Remembering the Accord Hybrid

[thomsbrain]

I'm excited for Honda's upcoming plug-in 3-mode Accord Hybrid.

Browsing articles, I recently re-read a review of the old 2005 Accord Hybrid. I'm convinced they must have sold it at a significant loss as it had a fair amount of technology that disappeared for a while after they stopped making it. Here's a partial list of the tech that was crammed into that 7-year old car:

*Cd 0.29
*255 HP and 37 MPG
*232 ft-lbs torque, 90% of torque available below 4000 RPM
*cylinder deactivation at freeway speeds, with active electric engine mounts, pulsing torque converter clutching and active noise cancellation
*auto-stop
*dual A/C compressors, belt and electric
*dual transmission pumps
*magnesium intake manifold
*aluminum hood, bumpers, shock towers

Let's keep in mind it was considered a big deal when Porsche introduced active engine mounts to the 911 a couple years ago, and IIRC there are still no cars in the Accord's class with aluminum hoods.

Honda has a way of making a line of merely good cars and boring everyone, and then sneaking some crazy into the pipe to flex their engineering muscle. The Accord Hybrid was one of those cars, like the CVCC, NSX, S2000, and original Insight, but easily the least noticed.

Here's hoping the plug-in Accord Hybrid carries the engineering torch. Rumors are an innovative drive system with dual single-gear reductions for the gas and electric motors, three-mode operation, 160 HP in electric mode, etc. The old IMA will be a thing of the past.

 

[SearchMaster]

Sounds like you appreciated it more than the press and the general public It was generally regarded as doing very little for fuel economy but adding a bit of oomph over the standard V6.

 

[NutBucket]

All 3 of the Subarus we own/owned have/had Al hoods

I think the main problem is that at the time hybrid buyers didn't care about power, only fuel economy. I mean hell, a 2005 Civic Hybrid had what, 100hp? The fact that the Accord had 250hp didn't mean anything to people looking at the 30/37 epa rating. I bet a good driver could easily break 40 on the highway.

Maybe I should look into getting one of these....

 

[soccerballtux]

wow interesting.

 

[Eli]

The old IMA will be a thing of the past.

For Honda's sake, let's hope.

I love the original IMA for it's KISS principles, but Honda is getting their ass handed to them on a silver platter by Toyota.

 

[ballmode]

06-07 had the special accords right?

LED tails, 6sp Manual option for V6 sedans, and the hybrid?

 

[LTC8K6]

cylinder deactivation at freeway speeds, with active electric engine mounts, pulsing torque converter clutching and active noise cancellation

I think that has been on accord V6 for a while now, save for the torque converter pulsing.

The Ford Ranger had Aluminum body parts back in the 90's.

 

[Doppel]

*255 HP and 37 MPG

Where did you get this number from?

fueleconomy.gov gives the 2006 accord hybrid 22/31. Note, that's very close or maybe MARGINALLY better than a bunch of V6 sedans now, which do it all without hybrid--it's 1 mpg better combined than a 2012 accord v6.

 

[SearchMaster]

Where did you get this number from?

fueleconomy.gov gives the 2006 accord hybrid 22/31. Note, that's very close or maybe MARGINALLY better than a bunch of V6 sedans now, which do it all without hybrid--it's 1 mpg better combined than a 2012 accord v6.

Interesting - this article says "In one of the more dramatic corrections we've seen, the EPA has knocked the model's 29/37 mpg (city/highway) estimate down to 25/34 mpg for the new model year", and now it's 22/31?

If Honda had tied the a hybrid system to the 4 cylinder and gotten ~30/40, it would have been more successful. But the hybrid system added little MPG gain for the V6 and was worse than the I4.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yes, the 2005 Hybrid finally ended up at 25/33 after the 2008 method changes. Still much better than the regular V6 at 18/27 but small advantage over the 4 cylinder at 23/31.

However you had the performance and the fuel economy with the hybrid.

 

[GregGreen]

Have an 06 Accord Hybrid. Actual milage is around 22/32. Car is suitably quick but it's still kind of appliance-like and boring. Plusses, it's been quite reliable and is a handsome car.

Also, the OP mentioned that 90% of the torque is available under 4000rpm. I'd guess maybe 30% is available below 2700ish rpm -- it feels absolutely gutless (my comparison points are American pushrod V6s and V8s, not the inline-4 Honda from the s2000).

 

[LTC8K6]

http://media.caranddriver.com/files/honda-accord-hybrid2005-honda-accord-hybrid-specs.pdf

Doesn't seem like it would feel slow at 6.7 seconds.

 

[SSSnail]

Another Honda's brilliance that will never be known is the FCX Clarity.

 

[NutBucket]

A bit of an apples to oranges comparison there since the FCX can't be made widely available to the public due to cost. I've seen figures stating the cost of each FCX to be somewhere in the $1 million range.

Nevertheless, it is a very impressive piece of engineering. Last year I followed an M-B fuel-cell vehicle on the freeway and watched it spew lots of water out of the tailpipe. I found it amusing and cool at the same time.

 

[JTsyo]

I looked at the Accord hybrid back in 05 but instead picked up the Escape hybrid for about the same mpg but in a 4WD with more room.

 

[nerp]

Wow. My charger has more HP, is faster and has better mileage. Oh and it has an aluminum hood. Oh well.