2007 Honda Civic Hybrid
If you’re reading this, you’re either one of my five loyal readers or you feel like saving the world. If you fit into the latter category you’re probably not going to play Superman and defeat some villain with a dooms day device; rather you’re probably thinking global warming is coming and I’m going to help prevent it with a Hybrid. Very noble of you, although personally I don’t think a hybrid will really help you perform this deed.
There are quite a few things the ads and the environmentalists aren’t telling you about a hybrid. First and foremost, remember this is a hybrid electric vehicle and not strictly an electric vehicle. What that means is you’re still burning off oil and even though you’re burning off less of it than most people, you’re still contributing to global warming! I’m going to paraphrase something James May of Top Gear wrote right now because he made a very good point. There’s a finite amount of oil on the planet so by driving a hybrid we’re only dragging out our oil supply and not actually reducing the total inevitable damage. You may think that this is fine, because your children and possibly your children’s children can live on an environmentally sound planet for longer, but there is a bit more to the story. If you’ve ever had rechargeable batteries or a lead acid battery from your car go completely flat you’ll know that they have to be “recycled” or “properly disposed of.” In truth the batteries in a hybrid can cause greater environmental damage than SUV’s because some of the chemicals are carcinogens, but at the minimum it’ll cause damage other than global warming. Then of course we can’t forget the transport of said batteries and the raw material used to make them. Some of the battery materials are flown all over the world for the final process to be completed and the jet fuel used to get the final product out could actually equal or in fact be greater than the fuel savings of a hybrid! Then let’s not forget the manufacturing and recycling process itself requires energy as well… and most of our energy comes from oil…
Well, enough hybrid bashing because the idea is definitely in the right place and I’m sure some infrastructure changes will remove some of the negative aspects as the years pass; now, onto some more relevant car ownership issues. First we have to talk about reasons for buying a hybrid other than trying to save the world. As we all know hybrids get better fuel mileage so you’ll save by going to the pump less often, but there’s actually one far more important detail no one seems to have bothered mentioning. The biggest wastes of fuel in the world, by far, are traffic jams. Sure, your engine is “idling” but you’re still burning fuel and getting zero miles per gallon. This isn’t a problem in a hybrid because while you’re stuck in the jam, your engine will turn itself off and here’s where you’ll really be saving… if you don’t factor in the added cost over a normal Civic… which is a lot!
Positives: So you’re probably saying, “enough about hybrids in general! How’s the Civic Hybrid as a car?” so I’ll get on with my actual review. I quite like the new Civic in general because it’s such a monumental improvement over the old one. The interior plastics have clearly stepped up a notch, the styling in general seems more modern and more upscale, and the car drives quite nice too.
The Civic and its hybrid version share the same weird ass multi-tiered dash and I originally thought it would be awkward and distracting, but it works quite well. If you just want to check what speed you’re going at (which is pretty much all you’ll really want to check while you’re driving in an automatic car) you can catch the digital speedo in the corner of your eye, so it actually means you can keep your eyes on the road. The funky IMA instrumentation that shows if you’re using battery power or charging the battery is actually crash inducing, but just resist the temptation to look at it and you should be fine. The only complaint I have about the interior is the fact that the dashboard is DEEP. You can’t really tell where the front of the car is, and you always feel like you’re about to crash into what’s in front of you when you’re not… but I suppose you can adjust to this over time.
The new Civic is larger than the old one and easily transports you and your friends/family without violent fights for the front passenger seat, but there is a practicality shortfall with the hybrid version which you can expect to see when I reach the negatives.
The Civic Hybrid is a decent car to drive because it shares quite a bit of everything with the normal Civic. So, like the normal Civic the steering is weighty and gives some decent feedback, although it does feel quite a bit like a force feedback steering wheel for a Play Station; not a bad thing but it definitely feels a bit weird at first. The brakes are easily modulated and this car has more stopping power than you’d expect because once you hit the brakes the electric motor absorbs a lot of kinetic energy to charge the battery. As for the ride comfort, the Civic Hybrid was designed to ride softly so it provides a very gentle highway ride and the random Seattle potholes don’t really upset the car… so it’s quite good if you have piles.
Naturally an upside to this car is the low fuel consumption. The hybrid gets a good 10-15 mpg more than the already fuel efficient Civic and don’t forget, it doesn’t use any fuel during those rush hour traffic jams. The Civic Hybrid won’t get as good of gas mileage as a Prius (comes close though) partly because this car refuses to run off the battery alone. The second you step off the brakes and onto the gas pedal the engine will turn on no matter how hard you’re pressing or how much juice is left in the battery, and to be honest I quite like that. For starters, if you’ve ever had a Prius go past you in a neighborhood (ie the Prius is driving slowly) you can’t hear the thing and it will surprise you as it goes by. Now imagine crossing a street and being run over by a Prius because you didn’t hear it coming. Sure you’re supposed to look both ways, but cars still come after you’ve done your basic safety checks. The other reason why I like the engine always on function is because sometimes you just need immediate acceleration to get out of a situation and if you have to wait for the computer to go “oh $#!+ gotta turn on the engine,” then start it and provide drive, it might be a little on the late side.
