 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
|
Related articles on CanadianDriver
Manufacturer’s web site
|
Join CanadianDriver’s Facebook group
Follow CanadianDriver on TwitterReview and photos by Chris Chase
Find this vehicle in CanadianDriver’s Classified Ads
Photo Gallery:
2009 Honda Civic
Ottawa, Ontario – It’s difficult to complain about a car that will travel 100 kilometres on just six litres of gasoline. Even more so when a car will travel that distance on that little gas in the rigours of stop-and-go driving. Especially when the car in question isn’t the kind of penalty box one used to have to drive in order to save a few pennies at the pumps.
The Honda Civic, of course, is far from a hairshirt on wheels. And the Civic Hybrid, despite being one of the oldest gas-electric hybrid models available today, is notable for its combination of efficiency and comfort.
 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
Honda has been making much of its newest hybrid, the Insight, but a week in the Civic Hybrid proved that it is still very much worthy of consideration.
It must be noted that in a week’s worth of driving, the Civic Hybrid’s average fuel consumption was 5.7 L/100 km. Going by percentages, that works out to 14 per cent more than the Insight, which I drove a few weeks ago. That car returned an even thriftier 5.0 L/100 km, despite its slightly higher Energuide fuel consumption ratings. The Civic Hybrid’s fuel official figures are 4.7/4.3 L/100 km (city/highway); the Insight’s ratings are 4.8/4.5 L/100 km in LX trim.
The Insight is also less expensive than the Civic; my Civic tester rang in with a base price of $27,350, a substantial $3,450 more than a base Insight LX (the up-level Insight EX costs $27,500).
    2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. Click image to enlarge |
But what you get for the Civic Hybrid’s higher starting price is a car that feels more substantial than its newer sibling. The Civic’s cabin, despite its polarizing styling, is roomy for four, though, like most compacts, sticking a third rider in the back won’t earn you any favours. But otherwise, headroom, legroom and general comfort are generous, front and rear. Standard convenience features include power windows and locks with keyless entry, heated side mirrors and automatic climate control.
The unconventional dash layout takes some getting used to, but it works well. Secondary controls are all within easy reach of the driver, and while the high-mounted digital speedometer seems better-suited to the zoomy Si models, it’s a convenient place to locate the only source of information you need worry about in this car. There’s no point watching the tachometer, as the car’s standard continuously variable transmission (CVT) responds to deep stabs of the throttle by allowing the engine to rev high and stay there until the car reaches the desired speed.
Reaching that speed, incidentally, requires quite a lot of patience from the driver. The Civic Hybrid will step away smartly enough from a stop, but accelerating at speed – say, to merge with highway traffic – requires patience and plenty of advance planning. Steep hills also make the Civic Hybrid work hard just to keep moving, much less accelerate.
Driving this car in heavy traffic, which occasionally requires a quick burst of acceleration to squirt into an opening in an adjacent lane, can be nerve-wracking. It’s also mostly pleasant. This is a very smooth-riding car, with a suspension tuned for comfort above handling. It’s quiet, too, owing to the fact that in normal driving, the gas engine doesn’t have to work too hard, thanks to the help it gets from Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system.
The IMA is less-sophisticated than Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, mostly because the car won’t drive on electricity alone, whereas a Prius, for example, can move away from a traffic light without sparking the gas burner. That fact alone makes the Prius look like the better choice if you do a lot of driving in heavy rush-hour traffic, where the Toyota could conceivably creep along for some time on electric power alone. The Civic Hybrid’s engine does shut down when the car is stopped, but fires up the instant the brake pedal is released. For the record, Honda’s IMA does allow the car to travel on electric power alone, but only under very specific conditions, which, in my experience, are quite difficult to achieve without paying more attention to what’s happening under the hood than what’s on the road in front of it.
Pages: 1 2 | next >> View full article on one page
|
at 8:16 am
Why can’t GM come up with a good real hybrid such as this one. All GM has done, is dupe us with cheap, innefective, mild hybrid systems. GM is now overstating 230 MPG for the Volt, please. Show me the money GM, put up or shut up.
at 8:40 am
GM’s 2 mode Hybrid system is just as advanced as Honda’s system. Troll on.
