4th Mar 2018, 20:11

More updates on my new used 2013 Honda Civic hybrid vehicle. As I drive it I learn more about it. Living up in the high deserts of California, there are strong winds that come up maybe once a month. I'm talking 40-60mph winds. And I got a chance to test the car in these strong winds while visiting my doctor 20 miles away. It did poorly. Our local freeway here is set up north to south and it gets strong crosswinds from west to east. The car really darted around a lot. Nothing that I couldn't control, but you could feel a lot of movement in the car. I sense they didn't do a lot of wind tunnel testing for crosswinds on this car. But in all fairness, none of the cars I have do that well in strong crosswinds, but this was by far the worst.

Also the crazy auto stop feature that stops the engine at a stop light or in traffic. What I have learned is that while coasting to a stop, it turns the engine off at about 5-7mph to save gas. Then starts again when you release the brake and take off. It has a mild thump when it starts the engine. If you are the type of driver that drives all the way to the stop sign and apply your brakes, you might not notice it. But I have always coasted to a stop then apply my brakes. The problem is that when you are in a mall or supermarket parking lot, and slowing moving around trying to find a parking spot, it stops and starts the engine. It can be very annoying sometimes. Wish they set it up so it would auto-stop when you actually stop the car and not just at slow 5-7mph speeds. It in all fairness is very seamless, but it's still annoying to feel the engine going off and on while you try to find a parking spot at low speeds. It's very evident when you are approaching a speed bump and slow down for it at slow speeds... really drives the system crazy.

None of there are deal breakers for me as I learn how to use the car; just very odd stuff the car does.

One more point I would like to make is the 1.5 engine. I went to change the plugs on the car and saw that Honda put two spark plugs per cylinder in it, which is overkill especially for a car that pretty much gets the same gas mileage as the non-hybrid 1.8 engine. And to add injury to insult... the back 4 plugs are under the lip of the rear engine compartment, which makes them hard to get out. Front 4 spark plugs are simple to get to.