2008 Honda Civic Hybrid Initial Impressions By Flash on - Updated Sep 18, 2011
Two months ago we bought a new 2008 Civic Hybrid. We selected it because it was easy to get into and out of, was comfortable for both of us and the mileage claims at the dealership seemed to correspond to what information we could find on line. We now have over 2000 miles on the vehicle and are delighted with it. We find it adequately responsive and that our real world mileage is averaging 46.4 miles per gallon. We are being told by other owners that this mileage is likely to increase as the car is more completely broken in. The displays on the vehicle work as a good bio-feedback method to adjust our driving habits to be more efficient in our use of the gas pedal and the brakes and we loved that this vehicle did not come with a lot of extra gadgets that we would neither use nor want to pay for. So far we are finding it a GREAT car!
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Honda Civic Purchased at: Honda dealership Price: N/A
Note - The car now has over 3000 miles on it so is "broken in" somewhat more. On the current tank of regular unleaded (no 10% ethanol) we are up to 53.2 mpg average. This is a combination city & highway figure. We are learning how to drive the car more efficiently and it is getting more efficient.
The car now has a little over 5000 miles and 5 months on it. No problems, still love it for the ride. On regular gas I got 56.5 mpg average on a recent tank full and it just seemed to be getting better all the time. Then I had to start buying gas with 10% ethanol because I can't find just straight gas. The last tank was down to 41.6 mpg average and I'm not doing much better on the current tank. I dislike ethanol for this and for a whole lot of other reasons. But I still love the car.
So we are now 7 months in with this vehicle. I can tell when we hit a gas pump with pure gas versus a pump with 10% ethanol by the mileage alone. My "better half" has reverted to his old driving habits of hitting the gas hard when starting from a stop and approaching a red light with enough speed that he needs to brake too much, so he gets worse mileage than I do (there are fuel efficiencies in "driving like an old lady"). The odometer has options for "Trip A" and "Trip B" so we use the "Trip A" to watch the mpg per tank and the "Trip B" for individual outings (that also feed into the "Trip A" numbers). We are at 6500 miles and the car tells us that the oil has only 20% of its life left, so in another month or two we will get our first oil change. It is recommended that you use the car's oil evaluator rather than the 3 months/3000 miles type measure for oil changes. The car still is doing great! It has not needed to be returned to the dealership for any problems whatsoever. There was one instance when we filled the tank that we had to drive about half a block before the gauge showed the tank was full, but that is the only ??? we have had about the car. I think we are even happier now with the car than when we bought it and because of its "re-education" I am now getting better mileage with my 1999 Ford F150 truck as well. It does not pay to go dump your car and buy a new hybrid because the increased insurance of a new car, taxes and depreciation probably more than offset the gas savings. But if it is time to get a new vehicle because repairs to the old would be more than that vehicle was worth, a new hybrid should be a serious consideration. Obviously some folks will have passenger or cargo regular needs that would make a hybrid not feasible. When my truck needs replacement we will need to get another truck due to our farm's requirements, but a hybrid in the family certainly helps cut down our overall fuel costs.
We are going to half to find away to save and this sounds good.