imported_Sam

How much fuel, on average, can be saved with the Hybrid Civic?
Is it a huge saving that makes the investment well worthwhile?

imported_raven

My friend has a Hybrid Civic, and it seems to be a very convenient car, especially if you live in the city. The 2005 Hybrid Civic has a mpg of something like 37 city/ 41 highway, I believe. The Hybrid definatley does save you money when it comes to gas, however.

twinkle

That is pretty good. Anyone know how long the charge lasts/requires to recharge?

I love the gas mileage, I just think the inconvience factor and the cost make it less than appealing, right now.

imported_raven

The battery charge is actually quite good...if you want more information, look at

http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html

It is a very useful site, it has helped me answer many questions.

twinkle

Thanks for the link. Does not specifically say what kind of charge you need or how long it takes to fully charge for the civic though.

I will keep looking.

Stigs

The battery pack is designed to last 10 years under normal driving conditions. Its battery pack comes with an 8-year/80,000-mile warranty and all emissions-related equipment comes with a more extensive warranty. See your dealer for details.

vtec12

Thats good longetivity.
I never thought it would even last 5 years let alone 10.
Obviously we wont see the results of that for at least another 8-9 years so no one knows if it will actually see those numbers.

eShutterBUG

The gas milage makes it more appealing to me. I am looking into getting a Hybrid as my next car and this makes it look a lot more likely for me.

Frantic

How much money do you think you will save on gas?
Is it that much really?

twinkle

Not enough to make up for the increased cost and the hassle.

I don't mind the hybrids, but I think we are 15 years from mass adoption.

imported_blueangel

We should all be worried about our environment and the earth so we can have a nice place for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.

imported_Mikey

Yes thats right blueangel.
I absolutely hate it when ignorant people choose to ignore environmental problems and just carry on with their polluting ways.

Just because it doesnt affect you much now, what about 100 years from now when animals will be even more endangered and people will be living in filth even more so than now.

Flash!

Sam - Sometimes a car decision is based on other factors. I am pleased almost beyond words about my recent purchase of a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid (in Magnetic Pearl color with the Navigation option). My previous car (the complete opposite of this car btw) was 11 years old and starting to break down on the maintenance front. I was already deciding on a new car, had owned a 1996 Accord EX, needed a car with 4 doors and trunk space to carry computer parts and that was about the extent of the requirements. The Civic Hybrid has Navigation as an option AND it was a Hybrid so my only decision was whether to get the Gas Civic or the Civic Hybrid and for the price difference there was absolutely no question -- the Hybrid was the best fit for me.

In my daily job I drive an average a tad over 150 miles/day. My car was 7 weeks old this past Monday and it just rolled over 7,000 miles!!! I'm not even due for my first oil change yet (20% oil life left -- change due around 8,000 miles). Anyway, my company reimburses only $0.33/mile but this car costs about $0.06/mile to fill getting me a "profit" each week of $0.27/mile driven. If I drive 750 miles then I'm profiting about $200/week or for 50 weeks of working per year is about $10,000. Mind you - that is what I pocket from my mileage reimbursement AFTER filling my tank. I typically get 550 miles per tank so that is 1.36 fill-ups per week of around 12 gallons (have filled the tank to 14.1 gallons but the book claims it is a 12-gallon tank).

My monthly car loan payment is in the neighborhood of $400. That means that all year long I am paying just $4,800 for the car but I'm getting $10,000 in mileage reimbursement. MAN do those numbers look better and better each time I go over them.

My previous car struggled to make 20 mpg and with the Hybrid I am averaging 46 mpg so right off the bat I am spending less than 50% of what I was before. That doesn't include the joys of having GPS navigation to find customer locations every day or the CVT transmission (smooth-as-glass) or the PCMCIA computer card reader behind the Nav screen that stores 1,000 MP3 songs or the in-dash MP3 player where a CD can store another 1,000 songs.

I'm rotating my tires every 4,000 miles and changing the oil every 8,000 miles so through the first 8,000 miles the car will only have cost $20 (tire rotation) + $35 (tire rotation and oil change) + $450 (fuel) or about $500. WOW. That is over 8,000 miles and 8 weeks too. That is about $3,100 per year on maintenance and even if that inflates to $5,000 for maintenance and the yearly car loan is $4,800 then my savings in fuel reimbursement of $10,000 almost pays for the car right there so I'm getting a "free" new car with all the gizmos and gadgets. Sorry if I held back all my excitement here. =)

Flash!

