2006 Civic Hybrid questions

Greetings,

I'm currently waiting (for the second time) for a Civic Hybrid. I have two
questions.

1) How can I find information about the Navigation system it includes and
how does it compare to, say, the Pioneer AVIC-Z1 (which I have my eye on).
Does it integrate well with the Civic environmental controls and so on that
the factory NAVI features? Would the installers screw up the electrical
system likely? I spoke with a Honda tech and he said it won't necessarily
void the warranty but if there is an electrical problem on a wire that leads
to the 3rd party NAV then they might not honor the fix under warranty (or
even do anything about it if I paid them to, for that matter).

2) I am interested in having a sunroof installed. I can't live without it in
my Tacoma. The salesman said it wouldn't effect mileage noticably. I'm
wondering how it might effect the balance and such regarding safety and
airbags and aerodynamics and so on. Anyone here have any information?


Thanks,
Shawn

 

Tacoma gets an average 40+ inches of rain on 160 rainy days every year,
when are you ever gonna use a sunroof???

 

2) I am interested in having a sunroof installed. I can't live without it

Sorry, my Toyota Tacoma that I'm about to replace with my Civic Hybrid.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

My wife has a 2005 Accord Hybrid with Navigation. It is fully integrated
with radio and climate control. But when it is sunny it can be hard to see
touch screen buttons. She got the navigation because that is all they had
left on the lot and got a good deal on it. Otherwise I would not get
Navigation feature unless I had a big need for it like being in real estate
business. For one reason, Honda radios seem to be crappy and replacing it
would be impossible with navigation system.

With respect to sunroof, I wouldn't consider cutting a hole in the roof of
my brand new car but that is just me. I never use them although most cars
I've owned have had them. I like quiet climate control as I drive.

 

Honda claims its hybrid Civic sedan gets 48 mpg in the city. Consumer
Reports found it only gets 26 mpg -- a 46 percent difference.

http://www.wesh.com/painatthepump/9141621/detail.html

 

I don't think the Consumer Reports test was of the 2006.
The 2006 Civic can run electric-only in certain conditions, a change from
my 2003 Civic.

I don't dispute that Consumer Reports actually saw pathetic mileage, but I
almost always think their tests are really convoluted.

If this was deliberately a test of creeping around the city, the 2006
should do better, and the Ford Escape does very well, at 38mpg in a Ford
test in Manhattan. That's not where I drive, though.

My lowest mileage was 38.1, in December, 2003. I recall that I had the A/C
on for defrost almost constantly, and I expect that, and a lot of cold
start driving, is what contributed to that low reading.

 

i really wish the car companies wouldnt treat vehicles like the fit, the
xA/xB, yaris, etc as "penalty boxes"

haveing a factory sunroof would be a nice option and selling point for
me. as it stands, if i get an xA (which im leaning toward), im going to
get a sunroof installed. it was only offered once, on a special edition.

 

the days of cheesy pop-open sunroofs is long gone. the new ones need to
be installed by an authorised dealer, and some look really nice.

 

Honda claims its hybrid Civic sedan gets 48 mpg in the city. Consumer

I have friends and family who regularily get 45-63 MPG in their 2006 Civic
Hybrid. www.greenhybrid.com is full of people who routinely achieve 50+ MPG
and people share their ideas how to achieve it because it takes a bit of
"practice" but I think its worth it.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

Remember that EPA tests don't measure the actual fuel consumption, they
measure the emissions produced and calculate fuel consumption from
that... and with earlier hybrids, those mehotds have yet been adjusted
to properly account for the very different hybrid operation.

They also use very controlled, standardized tests that don't necessarily
match real-world driving conditions - in theory, a manufacturer could
tweak a car's programming to produce better test readings.

That said, even with pre-hybrid cars, mileage can vary widely depending
on the individual drivers.

 

Their city test consists of simulated city driving around their test
track (with signs saying where to stop, what speed to go, etc.).
Their city test almost always gets very poor fuel economy compared to
the EPA number. It is rare for even small cars to get over 20mpg in
their city test.

Note that the EPA city test is supposedly a simulation of New York City
driving, using acceleration and braking rates determined in the 1970s
(remember that cars then were much poorer performers). Hybrids in such
a test (and actual driving conditions like that, such as some types of
traffic jams) should perform extremely well. Although, to be fair, if
the hybrid's battery is at lower charge at the end of the test than at
the beginning, somehow that must be accounted for (I don't know if the
EPA does anything).

 

I just checked Consumer Reports online. In their review of the 2006 civic
hybrid it got overall mileage of 37 mpg. The Accord hybrid got around 26
according to their tests but performs like a V8. My wife's 2005 Accord
hybrid routine beats Consumer Reports figure in her crawl to work.

 

I dont' know about convoluted but I do know that their city milage
cycle is very harsh. CR city milage is what you might see in absolute
worst case conditions.

Consider these CR city milage ratings reported in the same issue:

Civic EX manual 22
Civic EX auto 18
Jetta diesel auto 24
Jetta gas auto 17
Impreza auto 16

It is also worth mentioning the recent CR analysis that projected that
both Prius and Civic Hybrid would reach the break-even point in less
than 5 years. AFAIK, they are the first people to ever assert that.

 

Thus the origin of the term "YMMV"

 

That sucks. My 97 Civic HX averaged 36 MPG. It had a very simple
engine with 117 HP and a better suspension too. It's a shame that the
Civic has become so complex while gaining nothing more than new gizmos
on the dashboard.

 

The same can be said for most if not all new cars.

 

Yeah, what's up with that? I was expecting cars to be much cooler today
than they are. Milage, emissions, and reliability didn't improve
between 1996 and 2006 anything like they did between 1986 and 1996. GPS
and voice navigation is purely a dashboard unit so it doesn't count.
All I see is that ABS computer control has been improved to handle
traction control, though it's still mechanically as crude as it used to
be.

Honda and Toyota also need a good whack upside the head for making the
ugliest, most boring looking Accords and Camrys to date. They're grey,
shapeless ghosts.