I test drove an 06 Civic Hybrid just the other day. Brand new car right off the truck. It had ~4 miles on it as I recall.

Anyway.. I got this sorta odd smell from the engine. Almost an oily/burning like odor. Not like burning oil exactly, but rubbery maybe? Definitely not electrical.

I usually noticed it when starting from a full stop. Either at a light, or just after leaving the lot. When on the road or highway (in motion) I didn't notice anything.

Is this -new car- burps? I somewhat expected so. It didn't have me all that worried, but I was wondering if others noticed this.

In my mind I figured it was the engine or something burping off something due to its young age.

*shrug*

-Gary

I apologize for getting off topic, but this is what I see when I read this posting about the new Civic's odor:


http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil.../4/7/page1.JPG

Can the administrators of this group be more selective about what gets advertised ?

Best Tank = 54.2 mpg (Sep. 9'06)
Best Trip = 61.9 mpg

I don't have an -06 but when the EGR valve on my old accord was bad, that's all I could smell. If this engine (06HCH) has one, maybe its defective???

As a fellow web developer (with -0- affiliation to any hybrid websites), I can say the answer is pretty much a "No" to that, although once an ad has been identified by an adminstrator/web site owner as being one they don't want run on their website, they can have that URL/ad blocked... it's easier on non-forum pages to identify the variety of ads/sites that might show up, but with forums topics span so many different things it increases the chances something A) completely off-topic to the discussion (to a human reader; not to an advertising algorythm like Google) and/or B) offensive or at least ill-placed, will be displayed. It's sort of like the insurance related ads I saw on CNN's home page during/after Katrina with ad taglines that were never intended to be matched with such devastating coverage.

- Shannon (Geeky, Wild Texan)

I noticed a smell too several days after I took delivery of the car when I was at a drive thru. Smelled REALLY bad.

Anyway, I've had the car a month now & no smell. I'm not sure what it was. Could have been the IMA breaking in???? Could have been something else completely different, but I am very happy to say that the smell is no longer there!

Oily smells in new cars are often caused by an anti-corrosive coating applied to exhaust systems after manufacture. This coating, literally oil, has to "burn off" for a few hundred miles after initial delivery. (It's not really burning, more like evaporating at high temperature). The same thing occurs when you have a new muffler or other exhaust system installed on and older car. I can't say with 100% certainty since I can't smell this car myself, but I can tell you with 99% certainty that this is the issue based on your description. Nothing to worry about, as it will go away quickly as the car is driven.

While I did not have the smell as described my 06 interior smelled heavily of plastics etc. Way more than any new car I have bought. Luckily that is gone now.

Ok, I sorta figured it simply had something to do with the new engine breaking in. The post about the exhaust system sounds logical.

Unfortunately the car was sold last night, so I won't be getting that one ;P I have to give the dealership a call tomorrow and put the next one in on hold for sure.

-Gary

I actually had the same experience - I test drove an 06 HCH II w/ Nav - I knew that was the car I was NOT going to buy (the dealer knew as well) as I did not want Nav.

The car did smell when I stopped to pick up coffee at 7-11. I was only mildly concerned as I was really testing out the car. I was accelerating up a steep grade to 90+ and then braking heavily repeatably to cycle the battery - I was curious if the battery charge would hold up. It did - which is why I bought one, just not that one.

I experience the same smell. Almost like burning plastic. It was really strong a few weeks back and hard to reproduce and inconsistent.
The odor was the strongest on two occassions.
When backing up on a steep hill and driving slowly in a parking lot.
I still notice it sometimes after 20 minute drive to/from work.

"There is no spoon."
Neo "The Matrix"