Battery Vehicle Society

Has anyone got or had or driven the Honda Civic IMA.

I did have a test drive of one before I chose my Prius but I did not feel that it was the car for me.

I know that Honda have been pushing them hard in the fleet market and I do ocasionally see one on the road (no where near as many as Prius).

My latest daft idea is to find a used IMA to replace my wife's car so I would be intersted in the experience of others.

MarkTime

Hi Mark,

There's one a few blocks away from me. My experience was, unlike Toyota, Honda really didn't want to sell us one. We waited for EIGHT weeks for a test drive, then gave up. We kept ringing too, but they just wouldn't give us one saying that there wasn't one available to take out. Grrr.

I'm sure Peter Perkins would recommend an insight before an IMA Civic though!

I have had a Civic IMA since 2003. Overall, including mainly the wife's shopping/town trips the computer tells me it has averaged 53mpg. When I drive it with a desire to be green, or on holiday it easily hits 60+mpg even with the air-con on continuously. As with most cars it is as much the weight of the driver's foot and anticipation as the design of the car that determines the mpg.

The car is great for touring, not particularly sporty performance, has most items you require for comfort. The eco button is great:-meaning that when you wait at lights or jams everything turns off and all is peaceful. (A vast difference to watching the petrol gauge move to empty when I had a Jag). A feeling of quiet superiority flows over you as you watch others exhaust pipes continue to belch out fumes. Unlike the Prius, the electric motor only comes in on demand of more power to the 1300 (comparatively small cc for this size car) engine, to add acceleration or go up hills. It is all automatic and after a while you just get used to it like a "normal" car. In the same way it recharges the battery when braking or the engine close to coasting. When easing off the accelerator you sometimes are aware of braking effect as the generator cuts in taking some of the potential energy out of the car movement. This too you get used to.

My only niggle is no rear view windscreen wiper fitted and the road noise off the tyres can be annoying on certain surfaces. Overall it is not a sports car, but a quiet and comfy tourer. I liked the look of the Civic over the Prius and it was cheaper too!

Hope this helps

Regards

Francis

I think the Civic IMA is quite nice. But I have no tecghnical experience with it and have only been a passenger in one a few times.

Paul Andrews rallies one

http://www.oaktechybrid.co.uk/site/content_home.php

Urgent!!!

I need to breath life into this topic as i need to make contact with a Civic hybrid 2003-2005 owner for some research into the IMA system. Can anyone who has one or knows anyone who has one get in contact with me please.

peter@solarvan.gotadsl.co.uk