New 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid

[hybridbear]

So far Fuelly is showing a 36.6 mpg average for 12 HAHs. Of course, Honda is running into the same issue that the FFH did by being introduced during a period of low temperatures. I think this is something the auto makers need to consider in the future. If you are going to make a new hybrid, realease it in April.

 

http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/accord/hybrid%2014/sedan

What interesting is that the highest one is only at 41.7 MPG.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/accord/2014/hybrid%20l4

[acdii]

:) Goes to show, don't trust car reviewers. Just imagine the stink that will get when HAH owners are getting results like we do, and say But the car reviewers got good, why cant I? :) Nothing new here, I mean it's not like a tried and true Prius, or a more real world estimated Camry/Avalon.

[Ted Swing]

The early reviewers probably drove the car in October, so they would have missed most of the cold. Perhaps not coincidentally, the more recent reviews (NY Times review, Edmunds' comparison) are less glowing about the MPG. I think cold probably explains some of those differences (MPG in the high 40s vs. low 40s).

Edited January 30, 2014 by Ted Swing

[dalesky]

I agree that it's odd. One thing I find interesting is that the comments about HAH MPG are overwhelmingly positive. At this time last year, none of the car reviews really had positive things to say about FFH or C-Max MPG. If the positive reviewer experiences translate to positive owner experiences, then I think Honda will really have a hit. That's my point in posting the different reviews where the journalist comments about getting great MPG. Because that didn't really happen with the FFH reviews last year...

Yeah, all the Fusion got, consistently, was that it was the best driving/handling sedan! That's a reason many of us tried it out in the first place I would think. I know I did.

The MPG was consistently criticized, with good reason. I too love the fact that there is more competition in this segment, from legitimate family sedans.

 

Just like reviews in Consumer Reports, I always read any car reviews with a skeptical attitude, and remember that reviewers, just like us, have biases.

I subscribe to 3 car mags, and 2 newsletters, and overwhelmingly the reviews are all about bigger, faster, longer, prettier, and more horses. While I like reading some of them, do I really give a s#$t about the four door Porsche? Or the M3 or M4 or M5 or M7 Beamer? (did I miss one?)

I still am lusting after the 2015 Mustang turbocharged, not even on the market yet. I won't care much about reviews. Or MPG. Or price. I just know I want one!

[dalesky]

The early reviewers probably drove the car in October, so they would have missed most of the cold. Perhaps not coincidentally, the more recent reviews (NY Times review, Edmunds' comparison) are less glowing about the MPG. I think cold probably explains some of those differences (MPG in the high 40s vs. low 40s).

Granted, I don't live in the cold Northern or North Eastern areas, but it has been staying under 32 degrees here for a few days now, and I can still get decent mid 40's. I want heat, and I use the seat heaters, as well as cranking up the temp to at least 75 right away, as well as using the remote start while I am walking to the car. For me, knowing that EPA figures are generally inaccurate, I am happy with the mileage during the last almost 8 months. The Honda system sounds good, but it also seems that they have invented a new system of very complex components, which are untested.

[hybridbear]

The Honda system sounds good, but it also seems that they have invented a new system of very complex components, which are untested.

I agree. It'll be interesting to see how the HAH holds up long term.

[jsolan]

I'm really excited about this and the Fusion S Hybrid. I really think we're close to a tipping point of hybrid technology. For a long time hybrid meant Prius or really expensive. With the S series from Ford getting closer to a $25k MSRP and Honda's perception of being a good dependable car for the average driver, I think we'll start seeing more "average" car buyers in hybrids. With a bigger market share we'll see more money invested and more advances come out of it.

 

While Honda isn't my thing and I kind of want it to do worse in mileage than the fusion, I really hope it takes off for them. Competition is never a bad thing.

[hybridbear]

The HAH is beginning to win awards

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/honda-accord-hybrid-wins-2014-motorweek-drivers-choice-award-244058771.html

[hybridbear]

A good YouTube review. I believe this guy also spoke very highly of the FFH when it first came out last winter

 

He says that the HAH gets 3 MPG than the Prius on his commute and 7 MPG better than the FFH. I really want to drive one now to put it to the test!

