Test drove today.. Questions for people who know.

FYI you can pull up the side mirror all the time be clicking the button on the blinker.. not sure how much you'll use it but thought I'd let you know about that too. Good luck on testing one I really enjoy mine

 

dnb said "Yes, and I'm one of the people who agree with this design. I use it to slow down sometimes, but I don't want to constantly have a 4 "chevron" drag whenever I lift off the gas. I want to be able to coast without having to click 4 times to reset it back to 1 chevron.

For sport mode it makes more sense, as you'd be more likely wanting to have fast acceleration and deceleration when cornering and such, so not really coasting."



I agree with dnb. There are times when I only want 2 chevron for a short distance, then I add 3 and 4 as I approach a light. If someone is turning left ahead of me, I use 2 and if they turn, I accelerate. I like controlling the amount of regen each time. I also use the regen sparingly in traffic and if the traffic is heavy, I would not want to take my foot off the gas and slow down too quickly. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about the regen difference vs sport mode but now I am much happier to customize it to the driving conditions.

 

I'm puzzled by your comment, because regen isn't active when you press the accelerator - it's not a drag on acceleration - it's only active when decelerating.

 

If you slow down you will most likely have to speed up again. Acceleration is one of the biggest drains on car energy. Steady speed is the cure.

 

You don't have to click 4 (actually 3) times to get back to default region. Just hold the right paddle for a couple of seconds and it automatically goes to 1.

 

Hold the right paddle a little longer and it goes to zero chevrons.

 

I find that in HV mode at over 45 mph, the engine usually provides the required retarding force. I should have made it clear that I was not excluding HV mode. I have just not driven the Clarity in HV mode except when on a freeway or similar road, with an over 45 mph speed limit.

 

Read the rest of my comment. I'm talking about it being a drag when trying to coast. Coasting is the most effective method of traveling since you are not using energy and decreasing in speed the least amount so traveling the farthest on the amount of energy spent. Regenning (esp over 1 (default) chevron) consumes more energy than it "saves" and is able to return. So it makes sense that it will want to regen the least amount possible whenever you take your foot off the accelerator. In fact I'd rather have 0 regen instead of 1 by default so I can coast more.

Still a hassle and if it takes a few seconds I've already lost a lot of speed.

 

I wish the Clarity PHEV had a paddle-method to eliminate the default regen and achieve genuine coasting without having to feather the accelerator while watching the Power/Charge Gauge instead of the road.

 

I was curious about this and tested it. Its just the chevon display timing out. There is the same amount of drag / regen when coasting and if you don't do anything the (don't hold anything) the chevron also disappears after a few seconds of not using the paddles.

 

Holding the right (+) paddle works to return to default regen in SPORT Mode. Otherwise, you're right, you might just as well wait for the chevrons to disappear in the other two modes.

 

Right, I'd thought he meant holding it turns it into 0 aka no regen breaking when lifting off the accelerator. Sadly it just sets it back to normal (1)

 

I used to think like you, wanting no automatic regen because the efficiency of coasting is so much greater. Then I got a Bolt. I have become a convert. Yes, I would probably be slightly more efficient if I had a real coast mode. But my wife is hugely more efficient in one pedal mode. If she has to push the brake pedal, she isn't going to pay attention to if she is pressing hard enough to cause the friction brakes to engage (like I suspect 95% of people who just want to drive and not pay attention to efficiency). I do wish the Bolt had a "notch" that made it easy to have the acceleration pedal right at coast.

 

It's funny, I think I'm fairly geeky about my electric cars (I also have a Leaf), but it always shocks me how much thought and effort people want to put into their driving. All this talk about pressing the paddles a certain number of times when the traffic is a certain way, etc. It seems exhausting to me! On the Leaf, you have two choices for the amount of Regen, normal, which is not very much, and B mode, which has a moderate amount of regen. That's a reasonable choice. Set it when you start to drive, and don't think about it.

I find the way the paddles work on the Clarity baffling. Makes no sense to me that you would use the paddles to set a regen level but then it changes? I've tried it, I don't understand it. I find myself constantly looking for those small arrows. Why would I want it constantly changing? Too much looking and thinking, and pressing of buttons. The idea is that when you take your foot off the accelerator, the car should "brake" for you at your desired level. It's supposed to be simpler one pedal driving with less moving of your foot from the accelerator to the brake. The selected level should stay until you change it.

It seems that a few people in this thread seem to think that using the paddles uses more regen than pressing the brake pedal. It does not. Pressing the brake pedal will do the same thing, as long as you are not braking hard and using the disc brakes.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks I guess!

 

Hapex, thanks for your Tesla story, very interesting reading.

 

After 19 years, I'm still driving a stick-shift Honda Insight. The ability to determine how fast the engine is turning and how much power I'm recovering through regeneration enabled me to top 85 mpg for a tankful. Sure, I could just drive the car and accept 65 mpg, but the car was designed to maximize fuel-efficiency and I bought the car for that reason. My driving behavior couldn't be more different than an owner of a 700-hp Dodge Demon, who loves to burn rubber, but my driving philosophy is the same in that I enjoy making the most of the car's abilities.

Honda included the obliquely named "Deceleration Paddle Selectors" to provide a means of slowing down without using the brakes. You are correct that the brake pedal provides even more regenerated power than the paddles, but that's not the point. The point is that people who want to be involved in using their Clarity PHEV in the way it was envisioned by its designers will learn how to use all the features of the car as those designers intended. Similarly, motivated drivers will learn how to use the Clarity's different modes to balance their consumption of battery power and gasoline to minimize the use of gasoline without sacrificing the Clarity's driveability by allowing the battery to become depleted.

If the Clarity's amazingly complex braking system wasn't so smooth (it includes a mechanism called a "Pedal Feel Simulator"), the driver could feel when the calipers are activated and back off to achieve maximum regeneration without causing brake wear and the wasteful generation of heat. The left paddle provides a heat-free alternative to the brake pedal that works great unless you enjoy tailgating closely behind other cars.

One of the great things about the Clarity PHEV is drivers who can't be bothered with the car's modes and paddles can just get in and drive. They don't even have to plug the car in because they can just go to the gas station every 280 miles, the way I used to do in my 1959 Chevy.

 

Wait. There was a stick shift hybrid!?! How did I miss this? The only downside to getting my Clarity was its my first non manual.

 

The 2000-2006 Insight and the 2010-2016 CR-Z Honda Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) mild hybrids were available with a stick shift. I've come to accept there will never to be a Honda i-MMD hybrid with a manual transmission.