Got a new Civic

[Rick]

Well, this is almost hard to write considering I'm the highest post count member here but here it goes. I am pretty sure the Insight will be for sale soon. Two days ago I picked up a brand new 06 Civic Hybrid, and let me tell you it is nice…. very nice. The two seater was cool at first, but it seemed more and more I feel bad because I land myself in a situation where me and some friends go out and I never drive because I have the 2 seater.

Things I like. The dash layout is awesome. In the pictures of the top tier on the left it shows the temperature gauge. Well, on the hybrid there's a button which switches it to the instantaneous MPG gauge! So it's right there with a quick glance down rather than all the way down. Also it's quiet! This is one thing that I have fought with in the Insight, the Civic is dead silent and the factory stereo is really good on top of that. A major selling point also was the electric AC compressor; I know this will be a huge deal come next summer, plus the battery thermal management looks to be much improved, which is the other thing I fought with in the Insight.

The drive train is AWSOME! This thing is what I wish they'd do to the Insight. Even with the bigger heavier car you can feel the electric motor is much more powerful. I haven't played much as of yet, but the auto stop seems to not be limited to two times without getting above 11mph. And on this brand new car with all of 8 miles (2 of which were by me on a test drive) I immediately started driving in traffic, got on the freeway and took it easy, but not hyper mile type easy. I managed 53 mpg on a freeway which is a challenge for the Insight to get upper 60's on. The driving style is very similar, lean burn is brought about in a very similar manner, you can hold ~75mpg lean burn, the meter tops out at 100. I've also been able to coerce the electric only mode out of it already. It's weird because you can't really tell because the engine in still spinning and it only will do it for a short period of time.

The other thing about the drive train is the regenerative braking is massively improved. First it's variable. Barely tapping on the brakes brings up about half regen and a little more push and it goes full regen which really slows you down a lot. They've even got the brake pedal modulated to feel like a normal brake so you get the same brake force with the same pedal push even if regen is temporarily deactivated.

Things I know I will miss. The Civic doesn't handle quite as well as the Insight, plus the looks are definitely not as unique. I’m also going to miss all my modifications. My full leather interior, which I just finished, will be missed for sure (I might be willing to sell this). The nice shifting, easy clutch manual transmission I know I’ll miss at some point as well. The CVT is definitely unique in its own right, and I can see why they ditched the manual transmission option for this drive train, but I’ve already caught myself going for the clutch several times already.

Overall I would like to look back on my time with the Insight as very positive. Sure I had a few issues with it, but it never left me stranded. It will most definitely be the most unique vehicle I ever owned. I really wish I was in a position to hold on to it forever, but the way it sits right now it is worth almost what I paid for it 3 years and 40K miles ago!

So will I be leaving Insight Central? No. I may not be around quite as much, but I know way too much to leave now. I’m sure I’ll still be answering Insight questions for years to come. Plus Benjamin added the other Honda hybrids forum so I guess I’ll get to man that one.

There will be pictures and more details to come soon I’m sure. Actually, I have a uncle who wanted a hybrid so I think this one might go to him eventually when the other comes in because it was a deal where we were on the list for a blue one and they called us when someone backed out of this silver one and we got it out the door for seven dollars over window sticker when I guess everyone else is getting at least $1,200 over window sticker right now. This one is only vin # 6069 so they’re trickling in slowly, that’s for sure.

[Jim Holmgren]

Ricky,
I can't believe it, but I'm in the same boat!

I just agreed to trade in my beloved '01 Insight with 130k miles on a beautiful new '06 HCH in Magnetic Pearl w/Navi.

Well....it's going to be a few weeks...but the order is in and the deposit has been placed.

Nice of Benjamin to add forums for the other Honda Hybrids. I also registered at GreenHybrid.com - seems like a nice bunch over there too.

[Rick]

Good deal, your going to like it A LOT!!! And hey they've already got a hard plastic dead pedal rest in there.

I guess on mine it was someone else's order that backed out of it. We were a few down the list of people that wanted one. I was told the guy above us came to look at the car right before us and himmed and haa'd about it and left. We came and left a deposit. Apparently the next morning that guy came back with a cashiers check for the window sticker and they told him sorry.

I should mention this too, AT-PZEV really can clean the air in some situations. We pulled it in to our shop and hooked it to the expensive emissions diagnostic scope we have. Of course it registered some CO2, but hydro-carbons and CO went down. Our head mechanic looks at the car funny and tells me to rev it some to see if it changes, the readings go down another notch and he says "it's cleaning the air in here." So yes as far as smog forming pollutants this car emits a negative amount.

[Jim Holmgren]

Yeah - I'm really excited. The dealership had one on the lot (no Navi) so I at least got to test drive one.
I really like the other 2 Civics I owned (EX and DX models) - but this car is a totally different animal. I think I'm going to enjoy driving it a lot!
Awesome set of guages, huh? I love the way it 'fades' in when you boot it up.
It really reminds me of my friend's Acura TL....maybe not 'quite' as nicely appointed...but Honda really outdid themselves with the '06 Civic's styling!

Ok...just finished wrapping presents- gotta get to bed. My kids will probably be up in about 4 hours!

Happy holidays everyone!

[Jim Holmgren]

One thing I wanted to ask you Ricky - you mention you got 'electric only' mode to work - Outstanding!

There are threads over on GreenHybrid.com from owners saying that it doesn't do electric-only, but I could swear I read on Honda's website that it DOES do electric-only mode. I figured they either don't know how to bring it on, or don't recognize that it's in 'stealth mode'.

Is it not as obvious as Stealth-Mode on the Prius? You said the ICE keeps spinning - if that's the case, how do you know for sure that it's in electric-only mode?

Just curious - I'd like to help correct some of the misinformation spreading over there!

Thanks!
Jim

[Dougie]

Now that Honda and Toyota have five years of experience in this biz, the "real world" economy numbers for this new car will be very interesting. A relative of mine just bought a Prius, partly because there were no Honda hybrids (of any type) available locally, but three Priuses on the lot!

[Jim Holmgren]

Nevermind the previous request for 'stealth mode' info - I found a thread that went into a lot of detail on it.

[Rick]

Yeah the electric only mode is fairly limited and only at lower speeds only after you've accelerated to that speed. It's kind of like bringing about lean burn, but you let the fcd get pegged at 100mpg and then very ever so slightly push the pedal back down. The FCD will stay at 100mpg and there will be a couple bars of assist showing.

Ohh yeah, I wasn't super trying either and the car was reporting 64mpg last night I'm driving it real nice for the first 1000 miles anyways for break in, but that was cruising at 60-65mph with temperatures in the high 40's to low 50's.

[Calpod]

One way to find out if the engine is really off, even if it's spinning would be to add a vacuum gauge, it would not show any vacuum then the valves are shut, it would also let you know at what speed the engine is shutting down, such as when coasting, it would also let you know when you are driving with load (DWL).

[Rick]

Ok I have to retract that 64mpg. I do have a picture of it, but I think it had to be a glitch somewhere because as soon as I started the car again it went back to ~51 mpg, which is the average so far since I drove it off the lot ~140 miles ago. Which I can't complain one bit about for a 5 passenger sedan.

Good idea with the vacuum gauge, but I'm not sure just how ready I am to modify a brand new car just yet.