85ZC

Hi, my wifes transmission on her Protege is about to die, so we're looking into a 2003? 4 door Civic Hybrid. She commutes about 4 miles to work everyday, up and down mainstreet and I understand hybrids are better in city than highway. I've heard people complaining they don't generally get the MPGs advertised so I was wondering form any hybrid owners here, what kind of mileage do you typically get? Any reliability issues? How do they drive? With using electrical power for the first couple mph, how well do they heat up the interior? Meaning, I guess you can't run out start the car to heat up by letting it idle? Any views on this car would be apprecaited. Thanks!

Boilermaker1

The honda and toyota hybrids work oppositely. If you're city driving, you want the toyota, which runs on electric and uses the motor to assist.
The Honda IMA cruises on the highway in electric mode, but in the city uses the motor with electric assist.

... and no matter what the car is, its likely you'll not meet the EPA milage estimates all the time, if at any time at all..

85ZC

Do you know what the civic hybrids get mpg wise? Thanks

Vantage

1st webpage out of my search for " 2003 civic hybrid" in google... is it really that hard to do?

But they are a somewhat-unhappy medium, Civic Hybrid no less so. They have only modest power, and don't give eye-popping fuel economy in return. The '03 Civic Hybrid is supposed to get close to 50 miles per gallon. The test car's fuel-economy gauge showed 34 mpg. Honda expects most drivers to get about 40.

85ZC

Well, googling it is hard when I'm looking for real life user testimonials, hence why I'm on a Honda site. I'm not looking for test data, published data, I'm looking for an actual owner's experience on this board that I have yet to find on google or yahoo. If I were to ask how to make a pizza, I would search google or yahoo. If I ask does anyone have a good pizza recipe, I'd try a forum. Searches don't generally find owner feedback.

Is there anyone on here that owns a Hybrid Civic and can give me their opinion on whether it's worth it over a regular automatic Civic? Thanks.

Jon Vito

not from my personal testiment but the few people i have talked 2 with the hybrids love them. hope that helps

85ZC

hanks. I don't really know anyone who has one. I know the Prius is a pretty hot vehicle right now, but we can't afford a new one. A used car dealer has a blue Civic Hybrid on their lot, but I've heard on news reports and in magazines the hyrbids aren't getting the mpgs they claimed, and don't do so well in the colder climates. I am hoping someone who owns one can chime in. My Honda have ironically always gotten much better mpgs than the sticker or EPA said, which is why I am looking for owner data as opposed to published estimates. Also looking for the drivability of one. We need a 4 door though so a CRX HF or Insight is out, and the Prius costs too much, while the Civic is available. I just hope we can get a good trade or sale for our Protege.