You can feel high-minded and green — and nobody has to know you're having fun, too.
by Michael Frank
Originally published 01/09/2006
Why do you want a hybrid?
Probably because:
You're alarmed by how much you have to spend on gas.
You're equally alarmed by America's dependence on foreign oil.
Somewhere on your list of priorities is cleaner air for your kids and, in the future, their kids.
These are indisputably pure motives, at least in the opinion of this reviewer. And fortunately, hybrids just keep getting more refined. Exhibit A is the all-new, $21,850, 2006 Civic Hybrid from Honda Motor. It drives more like a "normal" sedan than the Prius from Toyota Motor. But that's not the end of the story. For instance, the Prius is roomier and has a smoother ride. And you ought to compare each of these cars to other high-mileage nonhybrid vehicles. Why do that? Because hybrids, for all the hype, don't get the mileage claimed on the window sticker. And this isn't the fault of the manufacturer. Blame the Feds, who haven't revised their system for gauging fuel economy for decades.
You read right. Your tax dollars at work.
See, the government doesn't actually drive new models to determine fuel economy. Rather, lab technicians measure carbon emissions from a car while running it on a dynamometer — like a treadmill for cars — at a simulated "city" cycle, where speeds average 20 mph, and then on a simulated highway cycle, where speeds average slightly under 50 mph. These speeds seem too high for the typical city cycle — where stop-and-go congestion is a lot worse than it was back in the late 1960s, when this system was devised. But that's not all — the interstate speeds aren't nearly fleet enough to reflect the 65 mph-plus pace of a lot of current American highway travel.
A few decades ago, the EPA realized that their system was flawed, but rather than fix it, they "adjusted" their test to simply lop off some 10% from their city cycle results, and 22% from their highway cycle.
Still awake?
Good, because the reason this matters if you're in the market for a hybrid — or any car — is that most cars still don't get the same results the Feds get. There are many reasons for this, including use of the A/C, which sucks more gas. Also, if it's cold outside, your car has to work harder because cold air is denser, creating more wind resistance.
The EPA doesn't consider these factors. Nor do they adjust their math when they test carbon emitted from a hybrid car versus one with only an internal combustion engine. Hybrids have electric motors that can work in tandem — or, at times, all by themselves — with their gas motors. That's going to throw off the EPA's math for computing fuel economy, because so little carbon comes out of the tailpipes of hybrids.
The larger problem is that miles per gallon doesn't readily paint a picture of how much more fuel-efficient one car is than another. If it did, it might become a matter of national shame to drive a gas guzzler.
Here's why.
The very worst rating the EPA issued last year was for the Dodge Ram 1500; 9 city/12 highway for the V-10 model. That sounds bad, but the full picture is bleaker. If you use the EPA's numbers, the Dodge Ram swills 5.5 gallons of gas to go 50 miles in the city. The Civic? It gets a 48 city mpg rating, so it burns a mere 1.04 gallons of gas in the same 50 miles. Put another way, five Civics could make the same trip for every one of those Dodge pickups.
That makes the Civic, the Prius and a slew of nonhybrid sedans that still get great mileage, much smarter forms of transportation than a lot of the truck-based iron currently lumbering down American roads.
So forget about being virtuous; the Civic is downright patriotic, even if the Fed's fuel economy figures might not completely reflect the real-world mileage of the car. Now here's the kicker: This car is a heck of a lot tauter-feeling and more fun to drive than the sometimes wobbly Prius.
This doesn't make it a slam-dunk victor over the Prius; the Honda has a lot less rear-seat knee room and, overall, is smaller inside than the Prius. And there are other wrinkles in this hybrid's story that are worth noting, too. Get all the dirt by clicking below.
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