dimanche 31 août 2014

New HCH-1 owner

Hi all,

I checked out a few forums for HCH owners but this one appears to be the most active and with the best information (mostly thanks to the user msantos, from what I can tell - wow).



I usually drive 'disposable' cars and do all my own maintenance; cars I can pick up for $2,000 and drive for 2 years/80,000 miles, then flip and still get $1,800 for them. I finally decided to pick up something overall better, and hopefully better for the environment. My last was a Maxima that averaged 25mpg and it was killing me in gas costs since I seem to average 40,000miles/year.



I had a dealer search some auctions and he found and won me a 2005 HCH, 5-speed, with 90,000 miles on it for $6,500 after tax/title/reg/inspection. Immaculately clean inside, engine sounds strong, both batteries appear to be good (already put 200 miles on it in 2 days).



Aside from the sometimes surprising lack of power - I really have to be cautious getting on Texas highways since most of our speed limits are 75mph - I'm absolutely loving it so far.

The A/C is strong and even when it's 100 degrees out I rarely have to run the fans above low speed, which means the autostop works at every light, and recirculate keeps it reasonably cool until the engine kicks in again.



I've read through most of the stickies and will probably be checking the valve clearances soon, as well as installing msantos' solar 12v charging system (although the car came with some serious Texas window tint, so I may look into installing them somewhere on the outside of the car).



Any other recommendations for a car of this mileage? I understand the 5-speed model is somewhat rare, but I can't stand the feel of CVT transmissions so this was a requirement for me (especially coming from having 200HP to now having like 80HP).



My first two days I managed to pull a 45mpg average and have only dropped one digital bar on the gas gauge. I imagine once it goes past that first bar it'll drop a bit faster.



Anyway, wanted to introduce myself. So far it seems like a fantastic little car. I do wish it had prius or insight-sized trunk space, it'd make it easier to throw my bike in it, but other than that I absolutely love it.



~A





New HCH-1 owner

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