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Honda Civic Sedan 2006
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Comments
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
As has been said by others, Honda probably gears the manuals, especially in their smaller 4-banger vehicles, like they do to try to balance RPMs with available power; to at least try to diminish the need to down-shift every time a little acceleration is needed (along with the cruise control reason). There is no real reason they couldn't gear the 5-speed manual like it is then add a very tall 6th gear for quiet long cruising. I have noticed that the manual Accords are geared taller when cruising, but do have more power/torque available.
As for city driving, if we can judge by history, it will be easier to exceed the city rating with the stick than it will with the auto. When all is said and done, I was really hoping the Civic would approach 40 mpg (combined) much more than it actually does for the '06.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Achieving 40 mpg in mixed driving would require a huge leap in technology or a much smaller and less powerful engine. Those leaps are just not possible or they would have already occurred. The last gen Civic didn't improve over the previous one by much.
You can't make bigger, heavier and more powerful vehicles and get efficiency improvements unless you also have a genie.
There is no reason to buy the Hybrid if you do mostly highway driving.
What is real world city stop and go mileage for the 2006 Civic like?
>> EPA rating too. If you drove at 55-60 you'd probably get in the 50's.
Sorry, I put my self through the agony of driving 55-60mph for 3days (1 full tank) with my '01 EX 5sp. to see what the best mileage I could get was, and it was 40.2mpg. The car had 5 or 6k mi. on it and the temps were in the low-mid 60's (it was Fall in NY). It was 99.9% highway miles.
I was never able to get 40mpg after that. A few months later when the car had around 15k mi. I tried the same thing after a fresh oil change and got 39.6mpg. That's filling up at the same pump, same gas station. Tried it like a year later and barely got 39mpg. I doubt anyone got 50mpg with a 7th gen.('01-05) Civic. The HX might have come close but I doubt even that ever hit 50mpg..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Can you tell me why is rom so important, like why would I want to rev up my engine so high for?
Thanks
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
A few more months down the road, the roads will be drier and I will bask in the fuel-econominess of the Civic but also wish that the rear was a hatch so that I could throw my mountain bike and Ikea furniture in the back. I will also notice the sea of Silver Civic Sedans flooding the roads, and see myself as one of them. 'Why oh, why did I get Silver!!! The blandest color on earth!!', to which I will reply that 'it's a sleeper color that slips away from the minds of those that you have suprised.'
Standing at the pump, the last 5 hours covered at 3.3k RPM highway driving will punish me for choosing 5MT over 5AT, as will the resale value.
Delight finds itself in nicely rev-matched heel and toe downshifts. Life is about give and take...
How could Honda get away with something like that!
This must be wrong! or...They must be stopped!!!
Quickly! Retool the production line!!
EPA ratings for both are similar, but would those still hold at 75MPH which is avg Cdn hiway speed?
On the other hand, the engine is larger and significantly more powerful. It also propels a significantly heavier car. The new cars engine is also much quieter and refined than the previous civic engine, in fact, it is as quiet and refined as the best 6 and 8cylinder engines in the market. No other 4 cylinder engine in the market is even close in terms of refinement, period. Thus, Honda has maintained or improved the civic propulsion system in the performance and refinement categories without giving up any fuel efficiency. In my book that is no mean feat. The civic was and continues to be one of the thrifties't gas engines in the market while providing levels of refinement and power that other manufacturers only dream about. Another great thing about the new civic is the automatic tranny. It is superbly matched to the engine's output and shift quality worthy of a premium luxury car. The combination of the engine and automatic tranny offers surprisingly sprightly pickup for a four cylinder vehicle. The previous generation auto felt decidedly sluggish in comparison.
When you drive a civic the only thing that may hint at its pedestrian price is a higher level of road noise than you would expect in an accord, or some other excellent, higher priced family sedan.
The civic simply blows anything its category away as far as refinement, ergonomics, accommodations and value are concerned; in terms of performance and fuel efficiency it matches or exceeds the best of the class.
The previous generation civic was among the best compact sedans in the market, the new civic is in a class by itself.
