Mazda 3, Minor Hybrid query

Bigwheels1111

The reason Suzuki is so good is it uses Toyota’s hardware.

Iceweasel

WellKnownSid said:

Iceweasel said:
As for a European holiday in an EV - hassle, hassle, hassle, and much planning where and when to stop.

But - little city shopping car - perfect.

Don't know what Europe is like, but when we took the little shopping car on a weekend to London recently (700 mile round trip) I didn't bother to do any planning.  All the charging stations are shown on the Google powered satnav, and the car can work out when and where to stop if you want it to plan a route.  In the end we just pulled off at the Tesla superchargers at Trentham around half way and barely had time to order a latte and a cream cake before Zoe pinged me to tell me she was ready to va va voom.

I would definitely recommend trying out the BMW EV range when you come to change.  I had to run an errand in a new 330d recently and it felt like you had to send a telegram to a chap to send some smoke signals every time you pressed the loud pedal.  Don't get me wrong, it went like the 9.45 from London Euston to Glasgow Central when it eventually got going just didn't have the same sense of urgency.

I accept that the journeys I do are the exception rather than the rule - from a UK point of view certainly.
We do a 3000 mile,10 countries each way, round trip to the far South-Eastern border of Europe three times a year.
We've been doing this for over 30 years.
From home to Dover is over 600 miles and Luxembourg is not even half-way.
The mild hybrid 330d returns just over 63mpg on such trips.
I'm not driving like grandma either - on the speed limit (+5%) in most countries and cruising at over100mph where possible in Germany.
On our last outbound journey, I pretended that we had a fully electric EV and planned where and when we would have to stop.
It would have been a nightmare journey - requiring almost military-like planning.
Pretty much every large hotel has charging facilities as do most supermarkets.
Stopping to recharge on the motorways/Autobahnen means joining a long queue.
I'm sure you know the apocryphal stories of certain nationalities putting towels on deck-chairs.
Once past Austria the real problems begin.
Every time I stopped (approx every 3 hours) I  looked for and had to ask for the nearest charging point.
In most of the former Jugoslavia (except for Slovenia) they look at you and laugh, shaking their heads.
There are quite a few hybrids around - but a full EV is a rarity.
People in general are very keen on keeping up with technology and ask lots of questions about our mild hybrid.

born_again

Iceweasel said:

born_again said:

Mild hybrid is a big con, manufactures are going down that route as it is cheap way to reduce emissions over their sales, so they do not suffer massive fines.

I disagree completely. More power, more mpg- what's not to like?
EV is a big con. Their batteries are not 'planet friendly' and very importantly - how do we dispose of the old EV batteries?
What kind of range do EVs have towing a caravan for example.
As for a European holiday in an EV - hassle, hassle, hassle, and much planning where and when to stop.
But - little city shopping car - perfect.

Starting at the bottom
Europe is far better for EV's. Loads of video's of people doing Europe trips with no issues. MrEV on utube
Caravan check out Andrew Ditton on u-tube.
Batteries can be recycled. Even put to use for home batteries check out Battery Man on utube. 

Mild Hybrid is 48V battery, makes next to no difference. Plenty of people have realised. They do not drive fully electric, battery just assists engine. Note this is not a normal Hybrid with a bigger battery as per Toyota, who do not make Mild Hybrids..

Iceweasel

born_again said:

Iceweasel said:

born_again said:

Mild hybrid is a big con, manufactures are going down that route as it is cheap way to reduce emissions over their sales, so they do not suffer massive fines.

I disagree completely. More power, more mpg- what's not to like?
EV is a big con. Their batteries are not 'planet friendly' and very importantly - how do we dispose of the old EV batteries?
What kind of range do EVs have towing a caravan for example.
As for a European holiday in an EV - hassle, hassle, hassle, and much planning where and when to stop.
But - little city shopping car - perfect.

Starting at the bottom
Europe is far better for EV's. Loads of video's of people doing Europe trips with no issues. MrEV on utube
Caravan check out Andrew Ditton on u-tube.
Batteries can be recycled. Even put to use for home batteries check out Battery Man on utube. 

Mild Hybrid is 48V battery, makes next to no difference. Plenty of people have realised. They do not drive fully electric, battery just assists engine. Note this is not a normal Hybrid with a bigger battery as per Toyota, who do not make Mild Hybrids..

I can accept your comments on caravans and battery re-cycling.
But in my extensive frequent European (not just EU) travels I have to disagree on your "Euro trips with no issues."
As for "next to no difference" - that also is not my real life experience, with a mild- Hybrid 3 litre diesel-electric.
Horses for courses though.

Goudy

Mazda don't use a battery.
Their M Hybrid system uses capacitors instead of a battery.

It does help to power the engine but it's mainly designed to recoup wasted energy and use it with the I Stop system and help power the rest of the 12v system. Saves on loading the engine to power the alternator, so saves fuel there.

I've ran a similar system that Citroen introduced on the eco Air Dream cars. It's pretty seamless and works well for the stop start system 

WellKnownSid

Goudy said:

Mazda don't use a battery.
Their M Hybrid system uses capacitors instead of a battery.

Had a similar system on my 208 about 12 years ago.  Used the alternator to re-start the engine, the lights would go brighter instead of dimmer when restarting.  It worked well, very quick to restart as you put the clutch down.  Obviously it was limited to starting the engine, couldn't drive you to the next set of lights on capacitor power.

Goudy

Yes the diesel Citroen did the same.
It's stop start knocked the engine off just before it came to a stop and the capacitor and uprated alternator fired the engine back to life in half a heartbeat.

The automated manual gearbox was a bit of a pain at slow speeds,  no creep but with 7 speeds, on the move it was a joy. Cruise all day at 70 just above idle.
I purposely went out to find a 7 speeder with my current car, albeit a dual clutch and glad I did.

I've driven a few now and I am impressed with Suzuki's mild hybrid system. Yes it's not a full hybrid that'll power the wheels all by itself, but for feel, power and fuel economy, it does work well.

It makes you think something fairly simple and often overlooked as a gimmick is actually good where it counts, behind the wheel and at the pumps.