Negatives: All of the negative aspects actually stem from the fact that this car is a hybrid… so if you really want to show everybody how enviro-friendly you are these shortfalls are unavoidable, kind of like your spouse finding out you’re cheating on him/her.
To kick things off I have to mention just how slow this car is. It’s certainly quicker than the old Civic Hybrid which had a leaf blower engine mated to a weak electric motor. This new model has an engine that’s about as powerful as the engine in the Honda Fit, only it’s quite a lot heavier than the Fit because the Civic is a bigger car and that hybrid fitment (the motor and the batteries) aren’t very light. Around town the acceleration is enough because the electric motor provides quite a bit of torque, but once you reach speeds above 40 mph, this car really starts to bog down. Once you get up to speed, torque starts to become irrelevant and horsepower is what matters, so around 40 mph the electric motor is pretty much useless as a form of providing forward motion, so now you’re mostly flogging the 1.3 liter engine, which is a bit small to be powering a car the size of a Civic. If for some reason someone’s going slower than you are on the highway, and you want to overtake them… good luck!
The Civic was never all that quiet on the highway to begin with, this has been a major complaint about the Civic for every generation, and the hybrid is actually worse. The new Civic is quieter than the car it replaces, but you won’t notice that in the hybrid. Since the motor is pretty much useless on the highway, you’re asking the small 1.3 liter engine to push this heavy car up to… well highway speeds… so that means you’ll have to rev the engine higher than you would have had to in the normal Civic, which ultimately equals more noise. So, this car only makes sense in town.
The Civic has always been a decent handling car, but the added weight of the batteries and the motor kind of spoils it. The Civic hybrid will easily outpace a Prius around the twisty bits, but it feels very heavy and awkward through the bends. You can feel the extra weight of the car ruining the handling, making the car dive under braking, and making the car roll through the corners while you drive it; however, not much can be done about it.
Practicality has been sacrificed for improved fuel mileage in this car as well. If you compare the normal Civic to the hybrid, you’ll instantly notice that the trunk has shrunk quite a bit on the hybrid. This is of course to accommodate the batteries… also, you can’t solve the small trunk problem by folding down the rear seats… because they don’t.
Now we get to my main gripe about this car, and hybrids in general for that matter. Obviously these cars are designed to have the engine cut out when you’re stopped, but things don’t quite work as planned when you get to a hill and a traffic light. As you approach a red light on an incline you’re likely to kind of coast to a stop then hold down the brakes. If you’re not paying very close attention, you’ll be coasting to a stop… then the engine shuts off and you start rolling down the hill and into the car behind you. So you have to keep your right foot on the gas, until you’ve reached your stopping point then quickly get on the brakes. Setting off on an incline is slightly less tricky but still annoying none the less. Usually when you set off from anywhere, you casually remove your right foot from the brake pedal then step on the accelerator, but once again it doesn’t quite work in a hybrid on an incline. During that 1-2 second gap between your foot leaving the brake to go on the gas, your car will have rolled back enough to crash into the car behind you. I started using my left foot to hold down the brakes, and after I got the engine to start up from pressing on the gas pedal with my right foot I’d release my left foot off the brake. Things got even more interesting when I got to the steeper hills… A manual might give similar problems, but this isn’t a manual is it?
Conclusion: If you’re after a Hybrid get this instead of a Prius just because it’s nicer to drive; but, I personally wouldn’t recommend getting this over a normal Civic. The normal Civic is just a better car all around, except it gets worse mileage (and that mileage is still pretty good); and if your primary motivation for getting a hybrid is to save money on gas... I would really recommend the normal Civic because the price difference between the two is quite large. What this means is that you won’t be seeing any actual savings for many years and at least 150,000 miles (unless gas prices go up by a lot). During this time you’ll have to suffer through all the annoyances the hybrid brings and to me it just isn’t worth it. Also, it your batteries go wrong, and the warranty has a loophole to not cover it, you’re looking at spending enough money erase the money you saved on fuel over the years.
This car only makes sense then if you want a shiny hybrid badge to show everyone how special you are. In that case I have to repeal what I said earlier, and say that the Prius would be the better choice because that’s a more instantly recognizable hybrid vehicle. You can then say “I have the same car as Cameron Diaz, and I care about the environment,” but buying car solely for the sake of image is a sin in my book, especially if the car isn’t particularly good… it just makes you look like a prat in the end.
Summary:
The good: More miles per gallon than the already fuel efficient Civic
The bad: Not nearly as good to drive or as practical as the already fuel efficient Civic and rolls backwards down hills
The Ugly: Won’t actually save you any money, won’t actually save the planet, and makes you look like a prat (at least to those who know cars)
Verdict: Just get a normal Civic!
Random Stats:
Engine: 1.3 liter I4, 110 hp, 123 lb-ft torque
Motor: Only Honda’s Engineers seem to know
EPA mileage estimates: 49/51
