Ingenuity With A Boot
by Richard Yarrow (04 Apr 06)

It's rare for a new car press pack - that's the bundle of bumf given to journalists - to smell. It's normally made out of paper and/or cardboard and doesn't whiff of anything much. This can't be said of the material supplied at the launch of the Honda Civic Hybrid. It reeked of rubber, because the cover was made from recycled tyres. As the inside pages were crafted in part from elephant dung "created" at London Zoo, we should be thankful for small mercies.

This is Honda's way of laying out its eco-friendly credentials, and follows on from the edible press pack given to hacks at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. Arguably the Japanese firm might do better sticking to building cars, which it is considerably better at. The latest of its green vehicles is the hybrid version of the current Civic, which got its official debut inside the capital city's congestion charge zone to make the point that it's exempt from paying the £8 daily toll.

To label this a full road test would be pushing the "journalistic licence" justification that little bit too far. I had a few minutes to crawl down a few congested roads behind Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. On one occasion I got up to about 35mph before having to jump on the brakes, which seemed very sharp.

Powered by a 1.4-litre petrol engine plus an electric motor, the car features stop-start technology which cuts the engine when you're stationary. As soon as you take your foot off the foot brake, the main powerplant silently fires back up and you're on your way again.

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