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Honda Civic Hybrid

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#4 of 1765 New owner reporting in . . . . by Peterun Apr 12, 2002 (4:58 am)
Yes, I own an '03 Civic hybrid . . . Love this car. Perhaps it's just a state of mind . . or the pleasure of feeling as though I'm beating the system . . . I do average approx. 45 mpg, city and freeway combined. And I find this vehicle incredibly well built, comfortable, vibration free and quiet, at all speeds. It is perhaps the smoothest car I've owned. Suspension is very tight. Power: No lack. Lots of torque. Always enough.   I know the formula: That it would take ten years to recapture the dollars I spent on the differential between a non-hybrid Civic and mine. Still, I think this is worth the price. Maybe because it's the only Civic model built in Japan? The build quality is superior. Seems to do everything very well. And what about the satisfaction of spending so little on oil consumption? My take. Pete Replies to this message: goingreen (Aug 19, 2005 4:52 pm)
#5 of 1765 Peterun by carguy62 Apr 12, 2002 (5:27 am)
Honda sends over other (non hybrid) Civic sedans from Japan. Not a lot of them, but they are out there. They also send over some Accord sedans and of course the CR-V.
#6 of 1765 Ingtonge18 by spidermonkey Apr 12, 2002 (7:39 am)
Your interpretation of the Car and Driver article is some what misleading. Honda's IMA manual system works slightly differently than a conventional manual. This car and the Insight have a light in the cabin that indicates the proper time to shift in order to get the best performance. These shift points are different from a conventional manual because in the hybrid they take into account the ability of the electric motor to help. The C&D article actually mentions having to relearn shifting, notably that you don't want to coast to a stop in neutral in a hybrid. If you drive the car correctly, you'll never be accelerating from 0-60 with a completely depleted battery.   I wish that they tested a CVT equipped hybrid. The results would be far more reliable.
#7 of 1765 mpg by meinrad Apr 12, 2002 (7:54 am)
I was somewhat interested in the civic hybrid for a commuter car. What with gas prices and all. But I have to say I just can't understand why they even bother. I'm not bashing at all here, just asking. I had owned a crx hf that averaged over 50 mpg and got 60 on the highway. No special technology or anything. Was a great college car as I could drive home and such and hardly spend money on gas. Now they are raving about getting 55-60 in a hybrid. At least the new hybrid is a 4 door sedan, so that makes it a little better. The old one was basically a crx with fancy engineering and still barely beat the mpg in regular driving. Are there other real advantages to the hybrid other than mpg? Maybe I'm missing something. At this point I much rather just have my old hf back.
#8 of 1765 meinrad by carguy62 Apr 12, 2002 (10:54 am)
I don't think you are missing anything. The Civic Hybrid as you pointed out is larger and more mainstream than your CRX was (nice vehicle BTW). It does get better mileage than a comparable gasoline powered Civic, so there is a benefit to some. IMO a lot of the benefit is intangible. People want to do their little part and there is nothing wrong with that.
#9 of 1765 spidermonkey by lngtonge18 Apr 12, 2002 (11:51 am)
What parts of my statement were misleading? I think you don't quite understand what you are talking about and misunderstood my comments. The shift light is not about performance. It's about getting the most fuel economy out of the car (I drove a 00 Swift that had a shift light that came on around 2400 rpms, which is definitely not where you should shift if you want to get anywhere at a modest pace). If you shift using that light, you will have some difficulty keeping up with traffic, but you will be getting good mileage and keep the battery from being drained. However, if you drive a little more aggressively to keep up with traffic, your mileage will drop down to a regular Civic and the battery will start draining, making it even slower if you continue driving like that. Thus, that's why I stated real world mileage isn't going to be much better then regular Civics. The less power a car has, the more you tend to drive it hard to keep up with traffic. With a more powerful engine, I think the hybrid idea could work. As it stands, it's amazing they need all this technology to do what cars in the 80s used to be able to do. The hybrid idea does work for those who drive mostly on the highway and drive very timidly, but for the average person, I think they would quickly get annoyed with the lack of power and see little gains in fuel economy over the already fuel efficient Civic.
