To be fair, it did take some time for me to get used to how a hybrid sounds. It’s fine when not driving aggressively. When you floor it though, it does feel weird when the engine jumps to the highest safe revs and stays there. That’s a small price to pay for reliability and smooth power delivery though.

check out civic 11 gen, they are almost indistinguishable from regular ice cars when sitting inside

Does it have a power split device? E.g., a planetary gearbox?

No, it’s a different system than what Toyota uses: https://global.honda/en/tech/Honda_eHEV_next_generation/

Thanks!

Looks like a series hybrid with a clutch that bypasses the generator for a high-efficiency overdrive gear. It's simpler than the planetary gear system in a Prius, but they must have made the drive motor (equivalent to MG2 in Prius diagrams) bigger if they never combine power from both MG2 and the ICE. Or, that's not shown in the diagram.

Are you talking about how the CVT transmission sounds?

Not sure exactly what you mean. As in, hybrids don’t have a CVT transmission, one with belts and the thing that changes diameter to achieve variability. Haven’t had one, but heard only bad things about those.

But yes, in that the power transmission is variable (e-CVT, right?), and that sounds a bit weird. You’ve spent so much time hearing how the engine gets louder with acceleration that it feels weird when the engine behaves slightly differently.

But again, that doesn’t bother me enough to buy a less reliable system.

Yeah I meant e-CVT. We actually own a highlander hybrid with e-CVT.

Actually every vehicle I've driven was CVT/e-CVT. 14 Corolla, 18 RAV4, 21 Highlander hybrid and 24 Integra. All super reliable. I'd still say CVT bothers me and I love it every time I get to rent a vehicle with traditional automatic.

My ICE CVT is like that, and hybrid systems behave sort of like CVTs.

The computer has an idea of "At this low RPM the engine is most efficient, at this high RPM it produces maximum horsepower". So if you floor it, the computer in either a CVT or a hybrid will bring the engine to full power and it will just sit there as the car accelerates.

The engine is getting loaded up and putting out more torque, and the throttle is opening, but it isn't really revving. In mine it does slowly climb from maybe 4,000 to 5,000 RPM, but it doesn't do the "rrrrRRRRRR... rrrrrrrRRRRR..." like a transmission with fixed gear ratios.

I actually prefer that over the usual revs going up and down depending on speed. I'm not American so my default before hybrids was driving stick. Never liked this steampunk-esque drama of moving from a standstill in such a car

Anyway revs do go up over a certain speed, but you need to be on the Autobahn to legally test it.

Mine doesn't do that. Is yours a Toyota eCVT or a different CVT implementation? It matters because eCVT is completely different mechanically from other CVTs.

The revving complaint is such a tired trope among car reviewers, especially German ones. Every reviewer without exception mentions how CVTs rev unnaturally and have a rubber-band effect. They just can't get past their expectation bias.

The worst thing is that it's not even true anymore for Toyotas latest gen. There is no rubber-band effect at all anymore, in fact because of the electric motors I get instant response. A regular car with gears or a turbo is way more sluggish. The only way I see constant high revs is to drive above 160 km/h (100 mph) on the German autobahn. Anything less and it just purrs along quietly.

> I can't stand having a car not react immediately to my input

I'm spoiled from years of Priuses now, and driving gas cars, even fancy and expensive ones, feels bizarrely primitive. The lag between the pedal and the response, and the complex relationship between the input and the response, feels antiquated and arcane.

A while ago I rented a regular car and what bugged me was all the additional vibration associated with parts grinding and rolling against each other.

Also at least once I almost went "woah, horsie" as the car lunged forward because I tapped the accelerator a moment after it shifted to a lower gear without me noticing.

It used to be even worse. I had an opportunity to drive a 2005 BMW 7 series in a city where the speed limit was 30km/h. Unfortunately the gearbox was from a time way before traffic calming etc. went mainstream, so it couldn't decide which gear to pick. I ended up switching to manual gear selection mode.

> it couldn't decide which gear to pick.

I haven't felt that since I've been driving my CVT ICE for so long.

Then again, a coworker told me the CVT is likely to break before 100,000 miles. So.... thinking of buying a Prius. I love Priuses.

Honda CVT is supposed to be pretty solid if that’s what you have. Other CVTs are less solid, or so I hear.

nissan cvt is akin to you just giving money away

I think toyota cvts last longer than the lifetime of the car.

I had a loaner Ford Bronco Sport when I was having some maintenance on my hybrid. It had a 8 speed transmission and a turbo. Going from the super smooth eCTV to a vehicle that would jerk from shift changes/turbo when you just thought about touching the gas pedal has has put me off buying a vehicle with a normal transmission