The CNG version of the Honda Civic may be down on power and range from its gasoline counterparts, but it takes less than $20 to fill the tank.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
Honda makes a variety of Civics, its economical compact car. But none will be more economical than this version, the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas. Per gallon, natural gas can cost half as much as gasoline, while getting similar fuel economy.
Besides some badging, the natural gas version of the Civic looks like its gasoline-powered siblings. The design is unobtrusive, a theme for the car as a whole.
The displacement of the four-cylinder engine, 1.8 liters, is the same as in other Civics, but Honda gave it a fuel delivery system that pumps compressed natural gas into the cylinders. Using this fuel reduces horsepower from 140 to 110.
Despite the lower power, the Civic runs along reasonably well, tackling most traffic situations without problem. Its acceleration is fairly slow, however, so drivers will want to be careful about passing and merging maneuvers.
The fuel filler is very different than on a gasoline-fueled car. Couplers at CNG stations attach to this filler, pumping natural gas into the Civic's tanks.
The Civic uses a bilevel instrument cluster, with a tachometer front and center for the driver. The tachometer is mostly superfluous in the Civic, with its automatic transmission.
The digital speedometer, flanked by fuel and temperature gauges, sits just below the windshield. The instrument cluster changes to green when the car is driven economically. To the right of the gauges is the i-MID.
The navigation system stores its maps in flash memory, and overlays live traffic information. But the jagged letters on the maps show poor graphic design.
The Civic Natural Gas only has one audio option, a 160-watt amp with four speakers. It sounded better than expected, but highlighted odd parts of a music track.
