Parents just bought 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid... against my advice. Hmm.

[MetroMPG]

Thanks for the reply! I take it you've looked into disabling assist? I'm sure others have, but my searching uncovered nothing about doing this in a CVT Civic.

And, yes, I know that without assist, the engine + CVT combo in this car is a dog - I've experienced it. But I'm used to driving a 74 hp Mirage and 50 hp Metro/Firefly. It's all relative.

Coasting in N and disabling assist at will would be the ideal combination, but otherwise I see your point about just using the "engine braking" regen.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Thanks for the reply! I take it you've looked into disabling assist? I'm sure others have, but my searching uncovered nothing about doing this in a CVT Civic.

And, yes, I know that without assist, the engine + CVT combo in this car is a dog - I've experienced it. But I'm used to driving a 74 hp Mirage and 50 hp Metro/Firefly. It's all relative.

Coasting in N and disabling assist at will would be the ideal combination, but otherwise I see your point about just using the "engine braking" regen.

The CVT essentially isolates you from having any meaningful control over assist/regen.

Most hypermiling techniques are negated by the hybrid function. With a marginal battery, a 50/50 surface street/freeway commute and no A/C, I was able to consistently get 51-53mpg as follows:

1. Limit surface street acceleration to 2000rpm. Highway: 2500-3000 depending on traffic.
2. Punch it firm off the line to cause the assist to spike and then taper off at the rpm limit.
3. Use "engine braking" as much as possible, brake early/gently to avoid binder use.
4. Limit surface street speed to 42-44mph, highway to exactly 65mph.

That's it. Even with 1 forced recalibration per drive, I was able to maintain that mileage.

While terribly inefficient, you may want to force charge the battery to full. Simply hold rpm at 2500-3500 while in park while the car displays charge bars. Once complete, you'll have 8 bars of charge, and it won't charge at the high rpm idle.

Another option is to disconnect the 12V for 2 minutes, start and let car idle charge until it stops charging. Repeat a total of 3 times.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I know that without assist, the engine + CVT combo in this car is a dog - I've experienced it. But I'm used to driving a 74 hp Mirage and 50 hp Metro/Firefly. It's all relative.

The very same engine had been fitted without any hybrid assistance to the European 8th-generation Civic hatchback for instance, even though in some Western European markets the Civic sedan had only been offered as a hybrid at that time.

[MetroMPG]

It'd be fine with a manual. I bet it wasn't offered with a CVT!

----

I just drove the car again. And before I started it, I opened the main fuse panel under the hood to see if there was something I could disable...

The only thing that looked promising was a fuse called "MG Clutch". I thought... "Motor/Generator clutch???" This could be fantastic! I pulled it.

Then I remembered the MG is not clutched in this version of IMA. (It is in the latest version, but not back in 2009).

I have no idea what MG Clutch means in this car.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

It'd be fine with a manual. I bet it wasn't offered with a CVT!

----

I just drove the car again. And before I started it, I opened the main fuse panel under the hood to see if there was something I could disable...

The only thing that looked promising was a fuse called "MG Clutch". I thought... "Motor/Generator clutch???" This could be fantastic! I pulled it.

Then I remembered the MG is not clutched in this version of IMA. (It is in the latest version, but not back in 2009).

I have no idea what MG Clutch means in this car.

There's a compressor clutch fuse in this car. I can't find anything in the service manual fuse information relating to "MG Clutch." Can you tell me from where you pulled it?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

It'd be fine with a manual. I bet it wasn't offered with a CVT!

You mean the European hatchback 8th-generation Civic? Back in the day, AMTs were more popular among European customers. The hybrid sedan OTOH still resorted to the CVT even in Europe, where AFAIK it was sourced from Japan.