Edited February 8, 2014 by hybridbear

[corncobs]

I agree not a bad review.

I don't mind the outside except the blue accent stuff but on the inside it wouldn't be my choice at all and I would look at it 2.5 h per day.

[hybridbear]

I agree not a bad review.

I don't mind the outside except the blue accent stuff but on the inside it wouldn't be my choice at all and I would look at it 2.5 h per day.

I agree that the interior design isn't as nice as the FFH. I don't like the fact that Honda has 3 screens in the center console. The top non-touch screen, the middle touch screen and the bottom LCD climate control display screen. I think that their system appears much more complicated than the much maligned MFT...

[Ted Swing]

I liked the review. HAH certainly seems like a good car, with many of the same strengths of the FFH.

 

I'm still a little skeptical that the difference in real world driving will be 7 MPG between the FFH and HAH when all is said and done, but I guess we'll see.

 

Edit: Just for example, the limited data fueleconomy.gov has right now shows the 2014 FFH at 40.6 MPG and 2014 HAH at 40.7 MPG. The HAH was released a little bit later, but still that doesn't seem to reflect a difference as big as some are suggesting.

Edited February 8, 2014 by Ted Swing

[hybridbear]

I'm at a local Honda dealer now to test drive an HAH. I'll report my observations later.

[hybridbear]

Home now from the drive. The Accord Hybrid EX-L is a very nice car. But it is not as nice as the FFH.

 

Fuel Economy

When the salesman pulled the HAH around he had the heat cranked up so it sat and idled for a few minutes. Before leaving, I shut it off and reset all the trip meters and fuel consumption displays. The HAH does not provide as much fuel economy info as the FFH and this is a major strike against it for me. I drove a mixed city highway route with 35-40 MPH speed limit streets and 55 MPH speed limit freeway for a total of 15.0 miles round trip. The round trip took slightly more than 30 minutes. The outside temp was about 14F. When I left the dealer with the HAH the coolant wasn't warm enough for the ICE to shut off when the HVAC was on, but it was warm enough for the ICE to shut off without the HVAC being on. Just as I do in the FFH, I watched to make sure that the HVAC wasn't causing the ICE to run extra and I hardly used the HVAC for the first 2-3 miles. Once the coolant warmed up enough I left the HVAC set to Auto at 66F. After returning to the dealer and chatting with the (fairly knowledgeable) salesman about hybrids and the Accord in general, I took the FFH on the exact same route to compare fuel economy, acceleration, etc on the same roads. I even had almost the exact same sequence of red lights. I tried to drive the two cars as identically as possible. The FFH left the dealer with a useable SOC of 33% according to the ScanGauge and ended the drive with a useable SOC of 31%. The HAH began the drive with 5 bars on its battery display and ended with 4 bars. The fuel economy results are below.

 

 

The FFH did about 3 MPG better in the same drive. This is negligible to me and it appears that the HAH would get about the same MPG as the FFH. At least at 14F with limited heat and a slightly warm ICE to start they are pretty close.

 

Hybrid Powertrain

The HAH ICE is much louder than the FFH ICE with the new resonance chamber. It is about the same level of noise and the FFH ICE without the resonance chamber. It drives very similarly to the FFH except for its clutch to connect the ICE to the wheels on the freeway. The FFH can connect the ICE to the wheels without a clutch. Generally speaking the car begins to accelerate in EV mode and then the ICE comes on. The ICE seems to rev more slowly than the FFH ICE, but it quickly reaches a loud roar. Once you reach your cruising speed and ease up on the pedal the HAH quickly drops into EV mode and will cruise in EV just like the FFH at city speeds. The HAH provides minimal feedback about the hybrid system. There is a small display in the center of the speedometer which can display the ICE, the HVB and the wheels and show if the ICE is on or off. The display never seemed to show any power going from the ICE to charge the battery, the lines always indicated that power was leaving the battery. I know that this is not correct because I watched the HVB charge bars increase while accelerating using the ICE.