More relevant to this article is the fact that the HCH and the Insight are hardly selling right now, relative to the Prius.
How has Honda missed the market on this? Being cheaper but not more efficient?
at 10:18 am
Right….
You must be speaking of the Silverado and Tahoe, so advanced… the truck gets no real mpg improvement, the tahoe maybe 1 more mpg. And at what cost, $50K for the truck and $55K for the Tahoe, that’s before taxes. Consumers are so running to buy those expensive pigs, that GM is now reaping in the profits aren’t they? NOT! GM is still a busted, broken business, just as everyone is writing before.
Are you the only person in the world that still thinks GM is salvageable? Give us all a break and just go away once and for all.
at 10:28 am
2009 Chevrolet Tahoe review;
The power train is unrefined. There is little cargo space behind the cramped third-row seat, which does not fold into the floor. Handling and braking as so-so. The expensive hybrid version got 18 MPG in the 50% city driving test drive. Reliability has improved, but the Tahoe scores too low to be recommended.
Reliability-Worse than average
Owner Satisfaction-average
at 10:46 am
The well-rounded Honda Civic has a roomy interior, responsive handling, and a compliant ride. Road noise that intrudes into the cabin. The 1.8 liter works well, returning 29MPG with the automatic and 31MPG with the a manual transmission. The quick Civic Si has a super-slick shifter and a rev-happy 2.0 liter engine. The hybrid got a 38MPG overall. Crash test results are impressive. The two tier instruments take some getting used to.
Reliability-Better than average
Owner Satisfaction-Bettern than avergage
This vehicle is highly recommended.
at 10:46 am
This anti GM trolling in comments to articles that have nothing to do with GM is getting old. GM does have an extremely advanced form of Hybrid technology, that like any other is costly. But it works. Tahoe vs Tahoe Hybrid fuel economy is a difference of 5 litres per 100km per Transport Canada, or 33% less fuel. Whether you like the Tahoe or not is beside the point. And the system is also slowly trickling down (Vue next year, possibly Equinox after that).
Of course, having shown the GM troll that GM does have an advanced hybrid system, the next reaction is “well if it’s so good why is it not selling”. Check with Honda Canada to see how many HCHs and Insights they are selling. They’re not exactly hotcakes right now either.
Only Toyota and Ford are cleaning up at this moment.
at 11:01 am
I wouldn’t buy a GM if it was the last vehicle in the world. Can’t trust them.
at 11:03 am
Even as a former GM man, I am with all of you. I too will never do any business with GM.
at 11:05 am
Sorry MikeK, can’t wait for GM’s hybric “slowly trickling down”, I am going with a Honda, Toyota, or Nissan this year.
at 11:47 am
Nor would I advocate you wait. I have never owned a GM car nor do I plan to in the near future.
GM does have the technology though, whether or not they’re implementing it slowly, and there’s no reason to give up hope for them.
I’d add Ford to that list though. I think the Fusion Hybrid is much more enticing than the TCH or NAH.
at 12:01 pm
I am afraid everyone has given up on GM already. The dealerships in town are closed and nowhere to get warranty work. I am moving on, recommend you do too.
at 2:18 pm
Yes Mike, why aren’t GM cars selling? How is the E-bay Motors car auction doing? I guees that is what is needed, now that GM dealerships are going under.
What’s coming next, the swap-meet GM?
at 7:28 pm
I don’t know but I drive everyday 100 km 50-50 highway and city. I get 6.2 to 6.3 L/100Km with a Saturn SL2 2002 1.9L engine. What’s the fuss about a civic doing 6.0L/100Km. One of my friend is doing the same I do with a Corolla.
