Although not new in concept for the Civic line, the latest generation Civic sedan sees its natural gas-propelled variation renamed from GX to Natural Gas. Also new is a transition from limited, regional availability to nation-wide availability as part of a move from fleet to consumer oriented sales.
The Honda Civic Natural Gas comes in sedan form only, utilizing a version of the standard Civic's 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine tweaked to run on natural gas. One other notable difference in the powertrain department compared to a standard Civic Sedan is the lack of an available manual gearbox; a standard five-speed automatic is the only transmission available.
Fuel economy comes in at 27 city, 38 highway, just slightly lower than its gasoline-burning counterpart. However, as natural gas typically costs about 30 percent less than conventional fuel, this Civic variant should help owners save a decent amount of money over the vehicle's lifespan.
Civic Natural Gas also includes Honda's ECO Assist technology, aimed at enhancing efficient vehicle operation at the touch of a button by providing visual feedback to promote and confirm an efficient driving style.
New for the latest generation Civic Natural Gas is the availability of satellite navigation, including a database of available CNG refueling stations.
As with the standard sedan, the Civic CNG is designed with aerodynamic features such as flat under-body construction and functional aerodynamic strakes in front of the tires help to increase fuel-efficiency.
The redesigned interior looks similar to that of the outgoing model, but Honda says it offers more style to go along with enhanced functionality and new features. The "two-tier" layout continues, albeit reshaped, and continues to prioritize frequently referenced instruments such as the speedometer up high in the driver's line of sight. The interior has also grown slightly, up 3.7-cubic feet for the passenger area.
The i-MID can present audio information, album artwork, custom vehicle settings and personal wallpaper backgrounds. A four-speaker AM/FM/CD audio system is standard, capable of streaming music wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection with a compatible player, or via a wired USB connection. A Bluetooth HandsFreeLink system for device pairing and pre-assigned voice tags for hands-free calling are also included in the steering wheel controls.
The Honda Civic Natural Gas sedan's safety features include two-row side curtain airbags, dual-stage, multiple-threshold driver's and front passenger's airbags, driver's and front passenger's side airbags, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA), anti-lock braking (ABS) with Brake Assist and a new Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering system that helps the driver steer in the ideal direction to mitigate oversteer or understeer situations.
Key Competitors
No other natural gas-powered compact sedans are available straight from the factory, making the Civic Natural Gas's closest rivals green cars like the Volkswagen Jetta TDI, the Toyota Prius c and the Chevrolet Cruze Eco.