2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6: ECOnnoying

C'mon! It's a tiny lil light! But seriously, how much does that feature save in gas mileage? I suspect not much........

the problem with a ligth like this is the
 
ON - off - ON - off - ON
 
pattern. makes you think something is wrong with the car, since all of a sudden a light turns on, when in reality nothings wrong.

Nothing a little electric tape wont fix.

El Tomacco (It tastes like grandma)
 
If this were my car I'd go beyond electrical tape. I'd open up the dash and disconnect the light from the back. It's not hard and it would make my life measurably better.
-mike

I'd think keeping the revs so high in D2 or D3 would mean being able to run on one bank more of the time.
 
Perhaps there is a rev limit at which the system no longer works.

"You've offset enough carbons with that light pedal touch to nullify the fact that your $14 shoes were made by a factory in China that burns tires for heat."
 
LMAO - That's a great quote. Sad, but true!

I was thinking I'd probably crack open the dash and disconnect the bulb too. This is super annoying I'm sure. Reminds of how I wanted Honda to make VCM an option on the V6 auto.

I think the driving around in 2nd or 3rd gear to turn off the light was kind of a joke...

Or you could impress your friends with your magical driving powers by rigging the light to turn on as soon as you put it in drive...

Make a game of it. See how long you can keep the light on for.
 
What sort of mileage can you get if you work with the system instead of against it?

yeah, pay attention to that light rather than the road :)

"Make a game of it. See how long you can keep the light on for."
 
I tried, it turns off at idle so you can only hold it on long stretches of road. It is possible to do, but you have to be deliberate.
 
-mike

Unless Honda can give me the VCM technology with NO and I mean NO loss in performance while offering a noticable difference in fuel economy compared to other similar powered V6 cars I dont really see the point. I look at it as a bandaid fix until the new line of V6's, transmissions and a-VTEC debut.
 
Honda should have used the "hot" V6 in 6MT Accord coupe and hooked it to a 6AT.

You show them!

The ECO thing is annoying and when I worked at a Honda dealership during college, most people did not get any better gas mileage with the cylinder deactivation. Good idea, but needs to be refined to make much of a difference I think. Ask Chrysler people who drive a HEMI to see if cylinder deactivation works for them. I bet you'll find most are disappointed.

That ECO light flashing on and off would annoy the heck out of me. What would annoy me MORE, however, is if the vaunted VCM technology failed to deliver significantly better fuel economy than its competitors. Hey, wait a minute... :-)

what's the mpg?

19/29 mpg 22-comb. and lifetime average is 21.1 mpg comb for edmunds

I find it amusing as to how many opinions there are on the tiny "ECO" light when it seems that few, if any, of the posters actually own a 2008 Honda EX V6. We bought ours in October of 2007 and I actually try to keep the light on as much as possible with gasoline prices what they are. We can get 30.0 mpg on the highway traveling at a consistent 70mph. That's great considering the 3500+ lbs. of the car plus we have the A/C running to boot. The light can't even be seen unless one looks directly at the spot where it is located. Either the author is extremely paranoid about any light that comes on or off on the I/P or else they needed something to "ding" the otherwise excellent Honda interior. We have never been happier with a vehicle than with our new EXL V6 w/NAVI

Your excellent Honda interior is cluttered and has cheap looking gauges and dismal RR MPG.

The real-world fuel economy reports that I have seen do not show the VCM Accord doing any better than its V6 competitors (Camry and Altima, for example) in terms of abserved fuel economy. Some show it doing WORSE.
 
That's what I call amusing.
 
I have achieved slightly better than 30mpg in my V6 Altima, keeping speeds just below 120 kph. That's with all cylinders firing all the time, and no little green lights winking at me like some visual equivalent of Chinese water torture.
 
Oh, and while Honda has done many an "excellent" interior, this sure isn't one of them. The riot of buttons in the center stack, deep-dish bat-cave recess for the nav and why-not-just-make-it-brass door-knob-sized control knob all run contrary to my notion of ergonomic excellence.
 
But hey, my Dad likes his just fine.

The Camry gets the best V6 mileage in this class in the real world based on all the comparison tests. The Accord's 21mpg is the same as the Altima and Malibu/Aura.
 
Those gauges still look cheap to me.

Yeah, they should have kept the gauges from the last generation.
Maybe there wasn't space for the ECO light.
:P

At least with the new gauges they did not do the frisbee-sized speedometer again. The outgoing speedo is absurdly oversized.

To each his own. We love the car and the gauges are not cheesy when you see them in real life instead of living on internet sites. Buy what you want, and put your money where your mouth "isn't"

"To each his own. We love the car and the gauges are not cheesy when you see them in real life instead of living on internet sites. Buy what you want, and put your money where your mouth "isn't"
 
I've seen them in real life. They dont look as bad as on the net but they seem cheap looking by Honda standards. A few years ago Honda gauges were a step above what you could get in domestics and Hyundais. Not anymore. The Pilot is also suffering from this problem. The old speedo was too large but the gauges were more sophisticated in the old car.

1487 is right on this one. The gauges certainly isn't cheap but it is cheaper than the previous gen. Pretty much the new Accord's interior is worse than than the previous gen in general, a very big negative IMO.