Honda CIVIC IMA
Perhaps hybrid heaven starts here, with this car, Hondas Civic IMA. The petrol/electric motoring bandwagon certainly needs to gather some momentum given that so far, most customers havent even considered it.
You cant blame them either. When the concept first reached the British market in 2000, there were only two hybrid models on offer, Hondas cramped and quirky Insight coupe and Toyotas frumpy and rather pricey Prius saloon. Today the Prius is frumpy no more and it has established itself as the best known Hybrid vehicle on the market. This isnt a hugely impressive feat, however, given that public recognition and sales of Hybrids remain small but Hondas Civic IMA has price on its side and isnt saving money what these vehicles are supposed to be all about? Perhaps it has the potential to thrust Hybrids into the mainstream spotlight.
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Unlike the Prius, its actually a small saloon, the only 4-door Civic you can buy here, this courtesy of the fact that the IMA is a model really developed for the US market where sedans are preferable to hatches. But why should you take the plunge and buy one? Just to be the greenest and most ecologically-friendly person in your street? Well maybe, but try these reasons as well. A combined fuel consumption figure of nearly 58mpg, 30% better than the kind of comparable petrol-powered 1.4-litre Family Hatch which will suffer from far inferior residual values.
You might also want to consider the 100% discount from London congestion charge (a charging system soon to be installed in UK cities country-wide). And low 12% benefit in kind tax. Then theres the fact that just 6.3 hours maintenance is needed over the first 60,000 miles.
And a huge 8-year/100,000 mile warranty.
"There are plenty of reasons to buy one even if youre not signed up to the Green party."
Convinced yet? Well if not, maybe you need to be convinced over the whole subject of hybrid technology. For decades, the motor industry has struggled to bring us anything better than a choice between petrol and diesel power. Only electric cars have offered the prospect of something new but theyve usually been dismissed as sluggards that need their batteries charging every five minutes. Only with hybrid technology has battery power become a viable everyday option for ordinary buyers: the combination of petrol push when you need it, constantly charging the batteries so that theres electric frugality when you dont. Hondas approach to the whole hybrid issue is rather more sophisticated than Toyotas. Instead of separate petrol and electric motors as youd find in a Prius, this Civic combines the two into one unit that Honda calls an Integrated Motor Assist system, hence the IMA tag. Apart from three large electric cables attached above the clutch, it looks much like any conventional petrol engine and gearbox combination.
The petrol section incorporates all sorts of things that Honda, renowned for superb engines, has developed over the years including variable valve timing, four valves per cylinder and lean-burn combustion. The engineers have even found a way of integrating the exhaust manifold into the cylinder head so that the catalyst (which neutralises noxious emissions in the exhaust) heats up more quickly and goes to work sooner. The little electric motor doubles as the starter and is neatly sandwiched between the petrol engine and gearbox. Unlike the Prius, whose petrol engine stops when the car is able to run solely on the battery-powered electric motor, this Civics engine runs all the time.
When youre driving gently, the 1340cc petrol engine does all the work while the electric motor becomes a generator and charges the batteries in the boot. When you need faster acceleration, the electric motor uses the battery power to give the petrol engine a hand, boosting power and increasing torque (pulling power). Its a bit like two riders on a tandem bicycle. When its level, the one in front does all the pedaling while the one behind puts his feet up and recharges his batteries.
When they reach a hill, the one behind gets on the pedals, too. As a result, Honda claims that the Civic IMA has the performance of a conventional 1.6-litre petrol car yet returns nearly 60 miles to the gallon. As with all Civic models, handling is quite fun, proving that environmental responsibility neednt always go hand in hand with a miserable experience behind the wheel.
You could be forgiven for being a bit wary about all this high technology but theres actually no need to be. The special 8 year / 100,000 mile guarantee is a measure of how confident Honda feels about it, cover that includes the Panasonic nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery pack. Like most new Honda cars, the Civic IMA has 12 month / 12,500 mile service intervals and there are no special maintenance needs. Residuals values are likely to be another issue of concern for customers though not, it seems, for industry analysts.
CAP Monitor expect the new technology to create a premium on the used car market of around 1.5% when it comes to used values. As far as overall cost per mile is concerned, independent data for Service Maintenance and Repair (SMR) costs indicate highly competitive figures equal to or less than other Focus or Astra Family Hatchback-sector models. As far as fuel consumption is concerned, the Civic IMA achieves an Urban return of 47.
1 mpg, an Extra Urban figure of 65.7 mpg and a combined figure of 57.6 mpg. Using the latter figure, a motorist travelling 20,000 miles per annum would save over 100 gallons a petrol each year, at a current price of around £400, using a Civic IMA instead of the ordinary 1.
4 litre petrol version. Of course, you could quite reasonably argue that you could also achieve fuel savings by opting for a diesel-powered model. The 1.7-litre Civic turbo diesel returns very similar consumption figures to the IMA variant.
There are two problems with this argument. First, you have to have a diesel, with all the usual problems of noise and smell. Second, no diesel can get near a hybrid engines clean emissions level, which in this case is just 116g/km, qualifying buyers for the lowest Group B VED road tax bracket of just £70 per annum. In contrast, a Civic diesel manages 134g/km (group C), while a 1.
4-litre petrol Civic is 150g/km. Run a conventional petrol-powered Civic rather than the IMA version and youll pump out more than one tonne of extra CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The only drawback is when it comes to performance. The extra battery weight means that the IMA car is about a second slower to sixty (12.
5s) and about 9mph flat out (100mph) slower than its conventional 1.4-litre stablemate. Otherwise, the recipe is pretty much Civic standard. Only one plush trim level Executive is on offer for IMA customers and theres just that saloon bodystyle.
If you can live with this and the slightly blunted performance, then the IMA has plenty in its favour, even if youre not signed up on a lifetime membership of the green party.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Honda Civic IMA
PRICE: £15,300 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 8
CO2 EMISSIONS: 116g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 12.5s / Max Speed 105mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 47.1mpg / (extra urban) 65.7mpg / (combined) 57.6mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front and side airbags / ABS