Twinkle - Are you aware of how the Civic Hybrid works? It appears as though you think that you have to plug in this car but that is false. There are other cars that require you to plug them in but this is not one of them. This is basically a very fuel-efficient I-4 Honda Civic with a CVT transmission (only drivetrain on the new Hybrids). The car runs 99% on the gas motor and gets assistance from the IMA battery (the battery pack behind the rear seat). The Prius, I believe, is able to run on the battery 100% up to a speed of around 35 mph which is how they achieve some good fuel economy numbers.

The IMA battery on the new Civic Hybrid assists/recharges while you drive so there is no downtime as you wait for the batteries to charge and the distance per charge is as long as you care to drive with the low fuel indicator on. I've gone 600 miles on a single tank of gas around Western PA which is by no means an ideal geography. In the hilly terrain and mix of city/highway driving I am able to average about 46 mpg (check the link on my signature or visit it here, GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars › 404 Error.

Like I said, the only difference, for me, was in deciding between the normal Civic or the Civic Hybrid and after seeing the price difference in them and the gains from the Hybrid it was an open and shut case.

Here is a fantastic article on how the Civic Hybrid works and how to drive one utilizing the features in the car, Adapting Basic Hypermiling Techniques to the HCH-II - CleanMPG Forums. There are times when you are maintaining a speed on a gentle downslope where the car will shut down the valves (thus maximizing out the display at 100 mpg) and can maintain speed from the onboard battery pack only. This is how the Civic drivers get some great fuel economy numbers.

I have had several daily drives that result in over 50 mpg for the day displayed (which usually means 2-4 mpg higher if calculated manually). My last one was a week ago with 115 miles driven in a 30%/70% city/highway driving and achieved 52.2 mpg at the end of the day. Nice. Oh, and the battery Status of Charge (SoC) when I got home was about 60-75% so it wasn't like I was "cheating" and running on all-battery power to achieve that either. =)

Flash!

... and I also get a refund from PA because I bought a Hybrid this year. I think it is rather low compared to other states or only about $500 but hey, that pays for one monthly payment on the car plus the fuel cost during the month. Another perk for owning a Hybrid for some folks. Other states allow a Hybrid with any number of passengers to travel in the HOV lanes.

Wadely

pardon mebeing ignorant but what are HOV lanes

05blkrs

high ocupancy vehicle lane.. normally you have to have acertain number of ppl in the car to drive in that lane.. i guess it's the same as the "dedicated car pool " lane in some areas.

06CivicHybrid

yeah it is a bit low considering i am actually going to get back 1800 from TX this year and the car was purchased on 060912 also because the DOM (date of manufacture) was after the month of june.

SoK66

I think you may be operating under a common public misconception that hybrids somehow require recharging via wall current or something. You never need to "plug in" a hybrid to recharge the battery.

Depending upon the mfr, hybrid powertrains use one or two supplemental electric motors, driven by an on-board battery pack, to provide additional power to the engine. The electric motor alternately switches between being a motor, or a generator, depending upon driver demand and the battery's state of charge. This allows the use of a significantly smaller and less thirsty gasoline engine to produce the same amount of energy as a non-hybrid engine. The use of smaller gasoline engines is primarily the reason why these vehicles get such good mileage.

In a hybrid the battery is maintained by a combination of automatic re-charging (where the supplemental electric motor acts like a convetional automobile's generator) and/or regenerative braking, where the system uses the electric motor as a generator, providing additional braking effort while similtanelously recharging the battery pack. The system will also recharge the battery when coasting. In the rare case of system failure or near-total battery discharge, Honda cars have a small conventional 12v battery and electric starter.

Recharge times for the IMA system are very rapid, to the degree that the system is essentially seamless. I'm on my second hybrid and have never actually exhausted battery charge completely on either car. This is all the more remarkable when considering that I live in a mountainous area, with some very long climbs over 11000 ft passes that require a lot of motor assist.

Hybrids do have some unconventional operating characteristics: The assist motor/generator acts as as both starter and generator. When you turn the key at startup there's no "cranking" sound, the engine immediately springs to life. In the right conditions, the engine will come to a complete stop at traffic lights, etc. to save gas. There is no separate generator to recharge the batteries. A very cool feature of the latest generation Honda hybrid system, the A/C compressor can run on its own electric motor whenthe engine shuts off at stops, keeping the A/C blowing nice & cold.

Also, the Honda Civic Hybrid uses both electric power steering and an electric water pump. This reduces parasitic power loss and gets more power to the wheels while using less fuel to power these essential systems.

Hope this helps!