The Jetsons left a great impression on me as a child. I loved the flying cars and the almost magical tubes that served as inter city transit. If you’ve see it you know exactly what I’m talking about! I used to envision myself driving one of the flying cars myself. As a kid, I thought the future was a lot closer than it actually was! I accepted that I had jumped the gun when I went to my driver’s test not in a flying car, but in a Honda Civic!
Not that I wasn’t ecstatic the day I got my driver’s license. Of course I was! The Honda Civic performed beautifully! More beautifully than I did, actually. (The man conducting my test must have felt bad when he told me I’d been speeding for a large majority of the test so he told me he’d mark it down as “failure to observe surroundings adequately” and I’d only lose a few points and still pass. Whew!) That little Honda Civic was great: no nonsense, sturdy, and there when I needed it. Not a space car, but a good car nonetheless!
When the Honda Civic was converted into a Hybrid vehicle it was taken one step closer to the flying car of the future (at least that’s what I secretly dream)! The Hybrid gives me hope that we’re evolving toward the futuristic cars we’ve been dreaming of in our cartoons and science fiction for years. It gives me hope because the Hybrid function is pretty impressive. It’s the future that we have available today.
Hybrid cars have been around a while, but like any new product they continue to become more widely accepted as people see them fulfilling their purpose. The models have evolved each year into better and better designs and more efficient functioning. (And let’s face it…any option to the high gas prices we’re currently experiencing is going to draw a lot of attention!)
Here’s how the Hybrid works. The 1.3 liter, 95 bhp engine is constantly connected to the electric motor because the motor participates as part of the flywheel. So the crankshaft is constantly revolving even when power is being drawn straight (and only) from the electric motor.
The Honda Civic Hybrid offers a noticeable lack of mechanical resistance achieved through inlet and exhaust valves that are always shut allowing no compressions or pumping losses. Drivers will also notice the regenerative braking in which the vehicle recovers energy when drivers tap the brake pedal using the electric motor as a generator. Both of these features work together to provide Honda Civic Hybrid drivers with a typical average fuel consumption falling at about 58 miles per gallon.
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