What’s really killing Honda Civic Natural GAS

I own a 2012 Civic CNG in Southern California and love it. Gas is cheap. The last fill up was $1.94/gal and I got 30 mpg. It's easy and inexpensive to maintain - it's a Honda Civic! Yes, the price difference between nat gas and gasoline isn't so big TODAY but it wasn't just 6 months ago that it was. Don't forget the days when gas was $4-5/gallon. Sure it's even less of a"race car" than a gas-powered Civic so I would never pull out in front of well, anything, for fear of ending up a hood ornament. The premium when I bought my Civic GX was $5K over the LX which wasn't going to take me long to break even because I was changing from a luxury car requiring premium gas and only getting 19 mpg no matter what type of driving I did. Since I got my nat gas Civic the number of stations in my locale has doubled. There still isn't one on every corner but I explain it like this: if you only fill up your gas vehicle at a Costco gas station and you drive past the other gas stations, that's kind of what it's like. There's a big push to expand the network of natural gas filling stations across the country, especially now that municipalities and airports are converting to natural gas. I'm still waiting for the home compressor that's affordable. It's a zero emissions energy source. It's so abundant in our own country which reduces our dependence on foreign oil. I can drive in the carpool lane by myself and get to where I need to be so much quicker. What's not to like? Maybe Civic NG sales have dropped but maybe there are more NG vehicles out there (conversions, trucks, etc.). Also, fleet buying cycles are just that, cycles, and since that comprises the bulk of Civic NG sales to date it makes sense that there could be such a dip. The Civic, natural gas or gasoline, can only fit a certain percentage of consumers looking for a car. Since there are no other choices in NG cars, that really restricts the buying pool. Consumers are largely still unaware of the benefits and somewhat relative ease of owning a natural gas car. Perhaps the natural gas vehicles could use a little help from the marketing firm of the brussel sprout?

I live in Los Angeles which has a pretty good natural gas fueling network. When I had a change in work assignments mid-2013 that moved the start of my day to peak rush hour times, getting a car that had free access to the express carpool lane was something that suddenly became very appealing. It was either a full EV, an NGV or a plug-in hybrid. Both full EVs and plug-in hybrids were quite expensive at the time, but there were some incredible deals on the 2012 Civic CNG. I ended up getting a brand new one for $22000, the dealership paid $1000 of downpayment for me and they had a promotion for a $3000 gas card as well. When I was looking at essentially an $18000 car, the Civic CNG was a much more attractive option than any other carpool lane accessible vehicle. I've had the car for about a year and a half now and it's been a smooth ride. Benefits in addition to the carpool lane are that refuel times are comparable to gasoline fillups -- much shorter than any EV charger. In addition, I can get about a 200 mile range on a tank for about $10-$15, which is considerably greater than any EV outside of the Tesla which costs 4x as much. That said, without the carpool lane access, I'm not sure if I'd keep the car. The refueling is a little more inconvenient than gasoline and the range is certainly smaller than a gasoline-powered car. Looking at a map, I might possibly be able to make it to Oregon to the north and Las Vegas to the north-east, but could go no further than that. I couldn't even leave the state going east, but these are problems that all alt-fuel cars are going to have. In terms of convenience, I'd rank an NGV behind a gasoline vehicle (including plug in hybrids), but far above any EV on the market right now. I'm not sure why Honda has priced the Civic CNG so high, the trim level it's based on is the SE, which MSRP's for $19990.

The car is great I love the the gas savings but the initial cost is what I believe is killing the car sales it will take you just over 4 years to make up the cost difference and that is just not right! for a car that does not have extras, the cost to manufacture are not any more than the cost of a regular civic. So why make it more expensive?

I own a 2014 Civic Natural Gas. In my opinion, Honda waited until very late to offer widespread consumer sales of the CNG Civic to the general public. This car was fleet-only outside of California for many years. And the cars before that were poorly equipped, very fleet feeling. The last models (2014-2015) were well-equipped and an easier car for a person to use as a daily driver than the earlier models which felt stripped. The car is wonderful and I have excellent fueling infrastructure around my area so it's not an inconvenience at all. In my part of the country, the electricity is made almost exclusively with natural gas and I'm offsetting nothing by using an electric vehicle as the natural gas power plants don't burn as cleanly as the Honda. We're trading off vices. It's tough with gas prices being at $1.35/gallon right now. There's NO CNG advantage in pricing whatsoever. Get gas prices to $4/gallon and we'll see things change on that but what killed it, in my opinion, was gas prices tanking and waiting too late the open it up to widespread sale. They didn't promote this car ANYWHERE outside of California, where they had TV ads, billboards, etc. Nothing anywhere else except maybe briefly in Oklahoma (Pickens plan area). Like a lot of Honda failures, this one seems to rest on poor marketing and conditions outside of their control. It's a great car and I will be driving it for many years to come, happily, but no one from Honda encouraged me to buy it. I had to seek it out after research

I own a 2012 Honda Civic CNG. They built it wrong. They need twice the range and more performance. I don't need a back seat just the HOV sticker. This is a commuter car not a family-sized sedan.

I was going. to buy one given the cheap fuel and long engine life until I saw that the NNOtank took up so much of the trunk space. If they could fix this is really like that they offered it in their Honda CRV.

I got my 2004 civic gx the other day used w 99,000 miles on it for $2,850. NOT $28,850. Nice savings huh? It looks and drives like new. I got it so I could drive in the ridiculously stupid HOV lane, that only ADDS to congestion and pollution in CA., as is a boon for cops writing $600 tickets that don't go to fix roads. EV vehicle anyone? No. Guess where the electricity comes from to power that EV? NATURAL GAS! And as for power and torque, my CVT more than makes up for the 15 HP loss. Do the math.