Civic Hybrid now cleaner, greener

Honda Civic Hybrid

03 June 2006
Gordon Lomas

Honda's Civic hybrid is a late starter to the family but in second generation guise it promises to be cleaner and greener.

The delayed start for the petrol/electric Civic in Australia is a result of Honda facing a global production shortage.

The new car costs $31,990, $2000 more than the first generation Civic hybrid.

This car comes with plenty of goods and chattels and has improvements and refinements in regenerative braking energy while the electric Integrated Motor Assist is up on the original Civic by 46 per cent while torque has taken a 14 per cent hike.

It develops 85kW of power, giving it a 29kW advantage over the Toyota Prius equivalent and creates 170Nm of torque.

There are claimed fuel consumption figures of 4.6 litres/100km (.6 litre better than previous model) but in early real world tests there are indications it is more likely to be up around 6 litres/100km.

To justify buying a hybrid over a standard Civic you would need to own the hybrid for more than 16 years, twice the eight-year battery warranty, at current petrol prices, to see any benefit.

And according to RACQ research it is understood a replacement battery today would cost close to $2000 or about 70 per cent less than the Prius.


The Civic hybrid comes with a compact CVT variable transmission with a wider gear band.
There is a space saver spare but there is room for a full size in the boot well, steering wheel-mounted audio controls and a choice of four colours exclusive to the hybrid.

The IMA powertrain varies on how it functions depending on road conditions.

Both the petrol engine and electric motor work under acceleration and either/or works while cruising, depending on road conditions.

Under deceleration the cylinders shutdown and fuel stops flowing, while the electric motor goes into regenerative braking mode, effectively becoming a generator and recovering energy to feed the rechargeable battery.

There is a nine per cent wider range in gear ratios for this CVT which helps save fuel.

Honda says it will sell 100 a month, optimistically thinking it will pace the Prius.

ON THE ROAD

The Civic is comfortable and ostensibly does not feel a whole lot different to a conventional petrol model.

That is until you spend a few kilometres in one driving around congested Sydney roads.

On a 70km loop course from the Rocks, across the northern beaches to Narrabean and back through North Sydney, the hybrid showed a few of its tricks.

For starters the brakes at first have a wooden feel to them and there appears to be an ABS (anti-lock brakes) pedal kickback.

You can hear the electrics buzz into action when you ride the brakes, sensors sending a signal to the computer so braking power is distributed between hydraulic brakes and the electric generator which maximises regeneration.

This is slightly different to the previous model which had a pre-set regeneration and was not designed for variable proportioning of its braking power. So there is better logic under the new hybrid's skin and it is a sweet ride.

Our fuel figure rested at 7.8litres/100km after 70km and others on the same drive finished at 5.9litres/100km.

The hybrid started to struggle on a couple of climbs, the CVT clearly staying in a higher gear for optimum fuel efficiency.

It is doubtful whether the $10,000-plus premium over a standard Civic is worth the hassle.

Financially, the hybrid is not a viable option at current petrol prices. Only committed greenies may see a benefit in the environment over dollars equation.