'New' car question... (Accord perhaps)

[michaelwjones]

On 3/10/2022 at 8:53 AM, Coytee said:

I appreciate the thoughts and kick in the pants.

 

Inquiring minds want to know: what did you ultimately buy?

[Coytee]

On 3/23/2022 at 12:08 PM, michaelwjones said:

 

Inquiring minds want to know: what did you ultimately buy?

 

Thanks for asking, I was intending on reporting back.

 

Bought the car on Saturday.  Had a trailer behind wifes car so she wanted me to drive the trailer home.  Which means, she drove it the 40 miles home....  we cleaned it up a bit Saturday/Sunday and I didn't drive it.  I didn't drive it until yesterday (Wednesday) so the car sat for roughly five days before I got to drive it.  (nice).

 

Drove it yesterday and today for real, (not around the block at the prior owners house)

 

When I was cleaning it out, it was cold outside so I turned heater on....engine idling and I'm not driving at all.  Getting acclimated to the controls & things....  I was there for roughly an hour.  Wednesday, I go to leave for work and the MPG indicator said 14 (because I was sitting idle).

 

By the time I drove the 40 miles to location and home, the 14 had raised to about 35.  Today, I went to same location again and by the time I did a round trip, it was just on the cusp of hitting 38 mpg.  Tomorrow, I'm going roughly 70 miles to location....  will see what happens.

 

After getting acclimated a bit to this car, I think I am going to like the technology behind it.  Uses battery for putting around.  Need more juice, engine kicks in and can power battery AND offer some engine power to front wheels.  Go over (something like 70 I think???) and you are more on engine than battery so your MPG's might drip down to mid 30's or something like that.  (presuming I read things correctly)

 

Today, was on entrance ramp to highway.  For first time, decided to lean into it a bit and I must say, I am impressed.  Just a constant hard acceleration.  

Car has some "charging paddles", not sure of name.  But you can be going down a hill and there is no engine braking.  You can operate the paddle and it will go into regenerative circuit and that offers "engine" braking.  You can go into 1-3 levels as I understand, the higher the level, the more it regenerates AND similar to maybe downshifting to engine brake harder.  

 

Watching some of the gauges and gizmos, you can see the flow of power as it comes FROM the battery OR, let off gas and it goes TO the battery.  I can see where it might take some changing of driving habits to maximize the cars MPG potential.

 

When I/we got our first DVD recorder for the TV, it was an overnight appreciation for what it did.  Driving this car is very similar.  You (me) want to try to maximize its potential so I'm much more aware of mashing the throttle, mashing the brakes, coasting down long hills.....coasting down long hills while using the battery charger paddles to maximize the charge.

 

I'm sure once I get fully acclimated to this, it will be mundane.  As it is, it's a new toy and very different than the standard Camry I had that was a simple 4 cylinder gas engine.

 

So far, I'd say it's a hit.

 

(and certainly more fun to drive than the Camry that has 280,000 miles on it)

 

[michaelwjones]

4 minutes ago, Coytee said:

So far, I'd say it's a hit.

 

(and certainly more fun to drive than the Camry that has 280,000 miles on it)

 

 

Congratulations!

[Coytee]

Yep, Camry averaged about 30/32 MPG depending on driving (which I was fine with.  I just refilled 3/4 of my tank (after letting it idle last Saturday for an  hour which hurt the MPG's a bit....but still, on stopping to fill up it was at 39.7 MPG which includes that idle time.

 

Drove home from gas station and at the start (which is admittedly going down a large hill) it jumped up to about 98 MPG which I know was simply coasting....but, by the time I got home, it had settled down to about 55 MPG, which again, included some hills both up and down.

 

Irrespective of where I end up (I'm guessing if I can average 40 or high 30's, I should be happy....  if I can do that then it will be a nice change.

[Seadoc]

@CoyteeFWIW, my last two Honda Accords both had over 230,000 miles when I traded them in.  Start with a check of maintenance with a laptop through the Diagnostic port.

[Coytee]

I think that's an interesting (and good) idea!  I have to go to the dealer to get the new key fob cut and programmed.  (Car only had one key, other is lost in the pile of son's "stuff" that my friend hasn't yet gone through)

 

I think it's a good idea to try to get a base starting point.

 

Side comment....several tanks of gas later, I'm averaging around 44/45 mpg's now that I'm figuring out how to more appropriately, drive the car.  (and it's fun to drive to boot)

 

 

[michaelwjones]

3 hours ago, Coytee said:

 I have to go to the dealer to get the new key fob cut and programmed. 

If it is an electronic key, be seated when they tell you how much it will cost. Gone are the days you can get a 99 cent key cut for your car.

[Coytee]

Yeah, it's one of those fancy electronic keys.  I've already bought the key.  Now need it programmed and the physcial door key cut.  Turns out the physical key won't fit into the larger electronic key until it's cut.  I guess the "blade" part of it gets in the way of something.  There was a sticker on it saying that it will NOT fit into the holder until it's been fitted.

 

 

[JL Sargent]

immobilization keys from dealers can run in the $300 to $400 range these days. I bought a scan tool (XTOOL D8) and programmed my own for Nissan Altima.