2007 Honda Civic GX: Compressed Natural Gas

I like this idea for commuter cars, and for people who view a car as just a place to get around town. The PHILL station keeps it easy to fill up, and as long as you don't go on many long drives you'd be fine. There are zero natural gas stations near me at all, so making any sort of long trip would be impossible. I'd also be curious how many mechanics are actually knowledgable to work on those engines in areas that are less dense.
 
Either way, I like the idea, but it's not for me. I like performance in my cars, and 116hp ain't gonna cut it for what I like.

I do not get why Honda has used the CNG technology, when if they had taken an electric motor and hooked it up in place of the ICE and removed the natural gas tank (which is behind the rear seat and in the trunk, if I'm not mistaken) and filled the entire trunk with a bunch of batteries, they could have said, "Look what we did, we have made a Chevy Volt with a 50 mile range and poor performance (although rear mounted batteries would help the weight distribution...), but it is in an electric car, oooohhhh, ahhhh." And the mainstream media and politicians would have ate it up, despite its being laughably impractical for your average person.

Hmm could be interesting as an experiment I guess. You can't even buy these cars outside of California though right? Kind of limits the usefulness readers might get out of a long term test

And just remember, it'll be cheaper, but part of that is paying no highway taxes, unlike gasoline.

This car would fit me just fine for a commuter car. I drive 70 miles daily and mostly freeways at steady speed, so i dont really need that much power anyways. Plus the home fueling system can save some significant time by not having to go somewhere to refill. But yeah definately need a second car for long trips.

I applaud Honda for trying, I really do. They've been experimenting with natural gas (Civic GX), fuel cells (FCX), and hybrids (Insight, Accord & Civic) for a number of years now. Thing is, not one of these--not even the much-hyped hybrids--can match the practicality, driveability, and all-around flexibility of a good modern Eurodiesel. With ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel rolling out in the US now, I look forward to a 2.2 liter turbodiesel Civic with 220 lb-ft of torque and a 40 mpg EPA city rating. Who's with me?

Stephen - You shan't wait long. I hear '08 as an '09 model. No urea or anything like that either.

I'm with you also Stephen, if the last generation Jetta diesel would have been a little more sporty (ala 17 inch wheels with sport package) and not plagued with some of the reliability issues of other Jettas, I'd have bought one of them over my Mazda3 any day. I just hope that the Honda can make a splash with a new diesel and that the average American can get their head out of the 70s and 80s and appreciate a good thing.

this set up sounds similar to the natural gas fiasco that Arizona went through a few years ago when the state decided to give tax breaks or something of the sort to people who bought trucks or cars, had them equipped with CNG conversions. You could then get a setup that allowed you to fill up at home A friend had both a 8.1l Chevy 2500 and a Suburban on CNG and he just plugged them in at night and in the morning he had a full tank. I don't know how far he got on each tank and he did say he had trouble getting them started in really hot weather, but he also claimed his fuel bill was quite a bit lower...
 
But his MPG and his HP suffered and if he ever had any serious hauling to do with his 2500 truck, he just ran it on regular gas.

@scott65: The Civic GX is now available in the New York City metro area, too.

It's nice to see some of the more "cutting edge" propulsion technologies in the LT fleet (like gas-electric hybrids and CNG). I'm interested to see how this Civic stacks up.

I may have missed it, but what are the savings? As in.
1. How much does it cost to fill the tank at a commercial gas station?
2. How much does it cost to fill the tank at you home Phil machine?
3. How many highway miles can you get out of one tank?
 
Thanks.

Ok, I read the rest of the blog and took notes this time...
  
There is only 1 station from LA to SF ON THE 5 (ok, 2 if you count Santa Clarita). There are plenty of stations on the 99 and enough on the 101. Santa Clarita to Los Banos is a stretch in a Civic GX.
  
Along with tax incentives and rebates, there is also a $2000 subsidy for buying Phill.
  
The GX was a fleet car before it was offered to the public. The only option used to be ABS which I guess is now standard. That a 'bare bones' car HAS power windows, power door locks, a CD player and cruise control is praiseworthy, not pathetic.
  
An aside -- people are so interested in Hydrogen cars. Where does the Hydrogen come from??? Natural Gas!
  
Taxis and vans use Natural Gas mostly because a certain percentage of their fleet has to be 'clean.' I've seen many cabbies grouse at the short range of their Crown Vics. I bet they're happier now with gas prices what they are!
  
If you want to drive a GX in Northern California, you NEED a PG&E card. Their stations don't take regular credit cards.
  
Life with a GX means upgrading to AAA Plus. My wife was low on fuel and went to 3 stations which were either broken or long gone when she ran out of gas. AAA got her to a station after several more tries.
  
We now have cngprices com which is a great up-to-the minute map of CNG station prices and availability (read: is the pump up today?)
  
We also have cngchat com which is THE place to find out more.
  
You mentioned Phill and 240vac. Mine runs on a regular 120vac outlet.
  
The dealer probably quoted you for a gasoline B1 service. The extra two filters are CNG filters. Honda's recommendation to replace them that often is based on a worst-case scenario of oil and water not being taken out of the gas.
  
The stations in San Fernando and Riverside are still $2.00/gge or less. Not Clean Energy-run, needless to say!