Rep Power: 400

Test drove an accord hybrid yesterday. While out on the drive, my fiancee (who is driving) decided to see how well it accelerated. It is quite a performer, and you'd never know it was a hybrid.

While at a corner waiting to turn onto a main road, a yellow civic with DOHC stickers and a big *** wing on the back was approaching. He kinda downshifted to "show off" as my fiancee pulled out, and he did a bit of a flyby.

She caught up with him 2 lights down, and just as we were coming to a stop, the light turned. The guy in the civic peeled out a bit, and was trying to take off. She floored the hybrid and left him behind like he was standing still.


Those accord hybrids are f*cking awesome. Finally, a hybrid with some *****.

 
Rep Power: 334

nice, for those whom dont know the specs...


v6
240hp/212tq
SOHC i-Vtec
29 mpg city / 37 highway (auto) ULEV-2


one hell of a hybrid ecno car if you ask me

 
Rep Power: 268

v6 WITH 29 mpg city / 37 highway !! Thats freaking amazing.
240hp/212tq

 
Rep Power: 400

actually, with the IMA engine (which you get even when it's floored) it's 255hp and 232tq.

also I know someone that has one, he said he AVERAGES closer to 38-40mpg. it's interesting, because it seems the EPA numbers are always less than what you'll actually get. I think it has to do with the car breaking in.

 
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you guys test drove one hell of an accord, ever thought of buying it?

 
Rep Power: 336

isn't the hybrid like 10k more than the normal accord. don't know if its worth it.

 
Rep Power: 400

no it's not that much. I think it's a couple thousand more. fully loaded with navi it's like $32,000. but you get a $2000 tax deduction the first year of owning one, and the gas mileage is tremendous. and since my fiancee has to drive a TON (20,000 miles a year at least) for her work, it'd be nice.

 
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You should have a look at the Lexus RX 330 hyrbid coming out soon, apparantly those things are supposed to be pretty impressive as well. When it comes to hybrids, Toyota, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Honda, have the market cornered. All these 'mild hybrids' that domestic makers are hoping to introduce into their trucks are so lame it just sad.

 
Rep Power: 336

yeah whats the point of having a hybrid if the engine is a freakin v8?. it defeats the purpose. we should go blow up all suvs. they are a complete waste of space and gas.

 
Rep Power: 400

i dont think toyota has the hybrid market cornered any more than honda? honda offers 3 hybrids for purchase, which is more than any other auto maker right now. not to mention honda sells the FCX (hydrogen powered) and the natural gas powered civic as well. (we have some forest rangers up here that drive natural gas powered civics) these are cars that no one else sells either.

and then mpg, the toyota prius can't even touch the civic hybrid. the civic hybrid gets about 56-58mpg from real world drivers. i have noticed that the EPAs mpg always seem to be much lower for the honda hybrid's than what they actually end up getting in real life. i think part of this could be because it takes a while for the hybrid's to "settle in" so to speak.

 
Rep Power: 294

I had heard the were quick. How was it interior wise?

 
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The natural gas Civic isn't a hybrid, its just Civic that runs on something thast not gasoline. The FCX is in production, but won't see widespread use because theres no infrastructure for it.

MPG and all that is great, I never question Honda technology, because thats their strong suit, but when I say Toyota has the market more so cornered I mean in sales. The first and second gen. Prius are selling like crazy, whereas I think that the Insight, though a great little car, is a bit too small for the needs of most, a 2-seater just isn't practical. I don't see many hybrid Civics around, but then again I live in Northern Canada, and sales of the new hybrid Accord remain to be seen, though I predict they'll be pretty strong. I'd like to see how it's sales compare to the RX 300h, though I understand that they're 2 serparate and distinct segments, I like to think of them both as 2 different types of family sedans, as I don't think anyone will be offroading in their 330

 
Rep Power: 347

The reason that the Prius outsells Honda's hybrid's is because it is different. It has its own unique styling, and is a midsized vehicle. Most people wouldn't know an Accord Hybrid or Civic Hybrid unless they were staring at the Hybrid emblem.

I love the Accord Hybrid, I'd want one too if I could get that power and awesome gas-mileage of a 4-cylinder in a larger car, I'd take it in a snap! The only thing is the price. We would have to trade in both Civics for 1 Accord.

 
Rep Power: 400

yeah that's one thing that's always confused me is how the prius outsells the hybrid civic. honda and toyota are equal quality, and the two cars are quite evenly matched on features, yet the civic gets much more mpg.

call it good marketing by toyota.

 
Rep Power: 302

Mmmm.... I wish Honda made the civic or accord hybrid in a COUPE as well. I'd own one by now. I know the accord has a lot of power. Our v6 6speed is a rocket.

 
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Yea the V6 accord 6-speed is a beast. Me and my friend took one out at work and at 4th gear we were going about 120 mph.

 
Rep Power: 403

i dusted a hatch with my moms prius one day... lol..

 
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Call it 2 extra seats and more conventional styling

 
Rep Power: 400

how does the prius have 2 extra seats?..... am i missing something?

 
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Well, the Prius has a functional rear bench, whereas the Insight is only a 2-seater isn't it? I haven't actually seen one in a show room for a while now, but I do recall the area behind the front seats as being somewhat reduced?

