The
Honda Civic is perhaps the quintessential compact car. Truly, for normal folks
seeking a solid, reliable, simple automobile with which to transport themselves
from one place to another, all without breaking the bank, there may be no better
match. And
this isn't news: with hundreds of thousands of Civics sold every year -- for years
now Americans have made it one of the 10 best-selling cars in the country. Well,
this year, the Civic adds a significant new model that should widen its appeal
even further. How much further? Well, think about places far away from our bustling
metropoli: pristine places in our country's national parks; magnificent glaciers
that move slowly yet forcefully; places whose delicate ecosystems rely on the
maintenance of a clean atmosphere and an ample reserve of fossil fuels.
For those among us who share the need for reliable, simple transportation but
who also want to preserve our precious earth's remaining resources, Honda has
installed one of its innovative hybrid powertrains into its Civic sedan, thus
delivering a mainstream sedan capable of 46/51 mpg with the 5-speed manual transmission
and 48/47 mpg with the available continuously variable automatic transmission.
Sure,
it costs a couple thousand more than a comparable non-hybrid Civic, but between
the savings in fuel costs and the incentives provided by the government to purchase
such a "green" car, such a premium is quickly offset.
Honda
has won this award before with its strange-looking, but innovative, two-seat Insight
hybrid that still achieves gas mileage figures in the 60s. Now, with the introduction
of the Civic hybrid, Honda has one-upped itself by making that technology available
in a package that a whole family can live with. | 
