The Honda Civic has been available as a hybrid model for nearly a decade in North America, and although the basic premise of utilizing an electric motor to assist the gasoline engine (Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist) has been consistent, improvements in design and operation have been continuous. For the 2012 Civic Hybrid, these improvements are numerous and include a new lithium-ion battery. Let’s look at what’s new with this hybrid system. Auto Tech: 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid powertrain - Autos.ca
Very good read! Why did Honda Civic designers make the back of the 9th gen look so ugly?!? At least they finally made the hybrid wheels look better with a slick I-MID display & lithium-ion to top it off, Toyota better take notes!
It doesn't look THAT terrible. I saw a 2012 Civic non-hybrid parked at my apartment recently. It looks like someone had done a smash and grab job with its rear window... I think the radio looks bad. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/05/review-2012-honda-civic-ex/ criticized the interior and some magazine (can't find URL now) criticized the funky looking radio if you don't get nav. edit: Found it from http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...7mpg-in-hybridcars-testing-6.html#post1311966. The above came from http://www.insideline.com/honda/civic/2012/2012-honda-civic-first-drive.html.
Well Honda do like their buttons. The standard i-MID is pretty cool (and a pretty sharp screen too). The back of the regular Civic looks like our Gen 5 Camry...
The 39mpg hwy on the regular Civic and 44mpg hwy on the hybrid Civic is due to the short trunk lid and long rear window. Unless you've noticed, all cars are now going to the short trunk lid and long rear window ... even Mercedes on the C300s. It's much more aerodynamic than having a short rear window and long trunk lid. By not having the roof and trunk continuous, and a steep rear window and long trunk, throughout history, that gap of air creates a lot of drag force. Toyota takes reducing that gap and making one continuous aerodynamic line to the extreme: Compare the roof line and the line of the whole side of the Civic to the Prius. By making the Civic much more aerodynamic (44mpg hwy!), it's shape resembles the Prius much more. In fact, the shape is very similar - Toyota's artistic stylists made it look like a fastback and Honda's artistic stylists made the Civic look like a sedan. I'm sure Toyota could make a Prius that looks like a sedan and Honda could make a Civic that looks like a hatchback (just make part of it glass and part of it metal - window-trunk).
Engine still turns in electric only drive mode...?? Closed valves and fuel injectors...that must be more expensive, COSTLY, than a simple electric clutch.
Not really. Honda played with a clutch in past years and found it to be less reliable and more expensive so they went with the hybrid specific multi-mode cylinder de-activation route and it works quite well indeed. Only the camshaft spins and that concept alone is hard to grasp by many who compare these engines to every other Honda engine out there. There are a collection of other things that happen (some hydraulically operated and some not) that makes a spinning IMA crankshaft preferable to other solutions. I know it is hard to picture it, but the idea that an IMA spinning crankshaft is very lossy is just terribly ill informed and not consistent with our multi-year experiences at all. These engines are truly a marvel of low friction engineering and well worth the results they produce at the hands of a discerning driver. Cheers MSantos
