REVIEWS: 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid

[9thGen-Mike]

REVIEWS: 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid

I spent quite a lot of time behind the wheel of a regular Honda Civic sedan during our Small Car 6-pack story and wasn't very impressed with Honda's update to the car for 2012. Yes, the Honda Civic is still a very strong choice in the suddenly highly competitive field of small cars. It may be good at everything, but there's no one area where the Honda Civic really stands above the crowd. Everything from the design to the driving dynamics to the interior is well done but unexceptional.

Which brings us to the hybrid. Honda is the only automaker currently offering a hybrid in the compact-sedan segment. It's not the most technologically advanced hybrid on the market, but that means it doesn't cost a fortune over the standard model, either. Honda's IMA hybrid system is fairly straightforward in that it provides assist during acceleration, does an automatic start/stop in urban driving, but rarely allows the car to run on electric power alone. With the hybrid system, the Civic can return impressive fuel economy in the city. Many small cars have fairly unimpressive fuel economy during stop-and-go driving because you need to floor the accelerator pedal to keep up with traffic when pulling away from a stop. That's still true with the Civic Hybrid, but using an electric motor to supply some of that thrust certainly saves fuel.

On my mixed commute, I saw an indicated 38 mpg. I would have expected about 5-8 mpg less in a normal Civic over the same route. Sure, a Prius, a Volt, or a Leaf will burn less gasoline, but the Civic's numbers are quite good for a car that looks like a normal sedan (read: no aero-inspired spaceship styling) and doesn't need to be plugged in. Just drive it like a normal car and it does a few minor things to save fuel that can really make a difference for people who do a lot of stop-and-go driving. There are a lot of strong choices in the compact-sedan segment but only one compact sedan that comes as a hybrid. For some shoppers, that's enough to seal the deal.

The only people who will notice that the Honda Civic has been redesigned are current Honda Civic owners. And I think that's largely the point. Last year some 260,000 Americans bought a Civic, making it the best-selling small car in the country (Toyota reported 266,082 Corolla sales in 2010, but that includes the Matrix). I'm willing to bet many of them are repeat buyers. Is Honda resting on its laurels, then? Perhaps, but I'd call it staying in a groove.

Civics are known for offering some very specific qualities -- good fuel efficiency, lots of interior room, smooth driving dynamics, bulletproof reliability, and excellent resale value. This iteration focuses on all those traits. Fuel efficiency has improved across the board to nearly 40 mpg on the highway (with both the Civic HF and Hybrid exceeding that number). From behind the wheel, the car remains competent and capable, if not quite engaging. The interior continues to look like it was conceived by engineers, with functionality taking first, second, and third priority. You get plenty of room to stretch out and, just as important, you feel like you have lots of room to stretch out. The new Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra both edge the Civic in a few interior measurements, but when you take turns sitting in each car -- especially in the back seat -- it still seems as if Honda is pulling some sort of trick. The same applies to the excellent visibility: many manufacturers tell us that modern crash regulations necessitate high beltlines and massive pillars, but somehow the Civic avoids these impositions.

Of course, the engineer's perspective also has a downside. Soft-touch materials, for instance, cover only the surfaces you would normally touch - and none on those you don't.

Again, none of this is new to the Civic. It's fair to assume that the brand's fanatically loyal buyers won't suddenly find the graining on the car's dashboard -- which still doesn't look remotely like anything found in nature -- unbearable. The problem then, is not that Honda is "slipping" or losing ground, so much as it may be missing an opportunity. The highly hyped batch of new small cars, led by the Elantra and the Focus, are not angling to win over Civic owners -- they're chasing a completely new compact car buyer. These are not the thrifty, practical people who have been buying Honda Civics for decades. They are buyers who never considered a compact car until the economy tanked and gasoline soared toward $5 a gallon. They want all the things they used to get in their larger cars -- fancy technology, attractive styling, expensive-looking interiors. The new Civic, with its bland exterior and no-nonsense interior, does little to appeal to these people. Even the Hybrid misses the point by being so inconspicuous that most green-vehicle shoppers will ignore it completely.

Full Article At: 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid with Leather and Navi - Fuel Efficiency - Automobile Magazine