As for GM any yellow asian sob will always bitch no matter what GM build I only hope they will loose their job because someone buy a asian product.
at 12:08 am
JoMomma,
You bought a Saturn? Wow! The one with a rough, noisy ecotech engine that sounds like grinding walnuts shells in a blender? That one? and it gets what MPG? Check the resale value, try not to cry either. More surprisingly, that your discontinued/phased out/flushed down the toilet Saturn is still on the road.
at 12:23 am
Anybody who bought a Saturn is a loser!
at 12:38 am
The GM POS/POC is MikeK above.
at 2:25 am
I think Civic’s are great cars and the interior is pretty good and drives well. Problem for me is the exterior which I have still not warmed up to.. A small detail but I still can’t stand those side view mirrors..
at 6:18 am
GMs problem is that they first brought out A beefed up starter/alternator and shut the engine at stops. Then they called this a hybrid. That was BS, you might pick up a 1 or 2 mpg on the EPA test, but more like 0 in the real world with such a system.
GMs two mode hybrid is a real system and more capable than Hondas (in that it can propel the car in electric mode) But as far as I know, GM only used it on huge trucks.
So GM has both good and bad hybrid systems, but they haven’t put a good hybrid on a smaller car to give some really good MPG ratings.
at 8:50 am
Your are right about the first part, the “mild hybrid” part.
GM’s two mode system does not perform as advertised. GM attached a huge and thirsty 6.0 liter engine to a part CVT/part electric motor tranny on a heavy truck and SUV. That tranny has a low towing capacity, it’s achilles heel per say.
GM also added cylinder deactivation and got the EPA MPG claim. But in real world driving MPG does not improve, 15.9 MPG, see Silverado hybrid drive test on this website.
Look, if you use a thirsty 6.0 liter V-8, limit its’ towing capacity, use a heavy box shaped truck/suv with a poor air drag coefficiency, you get a “real world” poor or same 15MPG as a non-hybrid. That is not a good system.
Pass on the extra 10K charge and go with a regular gas truck.
at 3:43 pm
You guys keep hitching all your arguments to the same test results that show 15.9 mpg. I posted what Motor Trend test yesteday that showed another Silverado hybrid in a busy downtown and they got from 18 to 21/22 mpg. A regular gas engine truck would be sitting closer to 12/13 mpg. That’s a huge difference. A hybrid makes way more sense for a heavy vehicle than a small one because you’re already getting good mileage in a Civic. It’s the SUVs and trucks that need to improve.
at 3:45 pm
Is it just me or is Jim, Old Guys Rule, Truth be Told, GM Man all the same guy, because they all seem to be sharing the same brain.
at 5:35 pm
Right, keep listening to your voices inside your head. The sky is falling too.
at 6:06 pm
mozeby you must have bought a silverado hybrid? you are one gullible loser aren’t you.
at 6:45 pm
So let’s see, the article in question is about a Honda Civic Hybrid, and yet there is little discussion about the car and its technology, rather people who are familiar with sewing machines, reality shows and fashion think it’s more suited to put down General Motors. All auto makers make good and bad vehicles. GM Man (Gay Mandy Man) and Jesus (pronounced Gaysuez), go back to sewing or knitting, cause you sure don’t know squat about vehicles. Make comments relative to the vehicle being reviewed.
at 8:48 pm
Bite MetroFred,
Just like Bret Favre said yesterday, “don’t watch” if you don’t like it. Now go get your flavored coffee at starbucks.
Mozeby, who cares about your short city trip mileage. Stop being a moron and face the music, the GM hybrid does not improve MPG in everyday “real world” driving. The Honda hybrid improves MPG in everyday “real world” driving. End of story.
at 8:58 pm
Mozyman and MetroFred are roomates.
at 12:12 am
Mozeby and bitemefred will you please just accept it, the Silverado hybrid does not work as advertised, it is pretty much worthless on the highway. Give us all a break and stop this back and forth.
at 8:21 am
MikeK,
Just because you drank from the GM POISONED CHALICE, does not mean we will follow your lead. As my good colleage would say “you got duped”.
Do you guys not have lives? Stop bitching at each other.