I would much rather own a hybrid that looks and drives like a CAR, not a spaceship. I think Honda is comming out with a hybrid Accord V6 for next year, aren't they? Now that's what I'm talking about. A car with 260 hp that gets 40+ mpg. The Prius and Insight might be great in what they are designed to do, but they look, handle, and perform like ass.

 

The Accord hybrid is suppose to be in production and on sale by the end of this year.


I rather have a normal looking hybrid car (Civic, Accord, RX, Escape) than a wierd looking Prius.

And all this gossip about celebrities driving Prius is a bunch of :ghey: bandwagon BS. I bet nearly all of them have at least one vehicle they drive more often that delivers less than 20mpg.

 

The prob is, what you or we think is not going to help sell the civic hybrid. Toyota is smart enough to hit a niche market where they want to be DIFFERENT. No one really thinks these celebs are really green, they just want to portray that image. So what do they do? They have 2 options, a civic/insight or a totally different car that not many others drive - Prius.

No matter what we think about handling, the celeb's images are more important to them (as if Cameron actually care about Prius' speed around a corner, ha). It's not BS. It's just the way Hollywood runs. Most of them have maybe 5 other gas guzzling cars, but many also have a Prius, NOT a civic hybrid, because civic can't hit that niche market.

See, not many people here actually think the Prius is cool or good, I am saying, it is more popular and stands out more than a civic hybrid, and something that stands out will sell better, at least for image-savy celebs. And it's not BS, unless you just don't read car news.

 

There are two kinds of hybrid buyers: people that want it for the feature itself but packaged into a normal car, and people that want the feature but also want the car to say, "look at me, I'm driving a hybrid!" Cars like the Civic Hybrid, upcoming Accord Hybrid, Lexus RX400h, etc, serve the first group. You can't really spot a Civic Hybrid except for its different grille and the badge on the trunk. The Prius serves the second, because pretty much everyone either knows what it is or sees it and thinks it looks like some kind of eco-pod.

 

That's true, and it will serve to fill that end of the niche market. But I would still say the vast majority of car buyers who want an economical car would prefer to have the look, feel, and handling of an everyday, unassuming car. If there is anything holding back Civic Hybrid sales, it's the 20k sticker when you can get the exact same Civic EX sedan without hybrid technology for around 17k.

 

There's some kind of federal tax break on all hybrid vehicles at the moment. I believe it was $2000 at one point and it might be down to $1000 right now. Before the tax break the difference from the EX to the Hybrid is $2390. Overall it's not such a huge jump.

As for the Prius, its base price is higher than the Civic Hybrid and can be loaded up with a bunch of options to push the sticker over $26k. Even with that pricing structure Toyota is selling more of em than they can build. I'd say that while there are the folks that buy a Prius for its eco-pod-ness, there are also enough people crossing over from the mainstream to make it commercially viable.

 

the insight was honda's flagship hybrid...looked different than any car on the road outside of the dearly departed crx (which is basically its orgin...CRX HF)...honda had it first in america, toyota had the first one in japan

time and time again honda stresses its hybrid system is a "no compromise"...it acts like a normal car in order to be an easier transition for its buyer from a gas only vehicle...toyota's takes more to get used to for most drivers

 

I think it's even more important for Honda to score first in the US than in Japan. Honda will NEVER be big in Japan unless something happens to Toyota. On the other hand, American Honda is extremely important for the bottom line and hence the health of HONDA MOTOR CO.

 

For once, you're wrong

The Civic Hybrid, from all the reviews I've read, rides much better than the regular Civic EX and feels a lot more expensive...it feels more like an Accord than a Civic, and is a true flagship for the model line. I guess the difference between it and the EX is pretty pronounced.

 

the civic hybrid probably feels more substantial b/c it weighs more than a civic ex...its batteries add some 100lbs plus the drivetrain giving it more girth and more presence...honda would also add beefier units to the suspension to make up for the weight