Had to drive the Civic today

[MsLusty]

I had the trunk lid of my '97 Civic repainted prior to selling, as it had a bad case of clear coat peeling. Today I picked it up-- first time I had to drive that car any distance since getting the Leaf.

O. M. G.

I can't believe I've been happily driving ICE cars all these years. I was really hating that engine today. There is just no comparison to the Leaf. The quiet! The smooth ride! The solid planted road feel! Even an hour+ of stop & go traffic (normally ~20 min of steady movement) was not so painful this morning, and I "grew" 3 trees.

 

[TomT]

Well, let's face it though: Almost any modern car is going to feel good compared to a 15 year old Civic... :lol:

I had the trunk lid of my '97 Civic repainted prior to selling, as it had a bad case of clear coat peeling. Today I picked it up-- first time I had to drive that car any distance since getting the Leaf.

O. M. G.

I can't believe I've been happily driving ICE cars all these years. I was really hating that engine today. There is just no comparison to the Leaf. The quiet! The smooth ride! The solid planted road feel! Even an hour+ of stop & go traffic (normally ~20 min of steady movement) was not so painful this morning, and I "grew" 3 trees.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

It's the smell that is becoming more and more noticable, the smell of ICE cars blowing smoke in my face, that is. I really wonder how many headaches, asthma attacks and other health issues are really just from breathing chlorinated hydrocarbons....YUCK! I can't wait till they all go away!!!!
g

 

[davewill]

It's the smell that is becoming more and more noticable, the smell of ICE cars blowing smoke in my face, that is. I really wonder how many headaches, asthma attacks and other health issues are really just from breathing chlorinated hydrocarbons....YUCK! I can't wait till they all go away!!!!
g

It'll become like cigarette smoke already has. It used to be I didn't notice it so much because every single public place smelled that way, and you became desensitized...now I notice it as soon as a smoker comes back inside after smoking, just from the reek on his clothes.

 

[Devin]

I had the trunk lid of my '97 Civic repainted prior to selling, as it had a bad case of clear coat peeling. Today I picked it up-- first time I had to drive that car any distance since getting the Leaf.

O. M. G.

I can't believe I've been happily driving ICE cars all these years. I was really hating that engine today. There is just no comparison to the Leaf. The quiet! The smooth ride! The solid planted road feel! Even an hour+ of stop & go traffic (normally ~20 min of steady movement) was not so painful this morning, and I "grew" 3 trees.

If you think that's bad I drove the Civic GX to Costco after 3 weeks of nothing but Leaf-induced driving bliss and it was bordering on painful. It was 95 degrees out so I had to have the air blasting, which doesn't help performance when you're reduced to using 113HP to haul around 3,000lbs of car + CNG cylinder. The regular petrol Civic has 140HP and weighs 250lbs less.

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in their Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.

Edit: reduced Volt related confusion

 

[adric22]

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in the Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.

If you have a volt, you might want to update your signature.

 

[Devin]

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in the Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.

If you have a volt, you might want to update your signature.

I don't have a Volt, my parents do. My signature is still accurate.

 

[LEAFfan]

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in the Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.
If you have a volt, you might want to update your signature.

I don't have a Volt, my parents do. My signature is still accurate.

Since you wrote, "the Volt", that implies that it is yours. You should have written 'their Volt' and then adric22 would have known it wasn't yours.

 

[Devin]

Since you wrote, "the Volt", that implies that it is yours. You should have written 'their Volt' and then adric22 would have known it wasn't yours.

Fixed. Moving on!

 

[MsLusty]

It's the smell that is becoming more and more noticable, the smell of ICE cars blowing smoke in my face, that is. I really wonder how many headaches, asthma attacks and other health issues are really just from breathing chlorinated hydrocarbons....YUCK! I can't wait till they all go away!!!!
g

Yes!! It was only a matter of days before I found myself becoming annoyed by random smells of exhaust. I don't recall being so sensitive to it except in really extreme cases, before.

 

[planet4ever]

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in their Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.

It's that pressurized gas tank, right? Don't you have to push a button somewhere and then wait a couple of seconds before you can take the gas cap off? This is presumably so the gas won't go bad if it sits in the tank for months on end.

Ray

 

[Devin]

I went out to dinner with my mom two weeks ago and we had to stop and put gas in their Volt. I think the sight of us trying to figure that out must've been pretty entertaining (the Volt is hard to fill up, honestly!!). It made me feel so dirty.

It's that pressurized gas tank, right? Don't you have to push a button somewhere and then wait a couple of seconds before you can take the gas cap off? This is presumably so the gas won't go bad if it sits in the tank for months on end.

Ray

Yeah, then you have to push on the gas door to release it once the car has finished de-pressurizing it. Every car I've had to refuel has either had a lever inside to pop it open or a tab to pull it open. There's also no place to hang the filler cap while you refuel so it rests on the paint. Just some of those detail things you get used to with Asian and European cars I suppose.

 

[gasmiser1]

Devin-

I heard from a Honda Rep that the CNG Honda engine is so well built and burns so clean, it will work to 1 million miles without a rebuild. Any truth to this??

 

[Devin]

Devin-

I heard from a Honda Rep that the CNG Honda engine is so well built and burns so clean, it will work to 1 million miles without a rebuild. Any truth to this??

I'd certainly believe it. As long as your fuel source is fairly clean; some older or malfunctioning CNG pumps can leach oil into the filling line and thus into the car which has even caused some GX drivers to fail their smog test.

Aside from that, there is one big hurdle. The main reason you may not see a Civic GX ever reach 1 million miles is that the CNG cylinder must be replaced every 15 years. In 2016, when our Civic is due to have a new CNG cylinder installed, the car likely won't be worth the cost of replacing the cylinder which currently runs between $3,500 and $6,000.

Unlike EV batteries which may degrade over time and need to be replaced to restore the range of the car, the CNG cylinder cannot be re-certified after 15 years and by law MUST be replaced with a new unit. If you want to keep driving your EV with old and abused batteries you can, you just won't go as far. If you want to keep driving your Civic GX with an expired tank you become uninsured and could be found guilty of criminal negligence should anyone be injured by a problem with the tank (explosion or leak, even if caused by arson or vandalism).