Honda's new "i-DCD" hybrid system: bye-bye "IMA", hello Prius competition (finally!)

[sheepdog 44]

Well EV mode if i'm correct in the Prius and Insight spins the shutdown engine giving pumping losses as well as propelling the car. Which is inefficient.

From what i gather the new system will decouple from the engine, allowing all the electricity to power the motor and move the car. The better half of it is your regen can be much more efficient cause you get rid of engine braking, and transmission loses.

[MetroMPG]

In Honda's IMA system with EV mode, the engine always turns, whether it's running or not.

Toyota's system only turns the engine in EV mode above ~40 mph. Below that, the engine is stopped, minimizing EV mode losses compared to Honda's (previous) approach.

[Flakbadger]

Awesome article!

I do have one question, why do the magazines like Consumer Reports hate CVT's so much?
Probably the same type of reason they didn't recommend my car (because "the engine lacks power.")---a biased and incorrect opinion?

[MetroMPG]

why do the magazines ... hate CVT's so much?

My opinion: because it's not what they're used to. If they'd grown up driving CVT's, they'd surely complain about the herky-jerky-stepped-RPM nature of fixed ratio automatics & manuals.