commonly removed for police equipment.

How often does this realistically happen? All the tire damage I have had happen involved a nail or the like just piercing the tire. Many of those incidents allowed me to drive to where I was going without putting on the spare. In nearly 40 years of driving and as a passenger, I have only been involved in one tire blowout. Just one case where a slime inflator kit would have been useless.

TPMS is now mandatory on all new cars. If a car doesn't have, and can't carry a spare, and blow outs are an everyday concern, then get run flats.

 

I just bought a new Avalon Hybrid and it has a spare so I won't have to be concerned about that, hopefully, for a very long time. I would not buy a car that did not have a spare tire.

 

avalon has a massive trunk for a hybrid.

 

Including a Prius plug in?

Plenty of cars still have a spare if that is a major criteria in selection. Between improvements in tire and communication technology, I just don't see it as a major one. A full size one is a nice thought until you consider that it costs trunk space.

Being a whole class size larger than the rest, I would hope that it would be.
It also gives up 7mpg on the rating to the Accord and 6 to the Camry hybrids for that extra space.

 

but the battery is probably larger, taking up more space than an accord or camry.

 

The Avalon Hybrid does have a large trunk. I haven't looked at the spare but I don't think it is full size. I think it is a donut.

 

It's the same hybrid system and battery of 244.8V.
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/camryhvdisman2nd.pdf
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/avalonhv_erg.pdf

 

wow! and you can pull 40 mpg's at that size and weight? amazing accomplishment!

 

I preferred Honda's old IMA system used in the Insight, Accord, Civic, CRZ.

It was much simpler than this new Accord G2 design, and even if it had a dead battery, could still keep moving forward (as a pure gasoline car). The Accord doesn't have these two benefits. Honda is ranked #1 in engine reliability but I expect the Accord's complicated system to damage that reputation. We'll see a lot of them with bad clutches or unable to move before 150,000 miles.

 

A little?!. OK, I'll own it. I'm not as happy when I see less than 50 mpg.

 

I got 55 mpg out of the Old Accord Hybrid (a V6 engine with three-cylinder mode). I'm curious what I could get from this new Accord. Perhaps 70.

 

Ah, C'mon TH. Why be modest if you are going to throw out a wild claim ?

 

You should rent/borrow/test drive one to find out. I drove one about 15 miles back in the winter around the city and found that it didn't get any better MPG than our Fusion Hybrid. The new Honda system is very different than the Toyota HSD or the Ford hybrid system.

 

I tried testdriving an Accord Hybrid but the dealer wouldn't let me take it on the highway, so I never learned the kind of MPG it can do. Since it's a 4 cylinder like my Civic hybrid, but 170% upsized, I would guess it maxes out at 65 MPG..... maybe as high as 70.

 

I'm not fooled by the goony looking upright dash styling of the '14 Corolla, or the steering column that is slightly crooked out of the dash (your left hand will be farther away than your right), or the dr. seat that tilts down more than it actually lowers. Civic is a class act compared to Corolla.

 

The whole car (Avalon) is longer than Camry and Accord and Avalon has huge backseat legroom.

 

Accord Hybrid is whupping Camry Hybrid butt on fuelly, 43 vs. 39.3

Honda Accord Mileage | Fuelly

Toyota Camry Mileage | Fuelly

 

please buy one.