Honda Civic Hybrid

[Copycat]

A new article on TopGear.com

http://www.topgear.com/drives/B5/A1/...sts/26/01.html

Seems interesting. No hatchback available though. You guessed it - because of the Americans! Edit:

[Pottsy]

I think we have a smily for this...

[jme1978]

I've been in one of these as my salesman had one and gave me a lift in it to work one day.

Nice cars, if a little dull looking. Strange when you start it up and nothing seems to happen!!

J

[l-noel]

At the beginning we where hoping my wife and me to buy one. So we ask our dealer to test drive one. Driving the car in town is fun. No sound or vibration when it stop, Smooth acceleration etc...
Leaving town is another problem. I dont like the CVT gearbox, The motor is screaming loudly without any acceleration sensation.
Then we tested the 2.2 i-ctdi !

[Ancient Nerd]

Originally Posted by l-noel

At the beginning we where hoping my wife and me to buy one. So we ask our dealer to test drive one. Driving the car in town is fun. No sound or vibration when it stop, Smooth acceleration etc...
Leaving town is another problem. I dont like the CVT gearbox, The motor is screaming loudly without any acceleration sensation.
Then we tested the 2.2 i-ctdi !

Go for the Toyota. It's a bit more expensive, but way better. CVT box is not noisy and very effective. However, bear in mind that CVT can be very strange, because engine speed is almost totally unrelated to car speed.

We had a CVT Volvo 66 years ago ( no a Volvo 66, not 66 years ago - I'm not that ancient). There was a road test in either Autocar or Motor, that had a series of mid-range (30-50, 40-60 etc) where they compared the performance of similar cars. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything with a 1200 engine that was comparable, so they used things like Jaguars (2-3 litres) to get comparable mid-range acceleration. Basically, the CVT kept the engine running constantly at optimum revs during acceleration.

As an aside, it also went the same speed backwards as forwards. I'll never forget Mrs Nerd's reaction when she overdid the accelerator the first time she reversed.