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| Ratings |
( Maximum score is 100 ) |
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| Overall: |
 ( 100 )
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| Comfort: |
 ( 60 )
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| Performance: |
( 60 )
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| Quality: |
( 100 )
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| Appearance: |
( 60 )
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| Comments |
Favorite feature: |
Fuel at half the price and free Carpool lane and bridge tolls ($4.00/shot in SF Bay Area) |
Least favorite feature: |
noisy car (minor gripe in comparison to benefits) |
Advice to buyer: |
Look for NG refueling locations. This is important to the convenience of use. |
Detailed review: |
I purchased the Civic GX to ease my commute into SF from the East Bay. Being able to zip through the carpool Bay Bridge toll lane is INCREDIBLY valuable. (Hybrids can't do that.) Time is money. (And the $4.00/day saving on the toll is also money...)This commute solution is cheaper than BART.
BUT Natural Gas is a volatile commodity. The price has ranged between $.20 to 2.30 per Gallon of Gas Equiv (GGE). from 2001 to now. In April 2007, petroleum is $3.40. Natural gas is running at $1.80 GGE, including the PG&E fee for using their pumps. Do the math.
Speedy carpool, reliable commute times, no bridge tolls, cheap gas.
What's the tradeoff?
You refuel at specified PG&E locations every 3-4 days (with my 80 mile/day total commute). Even that hinderence can be dealt with if you get the Fuelmaker in-home refueller. Then your price for GGE drops to $0.90 ( as of this report. Remember, NG price is volatile). Again, time is money. The Fuelmaker runs $80/mo lease or $4K to purchase. I drive near enough to PG&E stations to fill up the tank as conveniently as if I had a Petroleum gas car. That may not be the case for many people. Look up where the NG refuelling stations are near you, or along your commute route. Also, you'll need to replace an NG fuel filter every 10K miles. That costs me $150, including oil change, which I also only do every 10K miles, also. Clean fuel = clean oil.
The car is reliable, but noisy and no dragster. I had the CVT replaced under warranty (1,000-2,000 miles), but have had no issues since. The location of the pressurised NG tank reduces trunk space. For a commute car, it's an easy tradeoff. I can still get about 20 plastic grocery bags in....I mean, how hungry are you?
The later year models have extra safety features, like side curtain air bags, which is preferable.
For the savvy environmental, economy-driven person, this car delivers ZERO (0) in all CA smog test readings, has the reliability of a Honda, and saves you many commute worries.
Oh, and the NG fule doesn't dirty the engine. I have 80K miles and can run my finger inside the tailpipe and have it come out clean. Should run for many hundreds of thousands of miles more!
Not too shabby. |
Also considered: |
N/A
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| About This Reviewer... |
Name: |
Colin Morris |
Email address: |
cojomo@gmail.com |
Location: |
Fremont, California |
Other vehicles owned: |
None
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Review submitted: |
April 27, 2007 |
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