Honda should install the B.H. at the factory, and be done with it. Would make a good addition to their standard features list.

Having it done post-purchase: it's a waste of coolant, an extra expense and you're at the mercy of service department's install technique.

 

Hi andrewe;
Yes those are awfull temp. Not a good time to fiddle with a car. Can you amagine the milage you would get in a normal car like a standard Civic. Maybe you will get a break from the weather this week.
Cheers, Hal

 

My other car is an F150 (which I am sorely tempted to use) with a V8. Typically I would use a $120 tank of fuel, about 85 litres at the time, to travel 400 kilometres in the winter. That's only 260 miles!

Being the wuss that I am (and having a hefty credit at the electronics store) I had a remote car starter installed. When gas prices were at their worst I was paying several dollars just to warm the truck up. Right about now this seems very reasonable.

I should have stated up front that buying the hybrid was in no way an altruistic action. It was simply the only Civic that came in the colour scheme we wanted. Government grants reduced the price to less than a similarly equipped non-hybrid Civic so we thought 'what the hey." I'm thinking that on average the regular Civic may have offered us better fuel economy and likely less emissions to boot. I still like the colour of ours though.

 

We all have our reasons. But seriously, I think at worst the hybrid and non-hybrid can get same FE, since most of the hybrid functions/advantages are inactive in those conditions. I guess this is what it boils down to really, that the cooler it gets and the shorter distance you drive, the more equal will the hybrid and non-hybrid be.

Btw, I have been experimenting somewhat with the MODE button. It seems the "small defrost and down-arrow symbols combined" mode is a good compromise when the windshield tends to fog, but not so much so you would want full defrost (separate button).