I really wasn't considering a turbo. God that would be sad if Honda put an overstressed engine in.
What is Honda Thinking?
- Thread starter rodeknyt
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I'd trust a turbocharged engine from Honda. They have more experience with internal combustion engines than any other company.
I've seen too many failed turbocharged engines across the board, including Honda. Although as of late it seems Honda is struggling to even build naturally aspirated engines.
Guess I haven't been paying attention. I've had nothing but good luck with Honda engines since 1966 (my first motorcycle, a Honda CB160 twin). I haven't been Honda-less since 1986, but I've never had a turbo.
Would you elaborate on Honda’s struggles?
Are you of the opinion that all forced induction engines are “over stressed”?
rdav
Member
If that's the case explain the ramchargers choice of using the 3.6L NA V6 for a truck that's targeted exclusively for truck people. The 2.4 is to act as a generator not as the primary source of power.
rdav
Member
If its anything like the clunky POS that is the Wrangler 4XE I don't want anything to do with it after realizing how nice a mostly serial hybrid system is. Also the 23 miles of real world range those get sucks, I can only imagine what those will be like when the battery even slightly degrades lol. I averaged barely 24mpg over the 450 miles while charging the 4XE twice a day and I wasn't even towing crap. Those need a larger battery to make them better as daily commuters. I'll take my 1995 GMC Senoma over one of those, gets about the same average MPG anyways.
Also this is meant to be hostile to the 4XE, not to you, I appreciate your input on attempting to help find a solution to my problem!
rdav
Member
I was an accord owner, the 1.5T engines do not belong in Hondas larger vehicles. I've seen two fail in person with two separate cars along with numerous in the forums. (To be fair one was tuned but the other was bone stock.) Either way the 2.0T is an awesome engine and that would be sick to see that paired to a hybrid system in a ridgeline PHEV. I had mine from 7X,XXX miles to 115,000 miles in my accord with a "stage 3" tune the whole time. I beat the piss out of that thing without any issues, other than actually cooking the 3 year old brake fluid lol. Lets just say there is a good reason Honda engineers kept the 124MPH speed governors on those...
The GC is a luxury SUV. The Wrangler is more akin to a soup can on a roller skate.
We’ve been very satisfied with the GC 4xe for the past 2 years. Power is impressive in either Hybrid mode and adequate in Electric mode. In all cases, power is transmitted through the 8-speed transmission so it feels like a conventional vehicle. The 25 miles of range, we frequently get a bit more, covers a majority of our daily driving. We knew that it had 25 miles of EV range, so I’m not going to ***** that it doesn’t have more. It’s also flat towable behind our motorhome. The Clarity was not and I do not believe the Ramcharger will be either.
It provides a much more enjoyable driving experience in every way as compared to the Clarity. If 50 miles of EV range and 40mpg are priorities, then it isn’t the right vehicle for that situation. If that makes a it a POS to someone, so be it.
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rdav
Member
That's fair, it was only a rental car to me lol. The majority of the "POS" clunky aspect of it was the transmission seemingly not knowing what to do if you needed to accelerate to get out of someone's way. The switch from EV to hybrid seemed a bit laggy and clunky. The regenerative braking also seems very inconsistent compared to the clarity, I think it has something to do with the 8 speed not being in the right gear and/or doing one of its very slow shifts in an attempt to make the driver not feel it shifting under regen.
You are correct as it is not the right car for me as I don't need to tow it behind a motorhome, and I need the fantastic MPG and range to justify getting rid of my much nicer (And more expensive) accord for the clarity. I also don't trust a Mopar vehicle to make it to 200k like I do with my Hondas, but that is all personal preference.
The car isn’t without a few quirks, some of which seem to have been remedied by software updates.
A call for full power prior to the engine being at operating temperature can result in less than desirable behavior. Once up to temperature and in either Hybrid or e-Save mode the car will occasionally operate on battery power alone. Aggressive acceleration, even when coming out of EV mode, is predictable and very similar to what one would expect from a conventional vehicle once the engine is warmed up. Also, Hybrid mode focuses on efficiency, using batteries first and then going ti gas, whereas e-Save used gas and preserves the battery SOC. I am typically in either EV or e-Save, so I don’t have much experience with aggressive acceleration in Hybrid mode. It could be that Hybrid mode is trying to avoid using the engine while accelerating while e-Save mode is happy to go full gas.
There are 2 regen settings, default and max. I prefer max. Some drivers do not care for it. There is a noticeable transition just before coming to a complete stop while in max, that does not occur on the default setting. A software update did make it less noticeable. It could be a transmission shift or a transfer of braking power from regen to hydraulic braking, or a combination of the two. The braking system on the Clarity handles that situation flawlessly.
rdav
Member
I was in EV and the engine was cold when I needed to accelerate a bit more than could be done by the electric motor alone. That's was the condition when I noticed it the most. Hybrid mode and e-save all worked well, but I never trusted it to react quickly after that. I kept the car in max regen once I discovered its existence and I do wish there was a way to do that in the clarity other than drive around in sport mode all the time.
I figured the jankyness was just part of the cars quirks, like a lot of things wrangler/Rubicon related lol. I'm sure I would have preferred the GC more.
I don't really disagree with how the clarity handles requests for WOT
"The switch from EV to hybrid seemed a bit laggy and clunky. The regenerative braking also seems very inconsistent" you almost perfectly described my car. Man, I miss it when she worked well.
David Towle
Well-Known Member
It also uses a hell of a lot of electricity, at an efficiency of around 85% at best.
rdav
Member
For some clarity I was talking about the Jeep 4Xe not the clarity. I don't have any issues with the clarity!
For more clarity, the question was an inquiry into the suggestion that Honda is struggling to build normally aspirated engines.
rdav
Member
@Landshark I'll let this post speak for itself buddy. Both turbocharged and NA Honda engines are mentioned lol
If you want to talk about naturally aspirated engines, I recommend you look at the block design Honda is using basically everywhere now, they all have these little "slits" between the cylinders for "cooling". This design caused Ford troubles in the past, and it is causing problems for Honda now. Take a look at the accord hybrid, where their 2.0l na engines are blowing head gaskets, and the 3rd Gen insight is also starting to blow head gaskets. There are also beginning to be more common problems with fuel injectors, among other things. I just don't see Honda making solid engines you could depend upon anymore. Were they flawless? No. But they worked, and what problems they did have were usually easily fixed.
Thanks for answering the question you were asked.
I appreciate that you understood my question about your statement.