Entries Tagged 'honda' ↓

We’ve made it a point here at MPGomatic to put the gamut of hybrid cars and SUVs through exhaustive road tests. Our continuing goal is to examine the ability of hybrids to meet or exceed the official fuel economy estimates when using appropriate driving techniques.

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MPG-o-Matic Honda Insight Review Summary: The 2010 Honda Insight is the least expensive, and arguably, the most sporty hybrid car currently available in the United States. The Insight delivers the goods for cost-conscious drivers with a focus on overall cost of ownership and driver engagement.

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Ever wish you could fill up at home and skip the service station altogether? How about eliminating your addiction to petroleum with the cleanest internal combustion engine sold today? The Honda Civic NGV aims to fill all those dreams.

The natural gas powered Civic GX NGV is refilled via a Phill home fueling unit, which is tied to your home’s gas line. While initially targeted at controlled fleets and campus settings, the Civic NGV is available to individuals in select areas. Alas, it’s not for everyone. Finding an authorized Honda NGV dealer in your area may pose a significant hurdle.

It’s important to note that the Civic NGV is not a conversion, nor is it imported from overseas. In this video report shot at the 2008 Alternative Fuels and Vehicles conference, Honda representative Annabel Cook explains that the Civic NGV it is built from the ground up as a natural-gas powered vehicle at Honda’s production facility in Ohio.

MPG-o-Matic Honda Fit Sport Summary: While it’s a good bit pricier then the Chevy Aveo, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris, the Fit Sport trumps the competition with a sporting card, a versatile interior, distinctive styling, and excellent gas mileage.

The 2009 Honda Fit is available in two levels of trim, the base Fit and the Fit Sport.

All 2009 Fits are equipped with a 1.5 liter i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine, mated to a five-speed manual or automatic transmission. The Fit’s inline four produces 117 horsepower (HP) and 106 foot pounds of torque.

The official gas mileage estimates for the 2009 Honda Fit are 27 city / 33 highway miles per gallon (MPG) for both the manual transmission and Fit Sport automatic. (The base Fit automatic is estimated slightly higher at 28/35.)
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It’s a common question. Folks look at the charts of any particular long running model and they wonder. Pour over the Honda Civic gas mileage figures for the past three decades, for example, and you can’t help but scratch your head.

But when you consider the changes in today’s cars, compared to those of the late seventies and early eighties, it all begins to make sense. The modern Civic is much more complex, much larger, and much heavier than its counterpart three decades ago.

Today’s Honda Fit is more akin to yesteryear’s Civic, yet it’s so much more.

I’m in the midst of testing a Fit this week and I can’t help but think how much it reminds me of my trusty old 1983 Honda Civic S. (I didn’t leave the “i” off … the S model predated the Si.) But the Civic’s interior was much tighter inside than the Fit. That’s not to say that it couldn’t haul stuff. I used the little hatchback as a moving van more than once, back in the day. But when I flipped the Fit’s Magic Seat around the first time, I was flabbergasted. There’s a remarkable amount of cargo space inside the little critter.

And the highway mileage?

It’s good. Really good. This is one of the cars that responds so well to light-footed driving that you have to question the official numbers …