GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post - Sold my '06 HCH after 12400 miles. Final thoughts...

CGameProgrammer · #1 (**permalink**) 05-24-2006, 11:18 AM

I'd owned my 2006 Civic Hybrid for 6 months and driven it a bit under 12400 miles. Now it's gone, so here are my thoughts on the car.

GOOD:

Displays. All the buttons are lit well. The speedometer and tach are clearly legible and very cool-looking. All LCD displays have adjustable brightness. It's easy to cycle through the display options (outside temp, mileage, odometer, etc.). Two tripmeters, each with their own MPG reading, theoretically anyhow (there was that 63-mile bug, but there's a recall for it now).

Interior. The two cupholders are huge, durable, easy to use, and out of the way. The AUX input and one of the two 12V outlets are easy to reach. The sun visors are deep and block the sun well. Seats are comfortable and easily adjusted. Good amount of storage.

Steering at moderate speeds. The wheel is not overly mushy, there's no real dead zone, and the steering ratio is pretty tight, so you don't need to turn the steering wheel alot to steer the car. Also, the controls on it are very easy to reach and use.

Fuel economy when cruising. At a fixed speed on a level surface, the car can get very good fuel economy between 30-70 miles per hour. A/C does not appear to affect it.

Large side-view mirrors.

Decent visibility.

Quiet. Surprisingly so, even at high speeds. The engine can get loud, especially when going uphill, but wind noise is not alot.

Looks. I like it. It looks far better than the previous Civic.

BAD:

Mileage at no speed. Does not auto-stop when the engine is cold. Does not auto-stop within 30 seconds of the car being started (even with fully warmed engine). Does not auto-stop if it auto-stopped recently and the car hasn't reached 9 miles per hour, except once. Sometimes it auto-stops when the car slows to a stop, but when it finally hits 0 miles per hour the engine inexplicably starts up again (highly irritating). The engine runs when the car is in reverse or even in Park (I suspect because you have to move past R to shift into P).

Mileage at high speeds. I have seen 36-42 mpg at 75-80 miles per hour at various times. 40-42 is fine, though not great, but it doesn't always get even that. It depends on hills, I think. And on a 82-88 miles per hour drive over 900 miles, the car got 32-34 mpg. That's with tires at 50 PSI by the way.

Steering at highway speeds. The steering seems very wobbly at higher speeds, which can be really annoying.

Acceleration. It's slow. And if the battery is less than half full, it's REALLY slow.

Hill-climbing. The engine needs to rev very high to go over hills, making it very loud, high-pitched, and somewhat distressing. 4000-6000 rpm to climb a hill at 70 miles per hour?

Jerkiness. Regenerative braking made my car very jerky, both when it engaged and when it disengaged. Each time I tap the gas pedal, there's a jolt. Releasing it also causes a jolt. Auto-stop is even worse as you can't even move forward until about a second after releasing the brake pedal.

Electric-only mode. N/A. The car can coast while using no gas, and sometimes it can do this without even slowing down, while using little or no gas. If, in this mode, you press the gas pedal very lightly, it might even add some assist. And voila, that's your electric-only mode: an assisted coast. It doesn't have much more of an impact than just coasting regularly or without regeneration (by pressing the gas pedal lightly to cancel regen but not use assist). And if you're going 25 miles per hour and want to go 27 miles per hour, you have to use the engine, since you cannot accelerate at all using the electric motor alone.

Here is my favorite picture of it:

Goodbye, car!