Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

Oh, ok good. I definitely leave it in D when I know I won't be sitting long. Thanks Manuel.

Kacey, I'll try switching to L and see how that goes, thank you.

I really like getting that 1 bar of regen to drop in the mornings. It's like the magic little bar and by the time I get to work I easily have charged the battery to near full capacity even in 16 degree weather.

One other thing I noticed in the winter is that I rarely see the battery go down to 2 or 1 bars before it force recharges. Lately when it recharges the battery is at a "low" 5 or 4 bars. It then quickly recharges to 7, but not 8.

Funny, I have had this car for over 2 years and still surprises me at times.

Jess

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

Hi Msantos.

I have received a written response from a customer relations specialist with Honda Canada. He tells me that the long intermediate left and right underbody panels "are not available on Civic Hybrids produced for the Canadian Market".

He points out that Honda reserves the right to fine tune the build sheet for various countries they sell to. He cites for example that heated mirrors are standard in Canada, but omitted in the States.

I've noticed other variations over the years with various Hondas. Often the disc brake design varies, for example. Some of these component variations can be frustrating and alienating to potential customers. The heated mirrors for example: I have heated mirrors on the west coast of Canada. Meanwhile someone in the northern central US, where they might be useful, does not.

The block heater keeps coming to my mind, as a current accessory, that should be standard equipment. It is an expensive hassle to add post-sale. My dealership more-or-less threw the instructions away, and leveraged up the quoted price. Also, any after-sale install just wastes perfectly good anti-freeze.

Anyway to get back to my original issue: two other Canadian HCHII owners have responded that they also do not have these panels, in the thread I started on this question. However, you report that you do have the panels on your '06, and your wife has them on her '07. Were these 2 Civic's regularly purchased, through Canadian dealers?

If your purchases were through regular Canadian dealership, I think I'm still flogging a dead horse, but I'm just curious ;)

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

The '09 leather equipped US models do have heated mirrors finally.

I just wish the timer for the defrost actually worked, many times I'll forget and the only reason it gets turned off is because I'm restarting from a FAS (when the car kills all my darned 12v electronics GRRR)

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

My Civic may have recently demonstrated one reason that Civic Hybrids produced for the Canadian market do not have the panels. We had a rare snow event yesterday and when driving home I started hearing a scraping noise from beneath the car whenever I passed over a "dip" in the road. I stopped to look for the source of the noise and discovered that water had penetrated the joints in the panels and subsequently froze. This caused the retaining pins on both panels (on both sides) to become unfastened, allowing the panels to drag.

I'm about to call the dealership and discuss this with them. I would like to think that since both sides became damaged at the same time they would see this as a design issue and fix it at their cost.

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

bernieball,

Sorry to hear about your problem, and hope it's resolved by the dealership. I purchased the mid-panels we were missing, and put them in myself. So far no issues.

One thing I can think of for your issue: the panels lap over top of the next one at their ends. They should be installed so that the panel nearer the front-of-vehicle covers the next one in line, kind of like shingles on a roof. Maybe one was reversed?

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

The panels were in place when I purchased the car new and I'm pretty sure that they were correctly installed. Either way, there isn't anything that one could do to keep water out. I guess it would be helpful to minimize the amount. :eyebrow:

The panels are setup to shed/drain any water that gets in the area but I believe that water on the road was just above freezing and the spray just started creating a series of very thin ice layers that built up. Something had to give and thankfully it was the fasteners/pins. I had to use a car wash's power nozzle and about 4 dollars in quarters to break up the ice. The pins were about 1.90 each and I only needed 4 so I'm not set back too much.

That's probably my first issue in 74K miles (I think).

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

I highly recommend the Goodyear tires mentioned above. They worked great and my mileage did not go down at all. I do plan on purchasing two more to have a full set for next winter, and I do not expect mileage to be affected. Sams Club has them for $91.00 each. Not too shabby.

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide - Updated
 

With the onslaught of the freezing temperatures many of us are once again gunning for our winter toolkits and last year's "know-how" in an attempt to keep the FE losses at bay.

It is with this in mind that we updated the "A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide" to not only demonstrate the winterizing of the 3G 2010 Prius but also add/tweak a few other tips.

More pics will follow in the upcoming two weeks. ;)

I will also be seeking to publish a few additional pics regarding the winterizing of the 2009 HCH and the 2010 Honda Insight as soon as I get a chance ;)

Cheers;

MSantos

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

I just bought new pipe insulation. I have since removed my front decorative plate and cut the insulation to span the width of the lower grill, blocking any openings.
We have already had mornings in the mid 40's! Looking forward to the updates!

Jess

Re: A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide
 

Thanks, MSantos! This is a great article, and I learned a lot about how these hybrids drive from it.
Just one question: do any of these tips work for any other cars? There seems to be a lot of articles about the HCH-II and the Priuses in this forum, but I drive a HI-II; is there a big difference between my car and the HCH-II?

Thanks

Miles