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24 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 18, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Honda Accord Hybrid has planet-hugging power By Jim Robinson OAKVILLE BEAVER SPECIAL EVERYTHING Auto your guide to everything auto in Oakville on by a display that runs along the bottom of the centrally-mounted speedometer. At the centre is a bright green light that comes on and says "ECO" when you are cruising with the VCM activated. It serves a double purpose. It lets the driver know when he/she is running most economically. It also encourages the driver to stay in that mode as much as possible because the little 'ECO' green light lets you know you are saving gas, money and stretching out those service station stops. At the same time, there is a row of about 20 light green lights to the left and 20 pale blue lights to the right of the ECO indicator that let you know when and how vigorously you are charging or discharging the battery respectively. There is also an icon that gives a depiction of the level of battery charge. With a little bit of practice you soon learn how to use the lights to keep charging to the maximum and power use to a minimum. The trick to good mileage is to feather the gas pedal so as few as possible blue lights are illuminated. The recharged green lights, on the other hand, light up by touching the brake or just coasting. Those little green lights indicating regenerative engine braking are not only entertaining, but give a real sense of getting the most out of the IMA system. Similarly, you don't have to be on the highway to get the green VCM ECO light to work. It switches to three cylinders on any street as long as you hold a steady pace. According to Energuide, the Accord Hybrid has a fuel consumption ratio of 8.2L/100 km city and 6.1L/100 km highway, an improvement over the 11/5L/100 km city, and 7.5L/100 km highway of the regular V6 Accord. The Accord Hybrid does not qualify for the recent federal budget tax break scheme, but it does qualify for the full $2,000 tax credit in Ontario and British Columbia. The 2007 Accord Hybrid has a list price of INSIDE: Volvo celebrates 80th Anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 26 Nissan February sales results . . . . . . . . . . .Page 26 Thanks to the efforts of people like Al Gore, the general public is, more than ever, concerned about the environment and ready to do something about protecting it. Honda has been on the leading edge of finding ways to make new methods of propulsion a reality, including bringing out the Insight, the world's first commercially available production hybrid vehicle leading up the 2007 Accord Hybrid sedan tested here. Honda's approach to hybrids is the opposite of Toyota. Instead of an engine augmenting electric drive, Honda's Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) is just that, a DC electric motor that boosts the V6 engine's power, but with four-cylinder economy of operation. Think of it as an electric supercharger when accelerating and a dynamo when braking. When cruising, Honda's Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) shuts down three of the six cylinders, thus saving gasoline. When stopped, the engine shuts down and the car switches to electric/battery support for all systems thus saving more gas. Lift your foot off the brake pedal and the engine turns itself on. And when braking, the IMA captures kinetic energy through the transmission and that, in turn, is used to recharge the battery. The IMA system is also used to start the car, although there is a normal car battery as a back up. Turn the ignition key and the IMA spins the engine into life rather than cranks it. Hit the gas hard, and the battery kicks in with extra power you can feel. But when it's best is at passing and lane changes on super highways when that little bit extra can mean the different in merging and getting caught out. Honda lets the driver know what's going EVERYTHIN The 2007 Honda Accord is also offered with a hybrid drive system and improves fuel consumption at a time when buyers are beginning to take vehicle impact on the environment more seriously than ever. $38,090, or $40,590 with the optional navigation system as fitted in my test car. The Navi system had the name of the little crescent where I live displayed as I headed for home, which I thought was pretty cool. The amount of data must be huge on the DVD Navi system, because I noticed there was a separate DVD for the U.S. in the glove box. But the Navi does more than just show where you're going. You can quite literally tell it where to go. With included bilingual Voice Recognition, the system can respond to more than 600 spoken commands. For instance, you can program in a destination, change the heating or air conditioning or pick a certain CD track on the 180-watt, sixspeaker audio system by a single word or two. The Hybrid is based on the normal V6 Accord in that it uses the same 3.0-litre twincam engine, which in Accord form produces 244 hp and 211 lb/ft of torque. The IMA boosts that to 253 hp and 232 lb/ft of torque. There is no manual transmission offered on the Hybrid, instead it gets a special compact five-speed automatic. To lessen unsprung weight, the Hybrid gets special lightweight alloy wheels instead of the bigger 17-inch alloys found on the V6 Accord. The Hybrid's wheels are aerodynamically designed to reduce drag. You don't think of Hondas as being big, but the Accord has a passenger volume of 2,766 litres and a longish wheelbase of 2,740 mm. Coupled with the width of 1,850, the Accord feels more like a full-size car inside Continued on Page 25 OAKVILLE HONDA OFFERS A LARGE SELECTION OF PRE-OWNED VEHICLES. 2005 Mazda RX-8 GT 2005 Nissan Altima S 2001 Mazda Protegé ES 2001 Honda Civic LX stock#P1411 stock#P70738A stock#70581A stock#814277 Only 16,000 km, 6 speed transmission, features include y p power sunroof and black leather interior, finished in Silver, Only 51,000 km, automatic transmission, features include the power group of options, alloy wheels and spoiler, p y finished in Silver Offered for Only 122,000 km, automatic transmission, features the p power group of options, p power sunroof, and alloy wheels, finished in Silver Offered for Only 39,000 km, Coupe edition, automatic transmission, y p features air and the power group of options, finished in Blue Offered for $32,900.00 $18,900.00 $9,900.00 $13,900.00 500 Iroquois Shore Road, Oakville 905-844-9831