CNG Civic soon to be available to private owners in USA?

[The Citrus Smoothie]

You may be interested in the link below. Although the article doesn't state it, the EPA quote gives me the impression that the CNG Civic will be available in the USA.

http://www.topgear.com/content/news/stories/1091/

CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) is still a fossil fuel but I would be interested to see its emission figures.

[Patrick]

Citrus--

The compressed natural gas Civic (Civic GX) has been available for awhile (at least in California). It is a near-zero emission vehicle and is allowed in the HOV lanes in California with one passenger (plus free bridge tolls during commutes). Because of the clean burning engines, it is supposed to last forever....well nearly, anyway. Fuelmaker was supposed to make an "at home" refueling device so you could fill up at home (at lower therm prices), but that hasn't happened yet...If you could fill up at home the equivalent gallon of gasoline cost would be about 90 cents per "gallon." Otherwise, you are stuck with limited re-fueling stations at about $1.70 cents per "gallon." One drawback (besides the limited fueling stations) is that you can only go about 200 miles per "tankful." Cost for the CNG Civic new is about 22K (plus tax, blah, blah, blah).

During my recent car buying decision, I was deliberating between the CNG and the Insight. I decided on the Insight because I found one used with low mileage, and my wife wanted the Insight--which is always a determining factor.... I was "this" far away from buying the Civic GX because I like my cars to last...There was no question about the Civic GX engine lasting/trouble free....Time will tell if I made the right decision....

[Rick]

You see them around here often enough. With the alternative fuels fiasco Arizona had a few years back they were giving heavy tax credits and would essentially buy you a home refueling station for free if you bought a CNG vehicle.

They had originally intended to have consumer sales available this model year I think, but it got bumped back. Hopefully they will have it soon enough. The only emissions from burning natural gas is CO2 and water, with the rare trace of this and that here and there.

[Seth Dallob]

I own both a Civic GX and a CVT insight - they are both excellent cars. The GX gets ~ 32 miles per gas gallon equivalent, which costs $1.51 as of today, making it's virtual milage in the 40's. For beating traffic, it can't be beat. I still love my Insight for most drives though - love the looks and the mileage can't be beat.

Seth

[Foxpaw]

Originally Posted by Rick

They had originally intended to have consumer sales available this model year I think, but it got bumped back. Hopefully they will have it soon enough. The only emissions from burning natural gas is CO2 and water, with the rare trace of this and that here and there.

Theoretically, burning gasoline only produces CO2 and water vapour. It's imperfections in the fuel or in the engine that cause other byproducts. Would it not be the same in natural gas?

[Seth Dallob]

Natural gas is mostly methane, and is 130 octane. It combusts much more completely than gasoline does, which means a lot less emissions. Incidentally, the CVT Insight on some lists actually produces slightly less pollution than the GX. The manual Insight is only a ULEV, and is significantly "dirtier" in relation to the other two.

Seth