Squeal! Oops. Reflect ... grin with wild abandon.

I rediscovered the effects of torque and acceleration this week - an over-enthusiastic right-turn out of a side road onto a busy major road. Result: a chattery squeal from the tyres followed by a very dramatic acceleration... no surprise you say. Ah, but as an ex-CVT driver I can tell you that such noises are not heard irrespective the urgency of your throttle demands.

CVT as implemented in the old model Jazz, offers OK acceleration and a very smooth driving experience. In the seven years I drove the CVT way when the road conditions were right - empty and dry - I did, very occasionally, let the iDSI engine go into the rev-range above 3,000 rpm

What happens? The short answer is: not much. The iDSi and CVT-7 combination seems to have a couple of acceleration bands where if you control the accelerator to keep the the engine speed in them you could get a noticably better driveability than outside them. The two bands were 1,800 rpm +-100 and 2,700 rpm +- 100. Above 3,000 rpm was just an increase in noise rather acceleration despite all those Temple of VTEC wide-open-throttle discussions.

Of course you don't buy a Jazz for sportiness - you'd probably buy a Civic instead. The two CVT Jazz I have owned are more of a flexible family A to B car. Typically returning (for me) 55 - 65 MPG over a daily rural and motorway 80 mile roundtrip commute.

Model year 2007 Civic 1.4 i-DSI six-speed manual

I did spend a day with a manual Civic 1.4 iDSi and got a very respectible 56 MPG.

The coutesy Civic I had was the 1.4 iDSI engine model with 6-speed manual gearbox. I am wondering now whether this is the same gearbox which is automated in the Jazz. From memory I think the 6th gear had an engine speed of 3,000 rpm at 60MPH. Shifty is at 2,500 rpm in the same gear and speed. Suggesting different ratios in final drive and/or 6th gear. Old CVT Jazz was at a much more laid back and quieter 2,100 rpm when on the flat. Don't you just love the dials? Inspired possibly from the life support displays of USS Enterprise's sick-bay from the Star Trek orginal series.

The Civic is a lovely car inside or out. I know there are some complaints about rearward visibility but I found that I could see well. I have also driven the 1.8 i-VTEC EX model with built in satellite navigation. That model has a five-speed manual. Both were very nice to drive the EX having more power and lots more gadgets.

The wrap around dashboard of the Civic has left and right tweeters bringing beautiful clear treble to the driver. A treat that old or new Jazz drivers don't get. Instead the Jazz has door located speakers in all four doors except the base models which have two.

About Shifty

Acceleration is definitely better in the Shifty than in my two previous Jazz CVTs extending further into the rev range allowing the same gear to kept to for longer. Peak torque in the 1.4 i-VTEC Jazz is 4,800 rpm. A lot higher up than the 2,800 of the i-DSI.

Letting the i-SHIFT system pick the gears and driving gently I rarely see revs above 3,000 rpm on my commute and driving that way returned close to 60MPG this week (0.3 MPG in fact).

Now that Shifty has had its running-in period, I decided a spur-of -the-moment to let the engine rev into the 4,000 - 5,000 rpm region and find out what happened. Well unlike the CVT there is really a very strong pull from the i-VTEC engine.

Interestingly, the i-SHIFT system seemed to totally understand my sudden change in driving style - holding on to lower gears longer and not jumping up more than one gear at a time when the throttle pressure was released.

I think I could even go as far to say the performance was sporty! OK. I must warn you - it's been a long time since I have had a positive reaction from an engine when reved - so perhaps my reaction is a bit over-the-top. Nevertheless it was rather fun!

Of course doing all this reving stuff is wasteful and causes increased wear and tear! So since the same speeds can be achieved in higher gears with lower fuel use and lower noise then that's where Shifty will spend most of its next 75,000 miles. After that we'll be back to CVT again in the hybrid Jazz.

How has Shifty behaved this week?

I haven't used manual mode at all this week. The bit I learned last week about reducing engine speeds on automated upward changes makes a huge difference. I don't feel the need to interfere at all.

I have found something that is a bit annoying but I can understand why it happens... It only a small issue and doesn't affect much of my daily commute but it happens every day.

So what is it?  Well, I've noticed two approaches car manufacturers use to deal with cold starting on petrol engines: some manufacturers seem to prefer to keep the idle speed the same irrespective of how cold the engine is and others use an increased idle speed that slowly reduces as the engine warms. I'm not sure what the reasoning is - perhaps one is more fuel efficient? Anyway, on all the Hondas I've driven, the fast idle approach is the way they deal with cold starting. And this is the problem.

This fast idle affects the way Shifty drives when cold. In an attempt to keep the revs in the fast idle region, Shifty only changes out of first gear when the engine speed after the change will be at or above the current fast idle speed. In practice this is quite a high road speed and is rather noisy.

Now, consider that I have been learning how to not over-rev on changing from first to second. Well I've learnt to hear a certain engine note and know if I reduce the pressure on the throttle at that point by an appropriate amount I can make Shifty change. The trouble is when Shifty is cold I have to remember not to release the throttle when the familiar engine note is heard. If I do then I get a dramatic deceleration due engine braking because I've removed throttle pressure but Shifty cannot change to the lower engine speed at that moment so no change is made.

On a different note, downward changes on gradual inclines is another area of study. Shifty doesn't seem to mind using extra throttle alone to climb gradual inclines in most situations . However my question is am I using more fuel than I would have if I'd changed down?

I've been watching the instant MPG indicator and it drops down to 20MPG on such inclines. I still feel like I am using a lot of thottle than I feel I should be - perhaps it's a bad habit from the CVT. Note though, Shifty doesn't lose speed. It's just a mindset thing I am sure. More on this later.

What am I trying to get better at?

• First to second changes. Getting pretty good at this but still feel that I am causing traffic flow issues annoying drivers following behind. I also must try to remember the different behaviour when cold and allow a higher engine speed before hinting to Shifty an upward change would be good.
• I still have problem with gradual inclines. Shouldn't Shifty be changing down? I must try to work out whether it was best to climb in a lower gear or not? Wondering whether I should be using less throttle and not more? Could the way that I'm driving be stopping Shifty from shifting down?
• Still reminding myself that Shifty is a lot more of a manual car than a classic automatic one and is definitely not a CVT.

What am I enjoying?

• Stronger acceleration.
• Cornering stability is much better.
• Better fuel economy.
• The underfloor storage area and loose item storage net is useful and stops things rolling around the boot.
• More directional face air vents that can be used to warm cold hands - I suffer from a Renaulds type circulation problem so cold hands are not good.
• Distance to empty indicator saying 520 miles to empty when I fill up and knowing you can believe it too.