2007 Honda Civic Hybrid
 

The good: The 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid delivers excellent fuel economy and emissions numbers while not compromising too much in the way of performance. Voice-controlled navigation and satellite radio are good tech options for the price.

The bad: The gas engine's automatic shut-off feature causes driveline shudders, making for a rough ride in stop-and-go driving. The gas engine can feel underpowered when working alone.

The bottom line: Honda's reputation for practical economy is shown in the Civic Hybrid, well-built and simply designed to sip fuel. Interior tech options are usefully done, making this Honda a great commuter sedan.

The 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid may have relinquished its title as the World Green Car of the Year to the Mercedes E320 Bluetec diesel, but the previous winner hasn't changed much since we reviewed a 2006 Civic Hybrid last year. As then, our 2007 test car was equipped with the main option: voice-controlled touch screen navigation, which remains one of the best such systems we've used (it also appears in Acura models).

The combination of a miserly hybrid power configuration and a welcome dose of interior tech make the Civic Hybrid a formidable rival to its only real competition, the Toyota Prius. The redesign of the Civic line for 2006 seemed to take some cues from the futuristic shape of the Prius, notably in the extreme rake of the windshield, but the latest Civics have been as well-received as earlier versions and are comfortable inside.

Test the tech: Welcome to L.A.

For our test of the 2007 Civic Hybrid, we gave it a chance to stretch its legs a bit with a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back. Hybrids are generally acknowledged to realize their best mileage gains in city driving, where frequent regenerative braking and low-speed electric-only operation can be exploited (the Civic Hybrid can operate electric-only under very specific circumstances, which we never encountered). We wanted to see what sort of efficiency we could get for an extended highway trip if we kept cruising speeds relatively low and--as we assumed upon reaching the 405 freeway near L.A.--mixed in some stop-and-go traffic to see what it would do to fuel economy.

When we topped up the tank before leaving San Francisco, it didn't occur to us that we would reach Huntington Beach before needing to refuel again, but that's exactly what happened. Having traveled 466.3 miles, it took almost exactly 10 gallons to refill the Civic, for an overall average of 46.6mpg for the trip. This also meant that there was a fair amount of fuel left in the 12.3 gallon tank, and that under the right circumstances a cruising range of over 500 miles should be possible.

Source: [url=http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/CNet/story?id=3046888]ABC News[/url]