#10 of 1765 Peterun by fickle Apr 13, 2002 (12:31 am)
Since you are the only one on this board that actually owns a hybrid, I'd like to know what caused you to purchase the Civic rather than a Prius? What kind of car did you own before?   I may be changing jobs and the new job will be completely stop and go traffic. (1 hour to go 10 miles.) I hate sitting in traffic just thinking about all the gas being burned. Therefore, I'm thinking of getting a hybrid, even though people are saying you can't recoup the initial cost difference and the gas you'd save. I'll miss the 6 cylinder engine going up the hill to my house but at 3 mph on the freeway, I'm sure I won't notice it at all! Replies to this message: goingreen (Aug 19, 2005 4:56 pm)
#11 of 1765 Other vehicles . . . by Peterun Apr 13, 2002 (3:14 am)
To answer your question . . . I own several other cars, including a C320 wagon, and a new Mini Cooper. I've also owned and sold a Prius. Had that for about four months. Liked it, well sort of. Found it less driveable, less fun than the Civic. The Civic is definately more controlled and feels safer at high speeds. Also, more comfortable and luxurious. Of note, both have electric assisted steering . . . . . the Prius' made squeaking sounds . . . .and did not appear to be as refined as the Honda. The Civic's steering definately tightens up at speed and gives a good amt. of road feel back to the driver. Civic has side protective moldings - Prius has no protection . . more of a metal slab design. Honda offers standard side air bags; cruise control, driver's side armrest. Prius offers all maint. for 36,000 miles as standard. My dealership, Sierra in Monrovia Ca., gives free oil changes for as long as the original owner owns the vehicle. Typical of Honda . . . this car is perfect right out of the box. Almost one thousand miles . . . and I have no reason to return to the dealership. Runs absolutely perfectly. And no, I do not work for Honda. Hope this answers your question. Pete
#12 of 1765 Test drive by fickle Apr 14, 2002 (9:29 am)
I went and test drove the Civic hybrid today. They only had one and it was a manual. Drives just like an ordinary car. I like the looks of the controls.   One thing the salesman said to me was that you could get a $3000 tax credit on your tax return. Anyone know what that's about? Replies to this message: josemedina (Oct 29, 2004 6:56 am) gagrice (Oct 29, 2004 6:59 am) 307web (Oct 29, 2004 8:17 am) gfedchak (Oct 29, 2004 2:56 pm) 307web (Oct 29, 2004 3:03 pm)
#13 of 1765 Civic Hybrid vs. Toyota Prius by christhatcher Apr 14, 2002 (10:30 am)
After a relatively disappointing test drive of the new Honda Civic Hybrid automatic two weeks ago, we thought we'd give the Toyota Prius one last chance. Even though we first test drove the Prius last year, we now had a solid competitor to compare it to.   The Prius only comes as an automatic, and that is what we test drove yesterday.   Having owned my Honda Accord for 17 years now, I have to admit I'm biased towards Hondas, but facts are facts. The Toyota Prius outperformed the Honda Civic Hybrid in two significant areas where we found the Civic lacking: Where we were less than thrilled with the Civic Hybrid's acceleration, the Prius took off up an uphill freeway entrance ramp with punch and pep comparable to any other compact economy car. Where Honda only offers the Civic Hybrid in three limited and boring colors, the Prius comes in at least six colors, including a nice navy color we thought would be a good pick for my girlfriend who is now a vice president of her environmental engineering firm, and something a guy like me wouldn't be embarrassed to drive as well.   While quirky and unconventional, the interior of the Prius is also more aesthetically pleasing than the two-tone Civic interior. The dash mounted automatic shift lever takes a little getting used to, as do the digital readouts and touch screen computer, but so what? When most people still think you have to plug these cars in at night, what's wrong with educating your passengers as they ride. The Prius' interior also makes you feel as if you're in more of a luxury car than you actually are. The Civic Hybrid's only slightly modified interior makes you feel as if you're still riding in just another Civic. The only advantage that the current Civic Hybrid has over the Prius right now is that the Prius wheel wells may be too small to accommodate chains.   Even though the word on the street is that the Honda Civic Hybrid standard version has better acceleration than the Prius, and Honda promises better exterior colors in the future, we don't have time to sit around and wait for Honda to get their act together. We're buying a Prius next week.   Chris Thatcher   Postscript: The Sierra Club's magazine "Sierra," published an article in their May/June 2002 issue (p. 64) where they compared the performance and environmental impact of a Toyota Prius Hybrid to a GMC Yukon SUV in a side-by-side road trip of over 700 miles in Florida. The Prius costs $20,450, the Yukon costs $35,552. Over the identical distance, the Prius achieved an overall gas mileage of 44.5 mpg, while the Yukon only achieved 16.3 mpg. The Prius used 16.24 gallons of gas during the entire trip, at a cost of $22.84, while the Yukon burned through 43.01 gallons, at a cost of $60.21. The Prius only produced an estimated 308.56 pounds of CO2, versus 817.19 pounds for the Yukon.

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