Clarity on ECON/EV mode

[MPower]

So with the seat at its highest position and the wheel at its lowest position you can barely see the mph?

Because of that and the fact I have to pull my seat far forward so I can push the pedals (never have felt the detent on the accelerator because my legs are too short). There is no barely, unless I duck my head down to look under the top of the steering wheel, I can't see the speed at all.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

There is no barely, unless I duck my head down to look under the top of the steering wheel, I can't see the speed at all.

Are you aware the steering wheel also adjusts in and out? I wasn’t, until someone on this forum mentioned it.

Between seat up/down, steering wheel up/down and steering wheel in/out, it sure seems like some combination should let you see the speedometer. If not, maybe a cushion?

 

[dnb]

hmm, that might seem like neutral, so maybe just a happy face or some other symbol for normal. Maybe "HN" for Honda NORMAL!

ECON:

NORMAL:

SPORT:

 

[dnb]

If passing in ACC, and there are other folks around, this way (74-75) I get out of the way before someone doing 75-80 tailgates me. Just going back to manual for passing is fine too, but sometimes I get up to 77 by accident without realizing it, and that's the beginning of higher probability ticket territory on the upstate, NY side (apparently 80 is okay sometimes on the MA side).

BTW you can just press on the accelerator and leave ACC on, and when you left off the pedal it will resume the ACC, so no need to cancel / restart it, just add some "gas" and then let go after you finish passing.

 

[MPower]

Are you aware the steering wheel also adjusts in and out? I wasn’t, until someone on this forum mentioned it.

I fiddled around with all this stuff when I first got the car, but I think I have got the best combination of driving comfort, control, and safety. Nothing's perfect. But you won't hear me complaining about the wings on the gearshift bridge. For me it makes the perfect knee rest for long journies.

 

[David Towle]

Ok, today I drove to Burlington across the Greens. The car was in ECON/HV with the ACC set for 67 mph and the longest distance from the car in front. The speed of the car varied from 65 to 67 mph. There was no sudden slowing down or speeding up except when coming up on a slow vehicle. Variations in speed seemed very gradual. Frankly, I would not have noticed if I had not promised to pay attention for you. (I have to make a special effort to see the mph on the DII because the steering wheel is in the way because I am short--so irritating.)

Maybe my expectations are low because, like @Fast Eddie B, I have never had ACC before. I love it. But I agree with his assessment:

MPOWER I ran at your speeds today and that is indeed the difference in our experiences with the car. When set at 67 it has enough time to get back up to the set speed without going over the 50% power mark, even in ECON. I saw a maximum drop of 3 mph, versus your 2 mph, but it was always acceptably smooth. At 72 in ECON it always ends up dropping at least 4 mph, and on one occasion 5 below the setting, and that causes the power to spike up (very annoyingly) above 80%. So our cars appear to perform the same, its just that the ACC does not handle slightly higher speeds well.

Honda apparently needs the help of someone who better understands automatic control systems than they do. Its amazing to me that such a small change of 5 mph makes such a difference in how the car works!

 

[MPower]

@David Towle You are right about the speed. I have noticed that the car behaves better at speeds 70 mph or under. The only time I have heard angry bees was going uphill in winter with a half full SoC, the heater on and three of us in the car, temperature in the 20s. I looked down at the speedometer to see what was the matter and saw that I had been lured into exceeding 70 mph by all the traffic. The minute I slowed down to 68, the bees disappeared.

Earlier in the trip, we had been driving under similar conditions and had not experience any bees, but on those occasions we were not going above 70.

 

[Walt R]

Perhaps it is worth pointing out that speed limits are pretty low in Japan. Depending on the target market the car was actually designed for, these speeds may not have been intended or tested.

Having written that, Wikipedia says expressways are 100 km/h but I still think they are a lot less pervasive in everyday Japanese driving.

 

[sniwallof]

BTW you can just press on the accelerator and leave ACC on, and when you left off the pedal it will resume the ACC, so no need to cancel / restart it, just add some "gas" and then let go after you finish passing.

good as an option, for sure. My main reason for using ACC (sport) with 74/75 is so that I don't blow through 80 without realizing it right away. But, I could see the go pedal as a good option if someone is tailgating me to get out of their way faster.

They psychology of our individual highway speed preferences (at any given time) is really interesting. I think that many of us in the moment want to drive at some speed and to not be disturbed by slower cars. Then, passing, we all have different styles too. I know even at my modest mid 70's passing, it can be annoying when someone in front of me is passing at +1 mph over the vehicle we are passing, usually an 18 wheeler doing about 65, and it seems to take them forever to go around. I suppose it's the same annoyance for the person doing 80 behind me.

 

[MNSteve]

I have wondered if it is just a slow system processor, or a system processor that previous to the Clarity, had fewer duties to carry out. On your CRV, it had the duty to maintain the speed. On our Clarity, it has the duty to maintain the speed and determine the most efficient balance of engine and motor torque to provide for every given millisecond.

This is a possibility. My inclination is that the programming is different between the two systems, rather than not having sufficient computing power. In the CRV, when the speed controller discovers that the vehicle speed is higher than the set point, it effectively does nothing, allowing the car to coast back to the set speed. The Clarity doesn't "coast"; it wants to apply regenerative braking to simulate what drivers have been perceiving as "coast" for their entire driving lives. Seems to me that the programmer who did that simulation of coasting got rather carried away and allowed the system to deploy significant braking. A little bit of engagement of the regenerative braking would be fine as this would provide the same effect as lifting your foot off the accelerator in a gasmobile. But I've seen it go to past midrange on the negative side of the power meter, and create a very noticeable deceleration. Then it undershoots the set point and applies significant power to regain that speed; this part might be caused by insufficient computing power.

But bottom line, I find the behavior when I re-engage the ACC by lifting my foot from the accelerator to be very annoying, especially if I have not made a real effort to get allow my speed to revert back to the set point. Hard braking after I've just passed someone and pulled back in front of them is not desirable. It's especially annoying because I don't observe the behavior from the "same" system in my CRV.