 

Highway Cruising

When cruising on the highway the HAH engaged the clutch to connect the ICE directly to the wheels. When accelerating onto the freeway it was using both ICE & HVB power. The transition when the clutch engages is a noticeable lurch in your momentum. The HAH will go into EV mode at highway speeds of 60+ MPH. When the ICE first starts after EV at highway speeds the clutch doesn't stay engaged and must re-engage after the ICE starts, resulting in another lurch when it engages. There is no noticeable lurch when the ICE shuts off at freeway speed and the clutch disengages. In the few (about 4) miles I drove on the freeway, the HAH appeared to show about 35-40 instant MPG with the clutch engaged. With the clutch engaged it didn't show current flowing in/out of the HVB.

 

Handling

The FFH has a sportier feel than the HAH. The steering has more feedback in the FFH. The HAH steering is light and limp and feels like driving the Prius.

 

Regen Braking

The HAH has better regen braking. The brake pedal feel is very much the same in the FFH, the HAH and the Prius, but the Prius & HAH can brake harder without engaging the brake pads according to their respective displays.

 

Interior Design

The Honda interior design is terrible!!! There are 3 screens in the center of the dash. The top one is what's show in the pic above and the current trip fuel economy data is the only useful info it can display. This is the screen where the back-up camera displays and the Lane Watch camera displays. The middle screen displays the radio/cell phone info. The middle screen is a touch screen. I'm young and tech savvy, and I was very frustrated by that screen. I had a hard time using it to control the radio since radio information will display on both the small screen and the big top screen once you start fiddling with it. I couldn't figure out how to display the song titles/station info anywhere on the screens. Then right below the middle touch screen are the HVAC controls and a small LED screen for the HVAC settings.

 

The center console is well designed. The parking brake is a console mounted lever and the cup holders are well placed. I agree with Alex from the YouTube video above that the location of the USB port is awful because it means you will have cords strung all over the car and there's no privacy to leave an iPod plugged in all the time out of sight like in the FFH. The seats are comfortable, but feel firmer than the FFH. My wife's first comment was that the seats are too firm and that it "feels like a Honda". Saying it "feels like a Honda" is not a compliment. While the dash materials are better than the TCH, they are nowhere near as nice as the FFH. The buttons don't feel like they are as high quality as in the FFH. The moonroof buttons and seat adjustment buttons feel especially cheap.

 

There is no compass built in, at least not in the EX-L trim (without navigation) that I drove. The outside temp is only displayed on the dash and is not visible to passengers in the car. The rear view mirror is auto-dimming. There are no garage door opener buttons except on the top-of-the-line Touring trim.

 

I didn't take the time to check out the back seat space because it was very cold outside. I also didn't spend much time looking at the trunk other than to confirm that the trunk is useless when the rear seats don't fold down. Back when we had our 2006 Accord Hybrid and out Saab 9-5 Aero, we often had to take the Saab because the Accord Hybrid didn't have a folding rear seat and had limited trunk space because of the batteries.

 

Safety Features

The rear camera has a really strange perspective that makes it look like the parking space is extremely narrow. The space I backed into when returning to the dealer was wide enough that the doors on both sides of the HAH could be opened all the way without hitting another car. However, the camera made it look like I was going to knock off the mirrors of the cars on each side of me when I was backing in. The Accord Hybrid doesn't have back up sensors and they are not an option. It also doesn't have the option of front parking sensors like the FFH. The HAH has Lane Departure Warning. It will not steer you back into your lane like the FFH with Lane Keep Assist. The Honda also offers Lane Watch. This feature activates a camera in the right side mirror every time you turn on your right turn signal which displays. I found this to be incredibly annoying. I would much rather have BLIS. The HAH doesn't offer any sort of blind spot monitoring system.

