Silly little details…

[Alfettaman84]

You should all check your 12V batteries; yours is obviously doing its job, but I happen to have a smart NOCO5 charger and maintainer. I drove for two or three days—at least half an hour each time—and then recharged the battery a day later; the bulk charging phase took several hours before the green LED started flashing slowly, which effectively means "fully charged" and indicates the maintenance mode has kicked in. Could it be that the converter responsible for charging the battery while driving isn't nearly as powerful as a conventional alternator?

I agree! All of my hybrid and battery electric cars (apart from my 12 week old Prelude) have required a new 12V at some point. This issue is a confluence of several factors that affect modern cars and particularly hybrids and EVs.

• A modern car is never really 'switched off'. Things like the alarm, the telematics that communicate with your phone app, keyless entry systems, etc are always running and consuming power
• The 12V battery in a hybrid or EV isn't used to crank-start an engine, so manufacturers understandably specify a smaller capacity battery to save weight and cost. This means that the reserve capacity of the battery is lower
• This small 12V battery still has quite a lot of work to do: running all of the computers, lights, ABS, wipers, heater fan, etc as you drive
• Hybrids and EVs don't usually have an alternator. Instead, the HV battery system charges the 12V battery via a DC-DC converter. This is a relatively inefficient way to fast-charge a battery, so it's probably tempting for manufacturers to use more modest charge rates in order to improve overall efficiency. This also reduces the size/power of DC-DC converter that's needed.

According to this recent article, Hondas are seemingly less prone to this issue, with Toyota, Kia and Hyundai doing less well...

Revealed: the surprising fault affecting new hybrids and EVs - Which?

The latest Which? car survey has revealed that a large proportion of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and EVs from a selection of brands are suffering the same problem

www.which.co.uk

 

[Jusbs54922]

Another "Silly Little Detail" - If you hold down the S+ button (HOLD DOWN, not just PUSH), as well as engaging S+, it also switches your driving mode to INDIVIDUAL !!!

 

[inventor41]

Just for fun, I'm curious why the start button on the LHD model is NOT next to the door i.e, on the left side of the steering column? I find it very easy to find on my UK model.

On LHD models the infotainment touch screen has its hard buttons on the left of the display and the park & brake hold buttons are on the left of the P/R/N/D selectors.

On the RHD models these things are opposite!
Generally most controls are mirrored in layout, but obviously not everything: eg accelerator / gas pedal is always on the right, which is a standard.

The Japanese designers cunningly only build rattles into the seat on the right if it is unoccupied

Any other left/right anomalies? Don't take this too seriously.

 

[Alfettaman84]

In Japan (as in the UK), you sit on the right hand side of the car and drive on the left hand side of the road. So the home market car is the RHD version. Maybe, by default, things were initially designed and configured for RHD and then (most things were) swapped over for the LHD markets?

When you open the tailgate on a Honda there's a recessed pull-handle on the inside, so that you can shut the tailgate without getting your hands dirty. On my Honda e and also my CR-V, these are on the right hand (driver's) side of the car. I wonder if they are on the left for a LHD Honda....?

[UK/RHD Honda e tailgate inner pull handle]

...but my new Prelude has two of these handles - one on each side!

 

[GoZoner44]

On the same page with you, from 15 years ago:

“… after having your CR-Z, what small, surprising feature do you like the best?

“For me, it is the rear hatch handle. Use it to avoid getting fingerprints on the outside. It is perfectly placed, even for a lefty. Just a slight tug and the hatch drops down and latches with a solid thunk.”

On my Prelude no part of the outside paint is ever touched with finger tips!