A friend is a member of a city car club, a scheme that enables people to hire a car by the hour). Recently, the club has started replacing some of its fleet with Honda Civic hybrids.
I was a passenger in the Civic earlier in the week and despite consulting the manual and looking for everything likely in the index, we couldn't work out where the rear washer switch is. Can anyone shed any light on this?
Also, despite the fact that the car was a hybrid and only being used in town, we weren't aware of the electric motor taking over from the petrol engine. In fact, apart from the engine cutting out when stationary in traffic, as a passenger, I wasn't aware of being in anything other than an ordinary automatic. Was this just a sign of the battery charge being low or is the change of power source not especially obvious?
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We have one of the old shape as an office hack, it has no rear wiper so I can't help there. There is no independent electric motor just an "assistance" system for the rather weak petrol engine.
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As I read the 2008 spec, the engine will run at all times unless the vehicle is stopped. The "Idle stop" feature is listed as a good point for reduced fuel consumption and emissions reduction. In the bad old days [ a couple of years ago ] the engine had a system whereby cylinders were disabled if the power requirement was low, to the extent that single-cylinder operation was available. I don't see whether this is still available now.
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It was not good for emissions and so was dropped(and it was a lot more than a couple of years ago-80's).This system would not pass any of the current emission requirements.
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You're right - the 04 reg one we had and latterly the 55 had the idle cut out fitted, downright dangerous if you're not using the car regularly...
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'single cylinder operation'
Are you sure...?
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The Civic hybrid is a saloon and has no rear wash wipe
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The Civic hybrid is a saloon and has no rear wash wipe
Doh! Didn't think to check that it actually had one. My friend was driving as I was checking the manual. As the rental was in 30 minute blocks, we were working to a tight deadline to get it returned.
Yes, it is a saloon and looks nothing like the standard UK version of the Civic.
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That was the assertion when I was investigating hybrids 2 years ago. I didn't actually test-drive one though, so can't confirm truth or sales blurb.
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I can't answer the question about the wiper but to answer the second question, the Civic is what is known as a "mild hybrid". This means the drive concept is not the same as that used by the Toyota Prius which is a "full hybrid".
A full hybrid can use the electric motor as its sole power source with the petrol engine switched off, in the case of the Prius up to 30mph. A mild hybrid uses the electric motor only as a supplementary source of power which means it engages when additional power is required, such as for acceleration, but cannot run independently of the petrol engine which therefore must run all the time (except when stationary).
The mild hybrid has the advantage of requiring far simpler technology and a driving "feel" similar to a normal car without the associated weirdness that you find in a Prius or Camry hybrid. I prefer the full hybrid as I actually like the weirdness.
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Drove the BIG Lexus hybrid recently-the one with the V8-don't think it's particularly environmentally friendly but it don't half go.
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Drove the BIG Lexus hybrid recently-the one with the V8-don't think it's particularly environmentally friendly but it don't half go.
Now I'm jealous!
I'm changing jobs at the moment and will be in the fortunate position of having a generously financed company lease car of my choice. I was considering trying the Lexus GS450h but the lease rate is so high I would have to make a substantial contribution out of my own wallet. I do like the effortless, lag free, punch in the back of these Toyota hybrids though.
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Thanks for that Bagpuss. I'd not heard of a mild hybrid before. I think we were expecting it to be a Honda equivalent of the Prius. Presumably a full hybrid would be too strange for a car club, which is aimed at people who only need occasional use of a vehicle. The Honda also looks far more conventional than the Toyota.
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