 

Exterior Design

The HAH looks nice from the outside, but not as nice as the FFH. However, the HAH does include driving lights!!! The DRLs are LEDs like the Prius and look very nice. There are no fog lights on the EX-L, but based on pictures in the Accord brochure it appears that the Accord Hybrid Touring does have fog lights. The HAH has LED tail lights and also separate bulbs for the turn signals in back.

 

Overall Summary

If you were to get into a Fusion Hybrid without the Ford badges you could easily think that you're sitting in a car that costs $45k+. When you hear about the available safety features on the FFH you could easily think that you're talking about a car that costs $45k+. When you look at the exterior design of the FFH you compare its looks with cars that cost $45k+. None of those statements apply to the HAH. The Accord Hybrid feels like a cheap car. The Accord Hybrid is not a cheap car, it costs over $36k for a Touring model and still has less features than our FFH SE. Our FFH SE had a sticker price of $37,395. For that extra $1000 over the HAH we have BLIS, Active Park Assist, Premium Paint, Premium Floor Mats & Premium 18-inch Wheels. That's a lot of extras for only $1000 more than the HAH. The only feature that the HAH has at that price that our FFH SE does not is Push Button Start.

 

Hopefully the HAH will cannibalize some Accord sales and get more people driving hybrids, but it is not serious competition for the Fusion Hybrid. The Fusion Hybrid is still, hands down, the best sedan on the market. The test drive has reaffirmed my certainty that the FFH is the best mass-market sedan available.

 

Fusion Hybrid Advantages

• Handling
• Steering feel
• Interior design/material quality
• Available safety features
• Exterior design
• Hybrid driving feedback
• MyFordTouch infotainment system

Accord Hybrid Advantages

• Better regen brakes
• Driving Lights are a standard feature
• Separate bulbs from brake lights for rear turn signals
• Push Button Start is standard on all trim levels
• Larger gas tank size and more range

Edited February 9, 2014 by hybridbear

[corncobs]

I haven't even read everything but did you ever think about doing hybrid car reviews?

 

Nice summary well done !

[Ted Swing]

Thanks for the review. I think I would also stick with the FFH if I had it to over again, but agree that it would be nice if the FFH could adopt a few of features that HAH has an advantage in.

 

In particular, I think LED DRLs you mention look nice on the cars (typically BMWs, etc.) that I see them on regularly. Clearly they don't require a luxury car if the HAH can have them in the same price range. That seems like a pretty simple missed opportunity for Ford, like replacing the standard antenna with a shark fin as many of us have done.

[acdii]

Very good review. The people who will buy it are those who would never buy a Ford, no matter how good it is, and dont like Toyota. That clutch thing you mentioned would drive me nuts. I do like that it shows a greater range though, something ours lack. I went further on a tank in the 2010 than the new one because of the larger tank. But, have to make some sacrifices for trunk space. After putting over 25,000 miles on the 2013, there isnt any other car out there that I would rather have.

[hybridbear]

Very good review. The people who will buy it are those who would never buy a Ford, no matter how good it is, and dont like Toyota. That clutch thing you mentioned would drive me nuts. I do like that it shows a greater range though, something ours lack. I went further on a tank in the 2010 than the new one because of the larger tank. But, have to make some sacrifices for trunk space. After putting over 25,000 miles on the 2013, there isnt any other car out there that I would rather have.

Great point about the range! I added that to my list of HAH advantages. I had forgotten that when typing last night. I agree that there are a lot of ppl who won't buy a Ford. I'm still shocked that my dad agreed to have a Ford is his garage and to even drive it...

 

One thing in summary: I will absolutely recommend that ppl test drive the Accord Hybrid, I just won't recommend it as highly as the Fusion Hybrid.