Edit: When I was in Vancouver over the spring I got a chance to ride in a Prius taxi cab and it seemed pretty spacious.

 
Rep Power: 400

where in this post did i mention the insight?

 
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The reason the prius sells better then the civic hybrid is because its a combination of marketing and features.

The hybrid is marketed as more then just a econobox with good mileage. The prius offers HID options and navi. Its marketed more on the preimum side and it has a unique look. It also helps that movie stars drive the prius as well. Christian slater even traded in his escalade for a prius. That also helps sales. Similar to how rap stars made the escalades more popular a few yrs ago.

With raising gas prices the prius is the new trendy car to have.

 
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Ah, sorry, I'm still used to thinking of Honda's only hybrid as the Insight and soon-to-be Accord. I just haven't seen many Civic hybrids around, though I think one of the local Honda dealers has one or two of them as loaner cars.

Basically what the guy above me said, its more luxurious, isn't identified as being a 'Civic' which translates roughly into 'dependable econobox'. Honda should've rebadged it and tweaked the body style a bit, kind of like they did w. the Acura 1.7EL up here in Canada

 
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it's not soon-to-be-accord. lol. i test drove one in this encounter. they have been out for a while.

 
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yea... its cool filling up your tank for like 15 bucks and getting 250-300 miles

 
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The Prius is not an econobox anymore. By numbers, it has the same amount of room as the camry, consequently making it a mid-sized sedan. The Civic is too small for some people. BUt you are are right about the extra options on the Prius that the civic doesn't have.

 
Rep Power: 489

It's important to realize that, although the accord is a hybrid, it's not really ment to get better gas milage like the Civic Hybrid and Prius are for... the Electric Motor is there only for the purpose of providing more HP.

So if you buy one and think that you are getting a "green" car, then you are wrong. It's just a higher-performing car.

 
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The HCH does NOT get better MPG than the Prius. I don't know if it's because you're more bias to Hondas, but the facts and user reports don't lie. The Prius real world average of mixed driving reports a constant number of the 55mpg range. The HCH reports a real world average of about 45-48 mpg. The electric drives in the two models are completely different animals. First of all, the HCH uses Honda's IMA system. This means it helps the engine out more as a boost for running up hills and while accelerating. Toyota uses the HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive), which will propel the car itself in Electric only mode up to a certain (40mph) speed. The Civic Hybrid does not do this like the Prius does. The Civic Hybrid will "auto stop" the engine at stop lights, but that's the extent of its "electric only" mode. There are plenty of links you can use to inform yourselves of the differences in the Prius and the HCH. Toyota has more sales with the Prius not just because of "marketing". In fact, Toyota barely markets the Prius...seldom any television commercials, and rarely any magazine spreads or sales gimmcks. The reason the Prius sells more is because between the IMA and the HSD, the Prius hybrid is a superior vehicle. Add the Smart Key technology, the standard multi function display giving you immediate MPG results, and more information than you could hope for, and the Prius is more informative for the driver and user friendly.

You may ask how I know? My wife drives a 2005 Prius, and my parents own a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid. I've driven both extensively, and with the same techniques. Over 3 months, the averages of the Prius are approximately 10mpg higher than the Civic. The main reason I did this was because I was considering both before purchasing my Civic Coupe. Yes the fully loaded Prius costs about 6k more than the only model Honda offers as far as trim and options. My wife's Prius has voice activated navigaition, voice activated stereo controls, voice activated air conditioning controls, as well as BlueTooth technology so you can speak on your cellphone and hear your callers through the stereo speakers. None of these are features Honda can touch as far as convenience. You can also modify the Prius to run in EV mode (electric only 100% of the time) which you can't do in a HCH, and it brings the gas mileage to around 100mpg in the Prius obviously.

The 2006 Civic Hybrid is being introduced to compete more directly with the Toyota Prius. It will even look similar. Why would Honda be doing this change unless they knew the Prius was doing better? Don't get me wrong. I love Hondas, have always bought them. But if I were to buy a Hybrid, pound for pound the Prius has the Honda beat. In gas mileage, as well as standard features and size. Just the facts is all, not trying to step on anyone's toes. I just couldn't sit by and let someone tell you all that the HCH gets better gas mileage than the Prius, it just isn't an accurate or informed statement.

 
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oh wow....that's very interesting. i always just assumed that the hybrids had weak engines & were pretty slow. i guess i was wrong.

 
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By comparison to say, a Civic EX, both the Civic Hybrid and the Prius are on the "slow" side. The Prius has a good bit of low end torque, a little better than the Civic Hybrid, but both have combined engine/generator speeds of about 100 HP...the Prius eeks out about 110 combined hp between the electric motor and engine, the Civic Hybrid puts out just shy of 100hp total. About the equivalent of a 1.9 liter VW engine which isn't too bad. They won't get you any 15 or 16 second 1/4 miles, but then again, that's not what they were designed for anyways. They both accelerate to 60 in about 10 or 11 seconds, which is weak and slow, but then again, you're only at the gas pumps about once a month or so if you're doing mainly city driving.