Special Edition
(All LX features plus)
• 6-Disc in-Dash CD Changer
• Steering Wheel Mounted Audio Controls
• Carbon Fiber Interior Accents
• 4-Wheel Disc Brakes
• Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD)
• 16-inch alloy wheels
$20,725.00
Manual Transmission
CM5536EW
$21,525.00
Automatic Transmission
CM5636EW
You mentioned getting them for $19,500 and that they should be obtainable anywehere, But I can't find them anywhere in Houston. Maybe I need to go up to Oklahoma City.
Thanks,
MidCow
I have TRIED very hard to get outstanding fuel economy on my current Accord but it seems the times it happens are when I don't expect it. So I kinda understand what you mean...sometimes you feel you are doing everything right and it just doesn't work.
When I lived in Virginia and drove west to Indiana, I noticed that once I refueled in western Virginia, my fuel economy improved. It was a noticeable jump...might have been the type of fuel used there, the altitude, something. Little things may affect it.
There is no agony in driving 55-60mph. We're just programmed to think only the elderly and crippled obey the speed limit. Even the cops don't obey the limit. It's not hard once you decide to take a stand. I just enjoy saving fuel and making all the lousy drivers pass me and burn up their precious fuel. It's also quieter in the car. I tell my friends that unless I need to be somewhere in a hurry, I see no need to speed. It's childish really...we adults don't like to be called childish, but speeding for the sake of speeding is childish. And it can kill too.
I drove the EX auto and it is the most practical. The 5 speed manual rpm make it run too hard in my book. The auto is boring but my guess is low 40's with my driving habits that some scoff at. Anyway happy car buying.
I just can't use the trunk. Less than 11 cubic feet and no fold-down seats? Too small for me. I'll get a Prius if I go hybrid.
It can be done...it has been done. Manufacturers just want you to think that only the expensive hybrids can get outstanding fuel economy. Not true...
My Focus gets abysmal fuel economy.
I just want that hydrogen fuel cell-powered bicycle. that would be ultimate in lightweight, portability and efficiency. how about that new rumored Civic diesel? for now though, for trips into Alaska/northern Canada, looks like gasoline is the way to go, though...
Diesel? I drove two diesels in Germany out of the seven rental cars I drove and those two were by far the best ones. They had the most power and the best fuel economy. I averaged 36mpg in my Passat Turbo Diesel on the autobahn, which is also where I did 130 miles an hour (I had to move out of the way of a Mercedes in the fast lane) and was averaging about 100. I loved them both. But the availability of diesel fuel here is a problem.
Anyway I too was impressed with the Civic. It handled very well, I had no problems taking the car to expressway speeds, although due to traffic I could not drive it faster than 65 mph, where due to a nitwit driver, I had to abruptly test the brakes (which worked very well!) Didn't care for the LED speedometer or the simplistic "door open" light, but those are minor issues. I wish the car had the 60/40 rear seat split though. Engine noise was muffled somewhat by a talkative salesman, but otherwise the car seemed reasonably quiet.
I also sat in a showroom Civic EX; but I don't think I would fit well due to the decreased headroom. In fact, that car just felt too small.
I think the Civic LX is a great car that makes my "short list" for my next vehicle. I am also considering the Accord LX (automatic) and would like to see and test-drive the Civic Hybrid before finalizing my decision; this should give time for the prices on the LX to drop a little. (After the drive, I was quoted a price $500 under sticker.)
If I choose the Civic, it will be my first compact car; I have always driven midsize or large cars in the past.
I don't know why you would expect this Hybrid to beat EPA estimates when the old ones did not.
At 30 miles an hour on a bicycle about 95% of your power is used to push wind out of the way. The bicycles that set the world speed records weigh more than twice as much as Lance Armstrong's Tour de France bicycles, but have about half the drag. You put a fairing on the bicycle...a cover, shaped like a bullet and you will dramatically increase your top speed and cruising speed. Even a recumbent bicycle, which is a bicycle where you recline as in an easy chair, is fastest than most Tour de France bicycles even without a fairing because the rider sits about a foot or two lower to the ground and has less air drag. It's also safer and more comfortable...but heavier. It would be slower on the hills but most people don't climb hills all the time.
Check out this site:
http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc2001/resultsSaturday.htm
The top speed of the average sprinter in the Tour de France is probably about 40-42 miles an hour and the world record right now for a bicycle is 81 miles an hour. It's all aerodynamics.
Of course, the world record bikes you see on that site would not be practical for everyday use but you can have a partial fairing which can have a huge effect on speed and still allow you to reach in excess of 60 miles an hour. This is just top speed though...the world record for an hour is over 50 miles on a bicycle.