 

I don't know how many of you have read the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, but I highly recommend it if you haven't. For those who have, or have read the wikipedia summary, you'll see that he talks about 3 different types of people who are factors in getting something to its tipping point. People who have read the book and know me say that I fit in the category of the mavens. When ppl ask me about cars, I always recommend hybrids/PHEVs/diesels based on their circumstances and I recommend the FFH as the best of the sedans. Now the rank for hybrids will be: FFH, HAH, C-Max, Prius, TCH. So far there are two couples that we know who are now planning to get a hybrid as their next vehicle, prior to learning about them from me they didn't really know about hybrids, now they know lots about them...

[inco]

Good review and some interesting observations. I doubt I would have noticed as many things as you did, but I would not be 'reviewing it' so to speak, rather just driving it. How many miles did the Honda have on it? If it was a brand new car the mpg might be improving down the road and that might make it more in line with what you get with your car.

 

Is the HAH assembled in America? Most Accords are, but being a Hybrid maybe Honda has a different plant for them? Just thinking about assembly quality because many people buy a Japanese car because they perceive them to be better built, especially if coming from Japan.

[murphy]

Is the HAH assembled in America? Most Accords are, but being a Hybrid maybe Honda has a different plant for them? Just thinking about assembly quality because many people buy a Japanese car because they perceive them to be better built, especially if coming from Japan.

When I was a kid, a very long time ago, anything marked as being made in Japan was considered to be junk.

[ptek]

I immediately noticed the loud engine roar when I test drove the HAH. As soon as the accelerator was pressed, even a small amount, the engine would rev up and roar. That and the lack of instrumentation put it lower on my list. The FFH has a similar rev and roar behavior, but it is much less noticable to me. The Avalon hybrid is the quietest hybrid I've been in. The engine noise just blends in with the tire and wind noise.

[jsolan]

Excellent review. It falls in line with what I expected. Have you tried the Avalon hybrid by chance? Its price range is still in that mid-upper 30's that the HAH and well equipped FFH are.

[acdii]

If I were to recommend another Hybrid aside from the FFH, it would only be the Avalon. Based on my experiences with both the Prius and Camry, I can't in good conscious recommend them. The 13 TCH has improved, but still below what the FFH has to offer. The Prius still gives me and my wife nightmares, it is not a country car. To me the Honda is, bleh, doesn't do anything to make me want to even look at one. We had Accords in the past, they were OK cars, but thats about it, OK.

[hybridbear]

Good review and some interesting observations. I doubt I would have noticed as many things as you did, but I would not be 'reviewing it' so to speak, rather just driving it. How many miles did the Honda have on it? If it was a brand new car the mpg might be improving down the road and that might make it more in line with what you get with your car.

 

Is the HAH assembled in America? Most Accords are, but being a Hybrid maybe Honda has a different plant for them? Just thinking about assembly quality because many people buy a Japanese car because they perceive them to be better built, especially if coming from Japan.

The HAH had 3 miles on the odometer. It had just arrived off the truck yesterday morning and no one else had driven it before I did. It isn't for sale, it's going into their vehicle loaner fleet for the Service Dept. The salesman said that once it gets checked in to that fleet it cannot be used for test drives. Since it was unloaded off the truck on a Saturday he said that Honda wouldn't know that they had it until Monday so he got permission for me to drive it. On Monday it will go into their Service Dept loaner fleet and will be off limits to the sales staff. The HAH is built in Ohio along with the other Accords. I agree that the MPGs will likely improve with time. In my ScanGauge thread I mention that I have been tracking data on every FFH trip since before we got the white one. I am getting close to having enough data points to begin doing some reasonable statistical analysis. I want to segregate the trips by length and other factors to analyze them because otherwise the data is rather meaningless with the randomness of our driving patterns.

[hybridbear]

Excellent review. It falls in line with what I expected. Have you tried the Avalon hybrid by chance? Its price range is still in that mid-upper 30's that the HAH and well equipped FFH are.

I haven't driven the Avalon Hybrid. I'm not really interested in it because it isn't different mechanically from the TCH. The main thing I was interested in with the HAH is the powertrain. I'm impressed with the Honda design apart from the fact that the highway speed clutch doesn't engage smoothly. If Honda can improve that then the HAH will be even better.