Sunday, December 03, 2006
The Hybrid Plunge
We did it. We bought a car. It is a used car (per our policy). It is new and familiar all at the same time. We have purchased a Honda Civic (my second), but this one is a Hybrid. Eighteen years after beginning to drive my first Civic (a 1988 DX with manual transmission) I am now about to start driving my second Civic (a 2004 Hybrid with manual tranmission).
Thanks to my wife, we got a good deal. She is the negotiator. I'm just the one who always says "We aren't going to talk about how we'll pay for this car until after we agree on a price." That's been my one useful contribution to our past two car purchase conversations.
Our new garage tennant is "Opal Silver Blue Metallic" which means "light blue" with a gray interior. It is quiet (very quiet). So much so that if not for the illumination of the dashboard lights, I wasn't sure that the car was even started. Its coolest feature is being a hybrid, which mean good gas mileage (estimated at 46 city/51 highway...but I'll let you know if that is reality or not after a few tanks). It also means that the car actually turns off the engine under certain conditions (low speeds, shifted into neutral, stopped at a light) and then turns it on when you put the car into gear. It also tracks real-time mpg, so you can see when you are coasting downhill that you get 120 mpg and accelerating uphill is 35 mpg. You also get an eye-catching little gauge that tells you when the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) battery is charging and when it is working.
I found an article that gave me a taste of the driving experience and some information about hybrids that I have posted here. I also found a photo of a 2004 Civic Hybrid that is the same color as ours, so I tagged that here, too. We are excited to have a car that is newer and will (we pray) require less maintenance than our 1993 Camry. I hope that it will take us well into the next decade before I get to write one of these entries again. Maybe by then, we'll all be laughing at the pitiful 50 mpg that our old Civic got with its "ancient" hybrid technology. I hope so.
Article about driving a Civic Hybrid:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/other/2003-civic-hy.ars
Photo of a "Opal Silver Blue Metallic" (light blue) Civic Hybrid:
http://www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/hybrid/04.honda.civic.hybrid.500.jpg
Thanks to my wife, we got a good deal. She is the negotiator. I'm just the one who always says "We aren't going to talk about how we'll pay for this car until after we agree on a price." That's been my one useful contribution to our past two car purchase conversations.
Our new garage tennant is "Opal Silver Blue Metallic" which means "light blue" with a gray interior. It is quiet (very quiet). So much so that if not for the illumination of the dashboard lights, I wasn't sure that the car was even started. Its coolest feature is being a hybrid, which mean good gas mileage (estimated at 46 city/51 highway...but I'll let you know if that is reality or not after a few tanks). It also means that the car actually turns off the engine under certain conditions (low speeds, shifted into neutral, stopped at a light) and then turns it on when you put the car into gear. It also tracks real-time mpg, so you can see when you are coasting downhill that you get 120 mpg and accelerating uphill is 35 mpg. You also get an eye-catching little gauge that tells you when the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) battery is charging and when it is working.
I found an article that gave me a taste of the driving experience and some information about hybrids that I have posted here. I also found a photo of a 2004 Civic Hybrid that is the same color as ours, so I tagged that here, too. We are excited to have a car that is newer and will (we pray) require less maintenance than our 1993 Camry. I hope that it will take us well into the next decade before I get to write one of these entries again. Maybe by then, we'll all be laughing at the pitiful 50 mpg that our old Civic got with its "ancient" hybrid technology. I hope so.
Article about driving a Civic Hybrid:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/other/2003-civic-hy.ars
Photo of a "Opal Silver Blue Metallic" (light blue) Civic Hybrid:
http://www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/hybrid/04.honda.civic.hybrid.500.jpg
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