Hi.. tomorrow night might be the night I put my deposit down on an 06 HCH, but just realized I have not seen a whole lot on how the Civic Hybrid likes the SNow and cold of the Northeast US. Anyone in the Great Lakes or Mid Atlantic area care to discuss how the car handles in the snow, any performance related issues (i.e. battery has issues, ICE runs poorly, etc) ?

Thx...

 

Only problem I had with mine in Chicgo is one dead 12V battery in the winter. This was 2 years into owning my car and running a suped up stereo. I don't think its hondas fault though. If you realy are worried you can probably put a larger 12V in.

As far as snow goes, I haven't had much of a problem. Obviously its not 4wd, but if you drive it cautiously at first to get a feel for how its going to react you shouldn't have a problem.

 

No problem, no battery issues either (bought the car in April of 2002), batter still shows fully charge (blue ring with red dot).

I have a set of blizzaks for the winter mounted on HX rims. Handles great.

 

No problems all last winter. Remember, however, that the ground clearance is probably much less than anything else you previously drove, so you tend to "plow" snow in front of the car in fresh snow.

I am putting a block heater in my car for this winter. It is a $80 plus labor investment, that I believe will help fuel economy and increase the life of the engine in the long run. I live on a farm in NJ, about 50 miles north of Philly. Last year, we had some *very* cold nights, once the "real" started fired up the vehicle. I did a double take when that happened.

If you drive it like a small, four door car, you will be pleased with the performance. If you drive it like a race car, or a truck, watch out.

 

do expect a mileage hit in the winter- the engine operates less efficiently when cold, as well as getting all that cold, stiff grease moving in the various bearings and moving parts. still- any car will be operating less efficiently, and you'll still be getting twice the mileage your old car would have!
I drove twice in snow last winter. didn't have any problem with stock tires. though, I do drive cautiously and carefully in snow with any vehicle.

 

I've noticed up to a 5mpg drop in the colder weeks of winter for the intial part of the drive. Once warmed up the drop is not noticible in some cases.

 

i keep expecting a drop in mileage when i put on my new snow tires, both because they will grab more, and also be new, similar to when i started with the tires on there now. also people mention the cold weather. however, i have beaten the odds in some cases, for example rain hasn't changed my mileage much. plus, i used the cruise control on the way to work today, and it seemed to work much the same way i do it manually, so who knows?

the low front end might slow me down if i am going down our dirt road before the plows in the morning, which happens a lot where i live.

 

I get significantly lower mpg in the rain and cold. The harder compound tires also seem prone to hydroplaning(especially if you overinflate, like many here do), so beware. The FWD helps in the snow, but it does 'plow' a bit if the snow's over 4".

 

I am a bit skeptical that higher tire pressure increases hydroplaning, I think it is actually the reverse, more PSI more effectively cuts through water at high speeds.

See the following link from the NHTSA (which is advocating a tire pressure monitoring system requirement by citing all the problems of underinflated tires, hydoplaning being one of them):

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles...-fmvss-138.pdf

Also, here is a quote from the article:

"The higher the speed (above 50 mph) and the more underinflated the tire is, then the lower the tire-to-road contact and the higher is the chance of hydroplaning."

The article actually says that in so many words many times. They give example formulas for calculating chances of hydroplaning and increased tire pressure always reduces the chances of hydroplaning.

One of the examples showed a ten PSI difference pushing the hydroplaning threshold up by 10 mph.

 

kmh3, you are correct. hydroplaning is less likely to happen on an overinflated tire... but traction from a stop suffers.

also, you are more likely to lock up the tires in a skid with overinflated tires, so maybe people are confusing this with hydroplaning.