when 40mpg is something you get with a
standard gas engine the Civic Hybrid has
to do a bit better is 44 enough let's
drive the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid and
check the tech the new Civic Hybrid is
revised right along the lines of all the
new 2012's spot it quickly by blue
chrome accents on the outside a couple
new screen modes inside but mostly by
its bigger engine yet higher mpg now
inside the Civic there are barely any
cues that tell you this is a hybrid
versus the gas engine car which we just
looked at a few days ago you've got this
econ button over here in this car of
course it changes a very different
powertrain it makes the hybrid
powertrain extremely stingy as opposed
to making modest changes in the gas
engine car right there dead center is
your ima logo this is Honda's integrated
Motor Assist that's their technology
that competes with Toyota's Hybrid
Synergy Drive up here on the eye mid
that's a five inch LCD that is new on
the 2012 Civic there you find some more
cues that your in a hybrid aside from
the usual fuel economy and distance to
empty you've also got a green gauge here
and one that shows power flow on the
vehicle stuff you wouldn't have in a gas
engine car there's your battery level
also and I think unique to the hybrid if
I'm not mistaken is the ability to set a
wallpaper for that eye mid display I
didn't see that in the gas engine car
kind of a weird differentiator if that's
the case and what really makes sense in
this car because it's a hybrid are those
two segmented bars alongside the digital
speedo those are the ones that coach you
from blue to turquoise to green how
efficiently you're driving
handi on the gas engine car really makes
sense on this one we know this head unit
all too well it's an optional navigation
head unit if you get that trim level
it's an OK nav interface it's not my
favorite the whole thing that was kind
of busy and dated but make sure you
check out our 2012 standard Civic video
for a full detailed look at this new
cabin one choice transmission on this
guy as with most hybrids its a CVT a
continuously variable transmission
doesn't have
gears that's just one belt pulley system
it varies all the time to keep this guy
on the sweet spot let's go see what's
plugging into it quite a few changes
here under the hood on this new 2012
Civic Hybrid they bumped up the gas
engine from 1.3 liters to 1.5 still has
the electric motor attached to it of
course the totals on this are a hundred
and ten horsepower all in and 127
foot-pounds of torque perfectly good
numbers you're going to get to 60 in
10.1 seconds again not the point on this
car the MPG is so here's where they are
44 city 44 highway
guess what 44 average and that's up a
few MPG from the outgoing model Honda's
I am a hybrid system hard couples the
electric motor to the gas engine so they
always turn together but the electric
motor can power the car alone a small
amount of the time it's something you'll
barely detect and like many of the newer
hybrids the Civic turns driving into
some little video game where you earn
leaves as you drive Greenlee and they in
turn add up to some vehicle lifetime
score but I don't think you can win
anything I recall the previous Civic
Hybrid Dean kind of a coffee grinder of
a thing just kind of crude around the
edges this car does not suffer from that
it's got electric power steering which
is really nice and linear did a very
good job on that
and everybody who drives this car
comments on the ride quality it's got a
smooth both in terms of this how its
sprung as well in terms of this how it
motivates itself there's no lumpy
engagement anymore than you normally get
with a hybrid which kicks an electric
motor in and out from time to time
let's check the start/stop technology
that can be bulky in cars like this I'm
coming to a stop sign now let's see how
it goes off and more importantly how
seamlessly it comes back on
there's my stop it goes right away
yeah really quick that's one of the
better restarts in the start-stop world
right now the power comes on nicely
they've dialed in the torque for
everyday driving so that it's there when
you need it and handling in a car like
this is as you might imagine it's fine
it's you know it's good transportation
quality handling really it's the ride
quality I think people are going to
respond to in this vehicle and the
overall smoothness of how the power
comes on and of course the mpg I get the
feeling there's a little bit less
mechanical noise intrusion as well I
don't hear things worrying as much as I
do in some lower-cost hybrids where you
hear things that sound like an elevator
mechanism going up and down when you
come to lower speeds I'm not picking
that up here it's a better sound
insulation than some aren't a 2012 Civic
Hybrid this all-new model is going to
run you 24 eight base now a couple of
big options in one small one on top of
that the nav package adds $1500 that's
navigation live traffic via fm not XM
radio but it does add XM radio in that
package and voice command for the nav
and also you go leather for 1,200 bucks
the only ala carte Tech is XM Radio by
itself for about 350
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