Just bought my new car - now a 2 hybrid family :)

JHMEG

I normally wouldn't bother posting that I bought a car, but of interest is that it's the 2nd hybrid in the house. My wife has a wine coloured 2003 Civic IMA. This is the facelifted 2004 model with black leather (not cream) and revised headlights.

Petrol tanks in both our current cars are the same size. She gets 600+ miles to a tank and I get 250. Petrol at €1.28 a litre. Straws eventually broke the camel's back.

mondeo

Hybrids have interested me alot in the past but I never got my heart into buying one. I bought a diesal renault megane recently and I'm more then happy with the economy on it compared to my previous petrol counterpart.

JHMEG

I usually get about 68-70mpg on a run in the wife's IMA or in the 50s around town.

On the flip side I don't like diesel and now that it's 10% more that petrol it's not even cheap any more. For me the IMA was a no-brainer.

mondeo

JHMEG wrote: »

I usually get about 68-70mpg on a run in the wife's IMA or in the 50s around town.

On the flip side I don't like diesel and now that it's 10% more that petrol it's not even cheap any more. For me the IMA was a no-brainer.

I agree with you on that one, economy X cost of diesal would equal you may aswell just keep the petrol after all. I'm still experiencing some savings though. I may dig deeper into hybrid technology.

sparkyjo

the honda by design is flawed they have done it slightly backward as they have done a car with a battery subbing a petrol engine which is not a great way to be going it is an inprovment but its need to go the other way you need to be driving on a battery engine with the battery been power by a smaller more efficient engine which obviously would not be and big as an engine used for actually driving the carand for cheap driving you need to be able to plug it in.

the only car i have seen going the right route is the new volvo but i don't think it is out till next year.

and diesel engine even with the way its more expensive it would probably need to be another 20% dearer before you could compare petrol and diesel and to say you don't like diesel is more ignorant than informed as most of the newer diesel engines are by design much more efficient and much snapier than the older one and now are starting to compare to high end petrol cars

heathersonline

Did you go uk or buy here? I'm quite interested in the same car, hows the boot space?

E92

JHMEG wrote: »

Petrol tanks in both our current cars are the same size. She gets 600+ miles to a tank and I get 250. Petrol at €1.28 a litre. Straws eventually broke the camel's back.

And what pray tell us is the Honda you currently have/had before your recently acquired immaculate looking IMA Civic?

JHMEG

Did you go uk or buy here? I'm quite interested in the same car, hows the boot space?

Both from the UK. They were never sold here, and the few that are in carzone are UK imports (and overpriced). Boot is ok, nothing to write home about. OTOH there is fantastic room for rear passengers, both leg and headroom. It can easily accomodate a couple of 6'4" lads.

E92 wrote: »

And what pray tell us is the Honda you currently have/had before your recently acquired immaculate looking IMA Civic?

Civic VTI 1.6 DOHC VTEC. 0-60mph in 7.7s (confirmed;)), but only 28mpg, 30 if I try really hard (ie no VTEC). And I just put 4 brand new feckin tyres on it, and good ones at that (Vred Sporttrac 3's).

colm_mcm

JHMEG is putting his money where his mouth is!
They can't be that bad if he's got 2 on the drive.

Hope you're lucky with it.

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

JHMEG is putting his money where his mouth is!
They can't be that bad if he's got 2 on the drive.

Hope you're lucky with it.

Thanks Colm.

Green Hornet

How do you find the steering in that model Civic? The wife has the petrol version (3 door model) and the steering seems "oversensitive". Not sure if thats the right word to describe it but it lacks feel and seems "jumpy".

I believe its electric and maybe just takes a little getting used to.

Congats on the car. Looks immaculate.

JHMEG

Green Hornet wrote: »

How do you find the steering in that model Civic? The wife has the petrol version (3 door model) and the steering seems "oversensitive". Not sure if thats the right word to describe it but it lacks feel and seems "jumpy".

I believe its electric and maybe just takes a little getting used to.

Congats on the car. Looks immaculate.

Yes, it is very light and "oversensitive", and I agree: not the right word. Every Civic I've had has had light steering which has been lacking in feeling tho (incl the VTI), and I put the sensitivity in this model down to the fact that it's electric too.

Thanks for the congrats:)

(Integra steering on the other hand.. you could read braille through it!)

Par72

Looks great! I've been looking at these on carzone. You say they are over priced over here, how much could you expect to clear one from the UK for, say an 04/05?

JHMEG

Look at the prices in autotrader.co.uk etc and do the maths yourself.. this 2003 at cargiant.co.uk could be landed, incl VRT, for under €7.5k. The VRO have the OMSP down as almost €12k! It's the same for all the rest!

maidhc

Best of luck with it. Definately a nicer and less shouty alternative to the Civic. And with diesel at the price it is, probably the cheapest mode of transport around at the moment.

VH

nice car, hope it goes well for you; are you planning on selling the vti?

unkel

Well wear! Looks in great condition. Out of interest, how much is the VRT?

Did you enjoy the trip home from Yorkshire?

JHMEG

VRT is mad.. 1700 for a 4 year old. I'll be appealing that as herself paid 1100 for a 3 year old.

E92

Good luck with the car either way, as I said earlier it looks immaculate(I was going to say stunning but I'm afraid that Civic might be many things but it ain't a thing of beauty to my eyes:D).

Must be a bit of a comedown from a VTi Civic for performance though!

Are you keeping your DA6 JHMEG? I presume you're not going importing a car that runs on the dreaded D-word now anyway?

JHMEG

E92 wrote: »

Are you keeping your DA6 JHMEG? I presume you're not going importing a car that runs on the dreaded D-word now anyway?

The VTI was to replace the DA6 which was getting a bit old and needing a bit too much maintenance as a result (which I don't have time to do any more). So I regrettably sold the DA6 just over a year ago.

The DA6/VTI are different types of car to the IMA. On the upside I am looking forward to getting reaquainted with my music collection again! Road noise from the VTI is brutal and the engine made its presence very felt in the DA6. Tho I would still like to get some sort of performance car for part time use, so I'll keep looking for a 300ZX or similar.

You're right about a diesel. The only thing it had going for it (economy) has been seriously eroded to the point that it's not worth considering now.

unkel

JHMEG wrote: »

VRT is mad.. 1700 for a 4 year old. I'll be appealing that as herself paid 1100 for a 3 year old.

Just checked the VRT site. It's only a 1.3 so the VRT base is 22.5% and then there's the 50% discount for being a hybrid*. But I agree with you. An OMSP of more than €15k** is ridiculously high. Let us know the outcome of your appeal if you decide to go ahead with it!

*this discount will be gone by 01/07/2008, so if you want to buy a new hybrid here or buy a second hand one and import it, now is the time to do so, folks!

**€1,700 is half the normal VRT which at €3,400 and a rate of 22.5% calculates to an OMSP of about €15.1k