Advice for Green Car buying.
This is the demo of a high fuel efficiency technique called CVT shifting being performed on a 2006-2010 Honda Civic Hybrid. By GreenDriving with the support of CHOG (Canadian Hybrid Owners Group). Please visit us at... members.shaw.ca ... for more information.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
@bogdanp9 You seem not to understand the engines of today. You have to understand that old cars used to foul their plugs while running on low rpm while under load, that they used to damage their clutch because the applied moment the engine could make caused the clutch to slip… THAT WAS ALL A BAD ENGINEERING DESIGN. Face it.
It was a BUG, NOT A FEATURE.
I went down from 5.5L/100 km to 4L/100km by driving in neutral on idle after rapid acceleration. On a 1997 car, 2L engine.
What the hell? Are you going downhill?
Hmm this is interesting I thought CVT’s didnt have ‘gears’ ?
Lower rpm doesnt always = better fuel economy.
At very low revs the engine will be laboring, even if it is getting better economy it will be doing damage to the engine.
Hybrids are a con anyway and untill americas fuel prices reach that of the uk( 5 pounds or 8 us dollars per gallon) you wont know what real economy is
@hypermiling I agree, F1 engines are designed for high rpm…… but those engines will have gone through it’s useful life at the end of 500 laps…
like pumping the break, with cvt pump the gas!
Ofcourse it will and you are much better driving a manual its more fun
This is a car, not a locomotive. It’s not meant to develop full power all the time. The upper part of an engine’s power band is for increased short duration performance. If we applied your logic then we could have efficient cars by just dropping everyone’s rev limiter down. But there are times when max performance is warranted.
Nice video! I would have to disagree with the comment that this is hard on the engine though. Granted, these little engines are designed to get max hp on the high end, but its significantly reducing the amount revolutions the engine has to make to go. It would be bad if the engine was struggling, but its driving happily. Its the same reason an old persons car is usually a gem to find. The engine never had to rev high and work hard. If this is how this car is driven all the time, it will last.
Lower RPM doesn’t mean lower consumption.
Will the frequent ‘surprises’ the driver gives the CVT computer not eventually damage the clutch/torque converter/etc? My CVT Micra has an electromagnetic clutch which costs more to replace than the car itself, apparently… I’d like to know if this technique causes more stress on those components.
Fair point but the only thing that doesn’t add up, is, CVTs don’t shift. So is it a CVT or just an automatic gearbox which shifts at very low revs?
I asked the gent on the video. And here’s his answer:
“This car was designed with world class environmental engineering capable of meeting the highest emissions standards and achieving the lowest fuel consumption in its class.
While driving in compliance with our local laws, keeping RPMS as low as possible is the best way to not only achieve the goals this car was designed to meet, but also begin to meet our personal and collective environmental and non-renewable fuel usage obligations.”
Agreed.
” A wide RPM range is offered for fuel efficient driving ” then why don’t you use at least half of it ?
A wide RPM range is offered for fuel efficient driving (the primary design goal for this car) and also for the occasional 0-60 performance when needed. Even though Max RPM gives you max power (and more engine stress) the fuel economy will always suffer, so its pretty obvious which side of the RPM range this car likes.
I understand what you are saying but why does it still have the old tachometer up to 6-7 thousand RPM if it’s best used at 1-2 thousand RPM ?!
Your argument makes no sense at all. This engine was designed to produce max torque at 1000+rpm in tandem with the electric motor and CVT for maximum efficiency. Engine will wear better and live longer with this kind of driving.
that kind of driving is not good for the engine. i understand all the hypermilling stuff and agree to it, but not when the driving style is bad for the engine. If it was designed with all those revs (6000) maybe it means that the engineers at honda knew what they were doing and want you to use if not all, most of them (3-4000 rpm) at least when accelerating
This driver have a feather right foot :].
Continuously Variable Transmission.
im just confused casue i know some new cars that have CVT and paddle shifters. How does that work?
what is cvt ?
and try to avoid braking. wen u get to a red light just ride it out n hope the light turns green befor u rear end the car in front of u. it saves ur brakes and gas cuz u dnt have to accelerate after braking
is driving a cvt the same as automatic (P, R, N, D, …)