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The Chicago Tribune Jim Mateja Automotive column
(Chicago Tribune (KRT)) Dec. 25--Was a gas/electric car under your tree this morning?
Hope batteries were included, because it's one thing to search for a couple alkalines on Christmas Day, quite another to hunt for a nickel-metal-hydride pack.
Also hope Santa deposited it in the garage and not in the living room. Hybrids may conserve fuel and reduce emissions, but they do little to ensure the cleanliness and longevity of your carpeting.
But we digress.
Unless you have spent a great deal of time under a rock, you must be aware that no other segment of the market has gotten as much attention as hybrids.
Environmentalists, as well as motorists who panicked when gas prices touched $3, made hybrids the vehicle du jour for 2005. Gas prices in 2006, or at least the fear of where they are headed, no doubt will influence hybrid interest.
As the year draws to a close, couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend some time in one of those hybrids everyone made such a fuss about.
We tested the 2006 Honda Civic. Honda first offered the hybrid in the 2003 model year, and for this model year all Civics, hybrid included, got a major redesign.
The sheet metal is a little more distinctive, though still somewhat bland. The car tested was pastel blue. It looked like a couple boxes of Pampers should be included. While a pleasant and peaceful color, can't expect too many men will go for a baby blue sedan--whether it conserves petrol or not.
But the new look is secondary to the new mileage and the fact the '06 Civic hybrid offers better mileage--49 m.p.g. city and 51 m.p.g. highway--than its predecessor--48/47.
Mileage is higher because Civic's 4-cylinder gas engine borrowed the cylinder deactivation system from the V-6 Accord hybrid.
Accord shuts off 3 of 6 cylinders to conserve fuel; Civic shuts off all 4 and relies on battery power between 25 and 35 m.p.h. It also shuts off all cylinders when you coast.
You may never obtain the optimum 48/51, but you'll still do better than the 30/40 in the gas-powered Civic sedans with their 1.8-liter 4-cylinders. Have to say, however, that 30/40 is pretty good.
If higher mileage, greater driving range and fewer stops at the pump are your primary concerns, you'll do well to check out the Civic hybrid.
But keep in mind that 48/51 rating on the window sticker is an estimate, not a blood oath or money-back guarantee that this is the mileage you will obtain.
There are a few factors to consider before taking the plunge and putting a hybrid in your garage.
While the '06 Civic hybrid delivers 1 more m.p.g. city, 4 more m.p.g. highway than the 2005, it has a base price of $21,850, or $950 more than in '05.
And that $21,850 is $2,790 more than the comparable gas-powered Civic EX sedan.
So sometime over the next 36, 48 or 60 months--whatever your term of payments--you have to hope the extra mileage will offsetthe $950--not to mention the $2,790--in increased costs.
That $2,790 premium would buy 930 gallons of gas at $3 a gallon or 1,395 gallons at $2 a gallon. Something to consider.
Civic is powered by a 1.3-liter, 90-horsepower 4-cylinder gas engine and 158-volt electric motor that produces 20 h.p. In 2005 the hybrid offered a 5-speed manual and continuously variable automatic with an unlimited number of gear ratios. For '06 the manual was dropped.
Though with only a combined 110 h.p., Civic is fairly lively. The hybrid starts and stays in gas mode until you reach about 25 m.p.h. and then electric takes over.
Travel at a slow, steady pace on level pavement and the cylinders on the gas engine deactivate at about 25 and you operate in electric mode until about 35 m.p.h., sometimes a few m.p.h. more before the gas mode takes over if you gently press the pedal.
The longer in electric, of course, the longer you are consuming zero fuel and not only obtaining maximum mileage, but also shooting zero pollutants into the atmosphere.
On the highway or interstate, electric mode comes back into play when you need a power assist to pass or merge.
You don't feel gas to battery or battery to gas transitions. If it weren't for a couple of gauges in the dash that call attention to dual-mode power, most motorists wouldn't know when in gas or battery or both.
One gauge shows miles per gallon at the moment. The needle ascends when speed slows, retreats when speed rises. Another gauge shows when the battery is assisting the gas engine and how much charge is left in the battery pack. The batteries recharge while driving and don't need to be plugged into a socket. The batteries are expected to last eight years or 100,000 miles.
While the hybrid helps conserve fuel, there are a couple of gripes. One is that to provide optimum mileage, the hybrid rides on 15-inch, low-rolling-resistance radials. To reduce rolling resistance, the treads and sidewalls are stiff and have less give over anything on the pavement or the pavement itself, for that matter. A step up from what Fred Flintstone had to live with, but a step down from the common flexible radial.
And though the battery pack and electric motor make the car only 75 pounds heavier than the gas version, it feels like more in the wheel.
Comfort is sacrificed as well as handling. You'll be able to travel farther before refueling in the hybrid, but not necessarily in total comfort. Ride is a bit harsh, handling more than a bit vague. And the seats, front and rear, are more than just a bit stiff and unforgiving. You also don't have pinpoint response to steering input.
If coming out of a cushy family sedan, you must test-drive this vehicle more than just around the block to determine how stiff a ride you can tolerate before signing on the dotted line.
Also, the battery pack is between the rear seat and the trunk, which robs rear seat leg and trunk room. Decent, but not deep, luggage space in the trunk. But to have enough room for your feet when riding in back, you'll have to rest them under the front seat.
However, you won't want for cup or water bottle holders or power plugs, and there's an ample supply of small trays in the dash and center console as well as under the console armrest.
The standard equipment list is extensive: side-curtain air bags; anti-lock brakes; power mirrors with integrated turn indicators; tinted glass; automatic climate control; power windows and door locks; cruise control; tilt and telescoping steering column; remote fuel filler door/deck lid releases; a pair of power plugs; and AM/FM radio with CD and MP3 players.
A navigation system is optional at $1,500, but a power moonroof isn't offered. You can get one in the gas-only version.
Honda expects to sell 28,000 Civic hybrids in '06, up from 24,000 in '05.
"The only thing that will keep us from selling more is limited inventory from Japan," said Honda spokesman Sage Marie. The original did not set a break-neck sales pace, however.
- - -
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid
Price as tested: $21,850*
WHEELBASE: 106.3 inches
LENGTH: 176.7 inches
ENGINE: 1.3-liter, 90-h.p. 4-cylinder gas engine and 158-volt electric motor
TRANSMISSION: Continuously variable automatic
CITY: 49 m.p.g.
HWY: 51 m.p.g.
THE STICKER
$21, 850 Base
*Add $550 for freight
PLUSES
- The car is redesigned for '06.
- Gas/electric provides mileage greater than a gas-only sedan while spitting fewer emissions into the air.
- Hybrid means significant driving range and a mileage rating higher than that for '05.
- Combination of gas and electric means very good power.
MINUSES
- Low rolling-resistance tires are very firm, and so is the suspension.
- Premium of $2,790 over the gas-only Civic.
- Its appeal is tied to price of gas.
Read Jim Mateja Sunday in Transportation and Wednesday and Friday in Business. Hear him on WBBM Newsradio 780 at 6:22 p.m. Wednesdays and 11:22 a.m. Sundays.
jmateja@tribune.com
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
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