Is CJ insane?

[cjsmith]

The Honda hybrids are pricey (used) or hard to find (new); they also have very anemic acceleration.* Heck, currently I hate getting stuck behind a Prius, and those things are downright peppy compared to the 2005 Honda Civic hybrid. [edit: The Prius itself is as peppy as I'd ever want. Their drivers may often choose slow acceleration. I have now been called on this three times from the Prius gallery.] Back to the Civic, though, how much are carpool stickers worth if I can't accelerate enough to merge into traffic sanely? What was I thinking?

I guess it's going to be the regular Civic sedan. It will certainly be reliable and last me a good long time. All I'll have to do to keep that car running is stay away from California drivers! Easy! ...oh, wait.

I put a small "right of first refusal" deposit on one today. It won't come in until the first or second week of October, and as it hasn't been assigned a VIN yet it will probably be a 2007, which I have never seen. As the deposit is both small and refundable, I will be making an effort to find another car sooner.

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*Other hybrid options don't work well at all. The Prius is too big, too expensive, and has too long a wait list, but I admit it would be fun to snag a used one and try for a full-electric conversion.** The Camry and Accord are of course too big. The Insight has no trunk, and I may very well need to haul a scooter some day (not to mention the square dance calling equipment).

**This is particularly nifty given that we have solar panels on the house. If we get rid of the pool and its associated pump, we become a net producer over the year as a whole. Might as well use some of that excess to drive a truly zero-emissions car!

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (And yes, keeping it for a long time is a big part of what is driving my choice.) The EX looks very nice :-)

One worry I have about higher-end trim lines is they have more little crap that breaks. Power locks, power windows, power moonroof -- all that stuff has been sources of problems on friends' cars, causing them to bring the thing back for maintenance. A car with all manual operation would never have had the glitch.

But I think I'm committed to power schtuff. I'd have to go to a pretty cruddy car, at this point, to avoid it!

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Randy says the power stuff is a minor concern, but ... it's a Honda. Honda and Toyota power stuff doesn't generally break for a long time, and the cost to repair is usually quite reasonable. (10-plus years until your first power stuff failure isn't unusual.) In most Honda or Toyota cars, power stuff either breaks right away (defective part from the factory) or not for 10+ years.

Or at least so says Randy.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, it's also a moot point, as I'm not going to go low-end enough to get rid of power schtuff. But that's reassuring to hear! :)