November 2011

2012 Honda Civic GX: Unsung Green Hero

2012 Honda Civic Natural GasFrom CNET News - Electric and hybrid cars grab all the headlines, but Honda's natural gas-powered Civic has been quietly running along, reducing CO2 emissions since 1998.

Of Honda's line of 2012 Civics, people are most likely to be unfamiliar with the Natural Gas version. The public in general is not aware that natural gas can power cars, in addition to heating houses and cooking food. Nor is the average man on the street likely to know that a gallon of natural gas is two-thirds (or less) the cost of a gallon of gasoline. That natural gas emits 30 percent less CO2 than gasoline is another little-known fact.

The Natural Gas badge offers one clue to this car's fuel. To spread some knowledge, Honda put me behind the wheel of its 2012 Civic Natural Gas for a drive that included city traffic, freeway merging, and some mountain twisties. Beyond the Natural Gas badge and CNG sticker on the rear, the exterior and interior of the car offered little clue to its fuel source. In many ways, it was like the Civic EX-L CNET previously reviewed, down to the navigation system and instrument cluster.

Just like in any other 2012 Civic, I pulled the five-speed automatic's shifter down to Drive and the car began to roll forward. Pushing the accelerator, I found the fact that natural gas was running from a tank in the back through a compressor and a special set of injectors into the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine instead of gasoline made little difference.

Lacking the energy density of gasoline, natural gas creates less power in the Civic. This car only produces 110 horsepower and 106 pound-feet of torque, a bit less than the 140 horsepower and 128 pound-feet of torque from the gasoline Civic.

 

2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas

 

The 1.8-liter engine is similar to that in other Civics, but it uses a different injection system.

That power reduction was not terribly noticeable in city driving. Launching from a stop light, I could only go as fast as the car in front of me. As the road opened up into a more suburban area, the Civic Natural Gas picked up speed reasonably, although the 0 to 60 mph time must be about a second or so off the standard Civic.

Driving it back-to-back over the same ground as a gasoline Civic, the natural gas version felt a bit...

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