<p>I’ve been complaining to my local Honda dealer that there was something wrong with my wife’s 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. For a few years now it has lacked power in most driving situations when I’ve driven her car. This usually happens when the battery gauge has only 2 or 3 bars lit up versus the normal 6 or 7. The last 3 out of 4 times that I’ve had the car serviced they’ve checked it out (including the “main” battery) and always say they cannot find any problems. Today my wife called me from work and said that the “IMA” warning light as well as the “check engine” light came on. I asked her to meet me at the dealer when her last class ended so they could diagnose it with the warning lights on (which, according to my wife, haven’t come on before). </p>
<p>They get it on their computer, and they finally acknowledge that the main battery needs to be replaced and that the parts and labor are covered under warranty. This makes me happy since the battery alone costs $3,400. If any of you also are owners of a Honda Civic Hybrid in the appproximate range of year as mine, I’d be on the lookout for this battery issue BEFORE the main battery warranty expires. </p>
<p>There is ALSO a class action lawsuit in CA regarding the mileage issues. They claimed when this vehicle was originally sold that it had an EPA rating of 49/51 MPG but they only get 37/39 MPG on average. There’s a class action suit, which I signed to participate in, but is only paying $200 cash to each owner who signed on or a $1,000 credit toward a future purchase. A lady in my region sued Honda and was awarded $10,000 for the gas discrepancy on her 2006 Civic Hybrid. If you never signed the class action lawsuit, you may want to take Honda to small claims court, just like the lady I’m referring to did.</p>
<p>2006 Honda Civic Hybrid owner here: closing in on 70,000 miles.<br>
Your problems are disturbing. I read about them in the past, especially when the dealer wanted to change my electronics related to the battery. Looking at on-line forums, I saw it enraged people.
However, my car performs wonderfully. I bring it to the dealer for warranty fixes (no charge) which were notified to me but for things that had not gone wrong on my car. The miles per gallon is above what was listed on the window paper. Always enough power to pass on uphill or wherever.
I have gotten some settlement claim mailings in the past year, but after I read them I decided I did not want to opt out or to claim anything.
If the car was a station wagon, I would be even more pleased. Or since I live in an extreme climate, if it had all wheel drive, I would be even more pleased. But so far this little baby has been reliable, great gas mileage, and wow do I get charged up when I see that battery bar tell me its charging as I drive (downhill, mostly).
My brother got way over 200k on his Honda Civic Hybrid (can’t remember the year) and then he bought another to replace it a few years ago.</p>
<p>Buy a hybrid if your priority is to use less gas per mpg. </p>
<p>Don’t buy a hybrid if your priority is to save money per mpg.</p>
<p>The cost to buy current hybrid technology far exceeds any fuel cost saving. The break even point for most hybrids is 7+ years. And by then the battery will need replacement at a very, very substantial cost. Thus, pushing back there breakeven point far beyond the useful life of the rest of the car. </p>
<p>The cost/benefit analysis is simple: Current hybrid technology is not yet ready.</p>
<p>I have a 2006 Honda also. We have, until very recently, been very happy with the mileage. I think we’ve saved pretty close to the price differential between it and a non-hybrid Civic by now. We don’t usually get the 49/51, though close to it. I never had acar that really made EPA mileage, so that was okay.</p>
<p>However, Honda has ticked me off recently. We too had the check engine light come on, and then the battery seemed to power down about once a driving trip, somewhat lowering the mileage.</p>
<p>Took it to dealer; they said it needed a new part in electronics and an update of the software of the battery. Now the battery powers down more often than before. All free under warranty. </p>
<p>Highway mileage is still fine (mid to high 40s), and that’s most of what we do. But local mileage has suffered; I think it’s below 40 now, or close to it. It’s been suggested online that the software change does that deliberately to save battery life–which only helps Honda, since if the battery lasts more than 10 years, they have to pay for it.</p>
<p>The settlement might lengthen the battery warranty–it will be worth it if that happens. I wasn’t going to sign on, but this new software thing has really bugged me. Up until this, I have loved everything about the car. But i’m not happy with the lowered mileage (still higher than most cars, but not as much as it used to be.)</p>
<p>Edit: as far as Prius’s–the Civic cost much less than we could find any Prius when we bought it, so I don’t think a Prius would have saved us more money–there was about a 4/5000 dollar differential in what was available to us back then.</p>
<p>Dealer did the same thing on mine with similar results. If your light ever comes on again, get it back to the dealer ASAP so they can confirm you need a new battery!</p>
<p>The Prius is definitely a pricier hybrid. My wife wanted the Honda so that’s what I got her. Had I to do it again, I would spend the extra money and purchase a Prius. That is assuming the HOV stickers were still valid and tax credits still in play. Now that the stickers have expired, it doesn’t make financial good sense to me any longer. Unless my wife had to get out and push her car, she is totally oblivious to the sluggish performance issue on her Civic Hybrid. I’m thankful that she even noticed a warning light coming on.</p>
