Honda Accord PHEV: 115 MPGe for $39,780

This is interesting. Could be nice for PiP Gen2.

electric water heater allow the car to stay in EV mode longer

 

Trunk? I thought that was the glove box.

 

Now here's a trunk. Out of the phevs really the only one designed for the battery is the volt - and there are complaints. I'm sure there will be some that are fine with the accord, others will choose the c-max for space for more stuff and more range, or the prius phv for room for more stuff but less aer. Both cost over $6K less

 

People do it all the time on cars costing more...or less. All sounds like an OMG hysteria from Toyota fan boys worried about Honda having an plug in hybrid sedan before Toyota.

 

Name me a sedan that you think has a smaller trunk. It looks wide but ridiculously shallow. I would sacrifice trunk space in a Miata or a Porsche, but not this.

 

Hmm....... Hockey gear last night. Brought home a 6ft rack from Ikea 2 hours ago. Hockey gear in 2 days. My back seats are flat full-time.

 

Does anyone know the official trunk size on this PHEV?

The NGV Civic has a tiny trunk. 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas - Specifications - Official Honda Website says 6.1 cu ft.

 

Oh my goodness. I guess you better not buy a Camry Hybrid or a Ford Fusion hybrid with their small trunks.

 

It looks to be a good alternative for Fusion Energi. More EV efficiency (115 vs 100 MPGe) and gas efficiency (46 vs. 41 MPG) but less EV range (13 vs. 21 mi).

PiP remain to be the only plugin without compromise in the cargo space.

 

Remember the countless comments insisting Prius must be more like a "normal" vehicle, from traditional to hybrid?

It's ironic now that from the hybrid to plug-in perspective, Prius is the only one that actually is.

 

The back seat obviously does not fold down. That was the story with our previous (2nd gen) Civic Hybrid.

Recollect when I was first driving the Prius, shoulder checking and thinking: "Hang on, I can see all the way to the back of the hatch". Ever the educated car shopper...

 

FWIW, Civic NGV sales are pretty tiny per October 2012 Dashboard | Hybrid Cars. I see some every now and then on the road.

 

All of the Phevs right now have horrible trunks except Volt and Prius.
Camry, Avalon, Fusion, ES300h have 2x bigger trunks than this Honda.... Camry specifically has 13.1 cuft.

But as I said, Honda Hybrid is the real deal here with 47 combined and probably very nice, usable, trunk.

 

^^^
Yeah, Toyota hybrid sales have been decimating Honda hybrid sales for a long time. I'm not surprised. There are a couple bizarro anti-Toyota, Honda hybrid fanboys on places like greenhybrid.com. (One of them has an Insight II aka the one that looks like a Prius and adamantly refuses a Prius, even if given to him.)

Well, there are some reasons to buy a NGV Civic... It's eligible for CA HOV stickers, has no battery to replace and for those w/anti-hybrid anti-battery reasons/feelings (right or wrong), it's not a hybrid. Also, the US has plenty of natural gas. We don't need to import it, unlike oil.

But per My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Leaf vs Civic NGV (from a Civic GX (aka NGV version) owner), the tank MUST be replaced after 15 years.

 

But those are hybrids not plug in versions. Point was that Sedan's have half the space of hatchbacks and plug in sedans, of which Honda is the first, will have even smaller trunk space.

No one buys a hybrid and certainly no one is going to buy a plug in hybrid for the cargo area. A good looking sedan that gets 100 mpg is what buyers are looking for. Honda's PHEV meets that goal and is first to market with it.

Fusion Energi should be next later this year and I'm sure there is a Camry PHEV about to debut.

The Fusion PHEV has a very small cargo area but someone posted that the back seat folds down which is key for me to get skis in the car vs. having to get a ski carrier for the roof or on the trunk.

But getting 100 mpg in a great looking car with lots of tech is what I'm looking for and Honda is first to that market with that car.

 

But you are talking about both all the time?

You have to have decent trunk in any car, especially sedan. You dont have to have a minivan if you want 13cuft trunk.

What exactly are you going to use your 40k sedan that can fit 5 people with trunk that cant hold two bags?

That makes no sense... and nobody will buy these cars.

 

You don't and small cars in general and hybrids in particular and plug in hybrids especially are going to have small cargo areas.

Cargo area is low on the list on the buying algorithm.

If the Fusion Energi hybrid has 20EV miles and I can get 100 mpg in a great looking car with lots of tech, I can put my skis on a trunk rack that doesn't require a lot of work and has little impact on day to day driving mpg.

If I have to choose BETWEEN PHEV's, it is a tradeoff between good looks of Fusion vs. inside ski storage on a CMAX. I carry skis 30 days a year vs. cool looking car 365 days a year.