The Environmentally-Friendly Honda Civic Hybrid

Every once and awhile, we each get the opportunity to make a decision to do the right thing; be it for our classmates, our society, or for the one thing that influences every single one of us...our environment. Enter the 2005 Honda Civic hybrid. With the optional Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), it gets 48 mpg in the city and 47 mpg on the highway. About the same combined mileage as for the Toyota Prius, the only other compact gasoline-electric hybrid sedan on the market. The power-train assigned to this task is a 1.3-liter SOHC 8-valve inline-4, 85 hp, 87 lb-ft continuously variable auto combined with a modified version of the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) energizer introduced on the Insight several years ago. A thin electric motor sandwiched between the gasoline engine and the five-speed transmission provides up to 13 horsepower to boost the Civic's performance. During coasting and light braking, this motor also serves as a generator to recharge the Civic hybrid's nickel-metal hydride battery located between the rear seat and the trunk.

Additional efficiency improvement comes from a few vehicle tweaks. A new front air dam and rear spoiler, along with revised underbody panels, reduce the drag coefficient, electrically assisted power steering reduces the parasitic losses on the engine, and special tires reduce the Civic's rolling resistance.

Despite the chassis modifications, however, it is clear that the Civic hybrid feels far more normal than any of the other hybrids on the market today, thanks to its more refined suspension and close to standard wheel and tire setup. This chassis even delivers decent grip, with 0.81 g available in the corners before the front tires start grinding. The ABS-equipped disc and drum brake combination ensure that the Civic hybrid stops quickly albeit slightly slower to decelerate than the standard Civic due to the increased weight.

This chassis is more than capable enough to harness all the speed the hybrid power train can deliver. With the battery meter showing a full charge, I timed the Civic's 0 to 60 mph at just about 11 seconds (they claim 10.9), but expect slightly slower times if the battery is completely depleted. This lack of snap is no mystery when you pore over the Honda spec books and see that the hybrid weighs about 200 more pounds than a Civic LX.

Nonetheless, when driven sedately, the hybrid seems quieter, smoother, and generally more relaxed than the mainstream model. To highlight this benefit, Honda has equipped the Civic hybrid with standard features such as alloy wheels, side airbags for the front occupants, a remote-entry system, and a CD player. These are usually not standard features. The hybrid even has an automatic climate-control system unavailable on any other Civic. In other words, you won't be roughing it while you save fuel in this Civic.

However, you won't be saving a great deal of money either. If we compare the Civic hybrid to the Civic LX, which is the most comparable conventional Civic, you find the following: If you drive 15,000 miles every year and gas is $2.00 a gallon, you'll save about $240 a year. To realize this saving, you will have paid about $21,140 for the Civic hybrid with CVT -a solid $3500 more than the price of an LX with alloy wheels, a CD player-and a small allowance for the hybrid's automatic climate-control system. Put that increment in a money-market account at five percent, and you'll earn $175 every year. At that rate, allowing for the time value of money, you will never save enough gas to pay back the premium you paid for the hybrid model.

That being said, we should all be more than willing to pay a little more for this vehicle for the simple reason that it's the right thing to do. When professor Nordhielm asked our class what kind of car we wanted after graduation, my classmates yelped out with glee: "Porsche 911", "BMW M5", and yes I even heard "Hummer". Well at and average of 22, 16, and 10 mpg respectively...congratulations, you have just dropped between 5 to 7.5 more TONS of CO2 into the atmosphere that if you had driven this Civic hybrid. Does your ego really need to go from O to 60 in under 5 seconds or hit 175 mph? Do you really need to drive a vehicle that weighs 7500 lbs and cannot even park in a standard parking garage? I think not, and with the addition of several new hybrid offerings from Toyota, Lexus, Ford, and Honda over the next two years, I would ask that every one of you to take a good hard look at their next automobile purchase, consider your responsibility to the global community, and then Go Green!!



*No CEMP members threatened or influenced me in any way during the writing of this article.