<p>Honda is good if you buy Acura. Maybe you need to trade? Acura has never gave us a grief, seems to be higher quality than Lexus. But none of Japanese cars drive like German, I am not talking about racing, just regular drving from/to work…etc.</p>
<p>DD drives the 2003 Civic Hybrid we bought for her use and yes, we did need to have the battery replaced. Thankfully, it was before the warranty ran out so that there was no cost on our part. Now, there is some sort of transmission problem that is apparently unfixable short of replacing the entire transmission (not going to happen). It’s really not particularly noticeable and the mechanic said that the car can run a long time without any symptoms so we’re just watching and waiting.</p>
<p>That said, we really have enjoyed using the Civic and the mileage continues to be good (about 45 city/highway combined) but given the issues we’ve had, I would just buy the regular Civic next time.</p>
<p>^For my wife, the biggest reason for buying a hybrid was so she could travel to work in the carpool lane. Now that the HOV stickers are no longer valid along with the MPG gap narrowing compared to conventional cars, I would have no reason to purchase another one. I guess, according to the article you posted, that firmly puts me in the “majority” of those who won’t be purchasing another one anytime soon.</p>
<p>We have a 2003 Civic Hybrid and haven’t had any problems with the battery. It has about 150,000 miles now and averages about 41/43 mpg but it is primarily being driven by D1 who does not have a good “foot”. We found that the driver can impact the mileage very much. H is the worst (it’s a gas pedal, not a pogo stick!), D3, our newest driver, is proving to be the best!</p>
<p>Unlike the link quoted, we DID buy another hybrid and are very happy with it. We bought a used 2008 Toyota Camry hybrid and that baby just hums along! I wanted something bigger and Honda had phased out the Accord hybrid so we switched to Toyota. I wouldn’t buy a Prius, I don’t like the instrument panel in the center and they’re so much hype for them now, they have waiting lists and you can’t get a good deal. Plus, we were looking to buy about a month after the earthquake and nothing new was shipping from Japan. The mpg is calculated differently for the Camry, it resets every time you fill the gas tank. We usually get from 36 - 40 mpg depending on how bad traffic is here (and it’s usually bad…). </p>
<p>PS, you can still get HOV stickers in NY and VA. To tell you the truth, I don’t agree with that, but since I live in a state that doesn’t give them out to hybrid cars, it’s a moot point.</p>
<p>We are thinking about buying a Prius in the near future. We did a short test drive and liked it. Will do more test driving/research when closer to buying one.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the previous posters saying it won’t be a money saver due to the cost vs. a regular gas powered car. We’ve been looking at the new Ford Focus and the Prius. To get all the options we wanted, the Focus came in pretty close to the same price as the Prius but the Prius won out on mpg’s. If you’re buying a new car and the sticker prices is pretty similar why not choose the hybrid? We travel a lot on weekends to our second home five hours away. When we move there permanently in a couple of years, we’ll be “out in the sticks”. There will be no such thing as a quick trip anywhere. The closest grocery store is ten miles away and jobs will be further. We thought the Prius might be a good fit/less gas to buy for all the driving we do will be doing.
I currently drive a 2001 Toyota Avalon. It’s been a great car but is getting on in years. DH drives a 2005 Toyota Tundra which has also been great.<br>
We were not as happy with the Honda Accord we owned prior to the Avalon.</p>
<p>I think the Prius is a fine choice and I would personally opt for it over the Ford Focus. You could probably get an “invoice deal” on the Focus which would save you money, but would still be about 10 MPG less than the Prius (assuming you get the SFE option on the Focus). </p>
<p>After coskat posted the link regarding hybrid owners buying hyprids again, I saw several articles basically saying the same thing. As I recall, a whopping 65% of hyprid owners would NOT purchase one again and that number is 75% if you take Toyota hyprid owners out of the equation. For me, that data provides a strong argument against purchasing ANY hyprid-- Honda or otherwise. I also own a 2009 Honda Civic Coupe (gasoline powered) that gets 30 MPG, only about 5 to 7 MPG less than our Hybrid gets. I paid about $7,000 less for my Civic Coupe. Given the amount of miles I drive annually, it is more cost-effective along with a superior track record for reliability.</p>
<p>Here in California, you can still get HOV stickers for vehicles that are solely fueled by alternative fuels (electricity, compressed natural gas, hydrogen). For the typical customer, that means the Nissan Leaf or the Honda Civic GX (CNG). Both have drawbacks, but for anyone who covets carpool access, it can be had.</p>
<p>jshain–you are getting really low mpg for your HCH. Mine, even now with the battery powering down now and then, still gets low to mid 40s. No wonder you don’t like them.</p>
<p>Overall, I’d still buy another hybrid, possibly another HCH. I didn’t like the Prius when we test-drove it–huge intrument screen inthe middle, and horrid visibility.</p>
<p>garland, I wonder if the lower than advertised MPG that I’m getting (based on Consumer Reports estimate of 37 MPG) has anything to do with the immission requirements for CA autos versus other states? The most I ever got was 39 MPG.</p>