On the last Saturday in June, 2002 My wife and I went to one of Tulsa's two Honda dealers. We had already purchased five new Accords from this dealer beginning in 1979 when the first four door Accords went on sale. As is typical with car salesmen, one was at our truck door almost before I got the engine shut off. As soon as we got out he asked what type of car we were interested in. I told him that we were there to look at a Civic Hybrid. He led us to an Opal Silver Blue Civic Hybrid with automatic transmission.

Our test drive was all of about four miles. That was far enough to sell me, really, I guess that I had my mind made up before the ignition key was ever turned. (more about the key and the way the engine starts later) The next thing to decide was what color to buy. Opal Silver Blue was nice and it is a color used only on the hybrid civics, but we both liked the Titanium color the best and to us it seemed to go best with the interior colors.

The negotiations didn't take very long because we went to buy a car and not waste the whole afternoon playing would-ya give, would-ya take. If we had taken longer, we might have gotten the price down a little more, but that's ok. We made the deal on that Saturday and they got the car we wanted on the following Monday from a dealer over in Oklahoma City.

We took delivery of the car Monday evening, July 1st, 2002. The first drive couldn't have been any better and it has been that way ever since. This car for the most part, has worked flawlessly. Most of the service has been in the nature of routine maintenance items. There have been two warranty issues. They are explained in the individual year pages.

How The Car Works

First things first. This car is powered by both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Primary power comes from the 1.3 liter, four cylinder gasoline engine with assistance as needed from the electric motor. Honda calls it Integrated Motor Assist. The electric motor not only provides power to assist the engine when required, it also acts as a generator when coasting and braking, putting power back into the 144 volt nickel-metal-hydride battery pack located along with the controler in the front area of the trunk behind the rear seat back cushion. This electric motor is also the primary starter for the engine.

The engine is full of little state-of-the-art tricks that improve efficiency and also help the electric motor do its job of regeneration during coasting and braking. Each cylinder has dual spark plugs that can fire either simultaneously or in sequence, depending on what the computer thinks is best at the time. During coasting, up to three cylinders are shut down by the valves being held closed to reduce engine braking so that the rolling energy can be use to generate power for the batteries. Braking also helps make battery power. The engine also can go into a lean-burn mode when it is not being called upon for hill climbing or acceleration, which can be easily seen by a big jump in mileage on the instantious mileage readout display. There are many more innovations used in the design and manufacture of this superb engine to reduce friction and increase its life. For instance, it has a timing chain instead of a timing belt. It uses 0W/20 oil for reduced friction and increased mileage and the first tune-up isn't due until 110,000 miles.

The electric motor is only 65mm thick and is joined to the engine where you would normally find the clutch. One natural feature of an electric motor is that it produces it's maximum torque when it starts, therefore it is very effective when accelerating from a stop. This application of electric power is so smooth that if the driver didn't have a meter on the dash to show when and to what degree the electric motor is assisting or generating power, he or she would probably never even realize that there was an electric motor.

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned starting the engine. We are all familiar with the way a conventional automobile engine sounds when starting. Things are much different with the Civic Hybrid. When you turn the key to the start position, the engine starts without the normal starter noise and there is no delay. Under normal starting conditions the engine is started by the powerful electric motor. There is a conventional 12 volt starter just in case the charge in the 144 volt battery pack is too low to use for starting the engine. However, I have had my Honda Civic Hybrid for over four years and have never heard it start with the conventional 12 volt starter. When you start the engine, it will be running before you can release the key and there is no cranking sound.

The Civic Hybrid is the first regular production car to be offered with a hybrid system. It uses the same body as the other civic sedans. The outward appearance of the Civic Hybrid is the same as regular Civics with conventional drive systems, with only a few changes to improve the aerodynamics. There are also a few cosmetic differences, some of which also add to the aerodynamics. The alloy wheels are standard and fitted with low rolling resistance tires. The radio antenna has been moved to the front center of the roof to avoid interference from the electronics in the trunk area (the regular Civic has the antenna in the rear window glass. There is a spoiler on the deck lid and there is a small badge to the right of the trunk opening that says "Hybrid, gasoline-electric." Another nice feature of the Civic Hybrid is the electric power steering. It does not directly steal power from the engine and has an excellent "feel".

The Civic Hybrid comes with all the bells and whistles you would expect on a well equipped vehicle, except a sun roof. Some of them are:

Turn the key and the engine comes to life instantly. Put the Continuously Variable Transmission in drive, press the gas and go. The car moves away very smoothly, picking up speed without a hint of gear shifting. The CVT changes ratios, but does no actual gear shifting. Acceleration is super smooth and the blue bars on the assist meter let you know how much the electric motor is adding it's power to the equation. The Civic Hybrid is also available with a five speed manual transmission for those of you who like to do your own shifting