Spoiler: Civic didn't make the 10 best, although it was listed as a candidate. The accord did make the list as usual. I'm not sure if the 06 civic was even included in the running, or if only includes 05 models..... they aren't clear on this, but their listing of best mpg for cars tested in 05 was a chevy at 27 mpg. I'm guessing that since the very same issue tests the 06 HCH at 40 mpg, the 06 civic wasn't included this year, but would be next year.

It is Motor Trend that had the 06 Civic as car of the year. While I love my civic, I've never put much stock on Motor Trend's "reviews" Their Car of the Year winners in recent years include the 97' Chevy Malibu, the 02 Thunderbird, and the 2000 Lincoln LS.

Ok... yeap, I get so many car magazine that I get them confused. Motortrend (Issue Jan. 06) has listed the 06 Honda Civic (and it's many variants) car of the year.

Nice to see that their are other performance enthusiasts/C&D readers on this board. 2 out of the last 3 cars that I owned were on the 10 best list, and I was a little hesitant to buy a Civic hybrid, given that it isn't exactly a C&D favorite. I do miss my 85 Civic Si that I drove in college though, good performance at the time while getting 40 mpg consistantly, and a blast to drive to boot. At 1700 pounds I can't imagine it would stand up as well as the modern civic in an accident however.

Not sure anyone has posted the link to the article yet:

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....ticle_id=10393

re: the lumbar support, Car and Driver daid the HCHII had TOO much of it. I personally find most American made cars lacking in this department, so I'm pretty happy with it.

DKeane

Unfortunately, I have found my lower back hurting after several 2 hour trips in my new HCH. I have had 4 honda's previously, and have always loved the seats, this is my first time having problems. The Element that I no longer have because of a crash had the best seats ever for a road trip.

The lumbar support is fine. It's the dang headrests that are killing me.

Why are they not adjustable like every other car?


Ron in SoCal

Saving the Dinosaurs . . .

They do adjust vertically... like every other car. They do not adjust in any other capacity because they are "active head restraints". In a rear collission, they move forward and up to help prevent neck injury. It is the first Honda to receive this feature, and it works.... This is perhaps why they do not have an adjustable lumbar support.

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_res...ead_honda.html

For 2008 there are new rear collission guidelines that will go into effect for automakers.

In this article I noticed again the view that a bigger electric engine means a car uses less fuel. That somehow because there is a bigger electric engine, it needs less gas. This isn't true. 100% power of any non-plug in hybrid comes from the ICE ultimately. The recovered energy from braking can be stored and doled out later via electric motor. It doesn't matter if the electric motor delivers all this stored energy quickly via a strong electric motor, or slowly via a weak electric motor. As long as the power is being recovered and applied in a high efficiency system, the hybrid works. Its the efficiency of the hyrid-electric part that determines how much power is recovered, thus how much more efficient the system as a whole is.

--Brad Smith