Right now my bicycle is $3600 and a good recumbent would probably cost about $2,000. I'm unemployed and not making a lot of money. And I'm not the best bike handler in the world so I'm afraid if I ride a recumbent bike most of the time, I'll feel squirrely on a high-sitting normal bicycle.
My old Civic had 12.4 cubic feet of trunk space. If I took both wheels off it would fit with room to spare, and if I folded down the seat I could do it with just the front wheel off. I prefer the seats up because it keeps all that grease and mess out of the nice interior of the car.
The AUTO when locked into overdrive is just as efficient as a manual. Its extra weight makes very little difference when cruising (a little extra friction in the tires and wheel bearings). Plus, at highway speeds, the biggest losses occur to wind resistance, so unless you somehow reduce the coefficient of drag on the manual civic, you'd be lucky to see 41 mpg in the EPA tests with the taller gearing.
I'd have to test a hybrid myself. I don't trust American drivers. From my experience most of them are jerks and have no regard for traffic laws and that's why I'm laughing and laughing about all these people complaining about gas prices. I don't trust their gas mileage figures.
Sorry...a small emotional outburst there...the drivers in Evansville, Indiana are the worst.
What I was saying is that Honda could not have increased the Civic's EPA highway number to the upper 40's without dramatic improvements to the coefficient of drag or reducing the size of the vehicle. Or reducing the size of the engine. Or some other drastic measure. Taller gearing in the manual won't have that dramatic of an effect. It will help, but not by that much. A manual is not much more efficient than an automatic at HIGHWAY driving, even if the gearing is the same, because modern automatics lock out the torque converter and behave very much like a manual when in this mode with a directly coupled connection.
I just get tired of hearing peoples uninformed Wild [non-permissible content removed] Guesses on these forums.
Plus, your calculations are way off. Every civic that I've driven has had a "fast" speedometer by about 5%, meaning that you didn't get your calculated fuel mileage. Plus, the biggest thing I've seen people do to improve their calculated mpgs is to round up the miles and round down the fuel before doing the divide. You didn't do that, did you
I agree that the auto industry could do more to increase efficiency. But you have to understand that all of the low hanging fruit has been picked. There isn't an affordable, magic bullet that will improve efficiency by 20%. There are expensive solutions which will yield in the 5-10% range according to an article I read in EE Times. After that, you have to give up something to get more efficiency -- meaining weight, power, profile, and coefficient of drag.
I think tall gearing would make a big difference and let me tell you why. My first car was a Honda Civic hatch with a 4-speed manual tranny and the Civic CRX HF used the same exact engine, but with a 5-speed manual. The Civic was rated 37/43 and the CRX was 49/54. It had to be the taller gearing. The CRX was lower and 100 pounds lighter but that can't account for a 11mpg jump in mpg.
I just thought of a magic bullet. What about the IMA system that's used in the Accord Hybrid and in the Honda Odyssey? It shuts off half the cylinders under low-load conditions. Why can't Honda use this on their Civics? It improved highway mileage by 12% on the Odyssey. If you apply this to the 40mpg of the Civic you'd be in the 44mpg range. Will it work on a 4-cylinder? I read somewhere that the new Civic Hybrids would use this system but I haven't seen any confirmation of this.
Another way the auto industry could reduce fuel consumption is by getting rid of some of the sound deadening and putting more efficient mufflers and headers and so-forth. I'm saying this in general terms, okay, but what I'm trying to say in big-picture is some of the things which make a car quiet and refined will also rob it of power. Free-flow mufflers will give an engine more power, but will make it louder. Sound deadening will add weight. Lower rolling resistance tires (like on the new Civic Hybrid) have been reported to be louder. The larger wheels on the new Civics are likely heavier. A 16-inch wheel has 51% more material than a 13 inch wheel of the same width. A 13 inch wheel would look funny on a car these days, but a 16 incher is overkill if you want lighter weight.
Calm down...breathe...it's only a car. No need to be angry.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
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The cheaper Odysseys get 19/25, and the one with the VCM get 20/28. The only difference I see between the two models is the VCM and subsystems that go with it. It's only for low-load operation, yes, but it looks to be very effective.
5x114
But can anyone confirm this for the 06 Si?
Any opinions?