The Civic Hybrid (all Civics for that matter) is all new for 2006. More power, better handling—certainly better looking. And for all of Honda’s efforts, the Civic was recently named Car of the Year. You won’t hear any complaints about that from me. I recently managed to track one down at Don Davis Honda.

The first thing you notice is the new styling. Nothing earth shattering (or weird, like Toyota’s Prius hybrid), but a nice, clean evolutionary design from the previous Civic. It’s still a compact, but over the years designers and engineers have learned how to keep the outside small while enlarging the interior. Sliding into the driver’s seat I had the adjustment only about half-way back, which fit my six–foot frame perfectly while still leaving enough legroom in the back seat for a normal-sized human type. And headroom was abundant enough to accommodate perhaps a partially-collapsed top hat. Yes, that’s a good thing.

Besides being roomy, the interior is well-thought out, as well as well-designed (wow, I used “well” three times in one sentence, this must be good). I especially like the design of the dashboard, with its heads-up digital speedometer right in your line of vision on top of the dash. In a pod under that are the rest of the instruments, including a cool little readout which approximates your present gas mileage. I suppose it could become a game to see just how high you can get the number to go. It’s not quite as distracting as some other hybrids’ dashes, but it is interesting nonetheless.

The Civic Hybrid is much the same car as the Civic Sedan, save for a few details: such as a trunk which is about 1.6 cu.-ft. smaller to accommodate the battery pack; for the same reason, the back seat doesn’t fold down; the power steering unit is electric; the tires are 15” low-rolling-resistence units mounted on lightweight alloy wheels versus the Sedan’s 16”; the outside mirrors contain turn-signal units; and of course, there’s the powertrain…

First off, and probably the most simple to understand, the transmission is continually variable; that is, it doesn’t have four or five gears so to speak, but it continually changes to match the engine speed for optimal performance. The engine—or should I say, the engine and the motor, are a bit more complex. They’re what put the “hybrid” in the Hybrid. The engine is a 1.3-liter in-line four-cylinder unit, which puts out 110 hp. The DC electric motor, which is less than 2.5” wide, adds power when needed—when accelerating for instance, or climbing hills. It is also used to start the car (when fully charged), and in city driving, say, at steady speeds under 35 mph, the gasoline engine shuts down and you’re driving electric. That’s how the EPA is able to arrive at estimates of around 50 miles per gallon.

You may have heard some time ago that the present regime in Washington was going to phase out the tax deduction of $2,000 available to some buyers of hybrid vehicles. Instead, now they’re offering a tax credit of up to $3,400. Go to www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml and read a much better explanation of what that means than I could ever give you here. Speaking of the Internet, while you’re online go to www.honda.co.uk/civic, and click on “Watch” and you’ll see the making of the television commercial for the new Civic just introduced in the UK. It features a Civic driving through a number of different situations, and all of the car sounds you hear are provided by a 50-person choir. You must check it out.

Pricing for the U.S. version of the Civic Hybrid: $21,850 or $$23,350 with a navigation system. Plus destination charge. The pricing is certainly a lot simpler than the drivetrain!

more info at: www.honda.com

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