Hybrids: The ultimate in ‘sponty’ mobility

A trip to Tagaytay made great use of the Honda Civic e:HEV’s generous torque.

Monday afternoon – my friend tells me that our trackday in Batangas scheduled the next day would not push through.

His race car wasn’t quite ready yet for a day of driving all-out. It was a bit of a shame because I needed a long drive to test out the 2026 Honda Civic e:HEV that Honda Cars Philippines Inc. graciously lent me once more for this special feature on hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV).

I chose the Japanese automaker’s electrified sedan because it is indisputably the best-driving, mainstream HEV in the market, as of press time – this is thanks to its fabulously taut chassis and suspension, superb steering and brake feel, along with its punchy 2.0-liter hybrid-electric powerplant.

But there’s always something to do. And so, I went searching for another adventure in Honda’s charming hybrid.

Nothing wasted

Later that day, another friend suggests that we have dinner in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

I live in Quezon City, so the trip would usually take an agonizing two hours in midday traffic. But because I left the house at around 8:30 p.m., I arrived at our meeting point by 9:45 p.m. with the fuel gauge still stuck at full (I got 24.2 kilometers per liter after covering 60.7 kilometers).

Shortly after, we had a charming late dinner at a nearby restaurant, followed by some dessert in Tagaytay – the drive up the mountain was no trouble for the torquey Civic e:HEV, even with four of us in the car, thanks to the instantaneous response of 181 horsepower and 315 Newton-meters of torque.

But once we arrived at our destination, we were told that they were on their last call, so we relocated to another restaurant nearby to enjoy our sweet treat. The trip home was just as trouble-free – leaving around 2:30 a.m. meant I was back in Manila before 4 a.m. on Tuesday, averaging an amazing 26.5 kilometers per liter thanks to the regenerative braking down the mountain.

200 km for a sandwich

Remember that race car that wasn’t ready for our trackday?

Well, it still wasn’t ready when I visited it at the shop in Antipolo on Tuesday afternoon. And so, we decided to go a restaurant in Marikina for dinner, followed by meeting up at our friend’s place in Teacher’s Village in Quezon City.

As everyone departed, my friend and I decided to make the most of the night and drive around in the Civic e:HEV. We suddenly found ourselves cruising on the North Luzon Expressway with seemingly endless blacktop before us, until we decided to exit and take a rest stop at a convenience store in Clark, Pampanga.

With a bottle of water and a Spam-and-cheese sandwich in hand, we headed back to Teacher’s Village and enjoyed the planted and refined expressway ride of this big Honda four-door. The drive was all the more enjoyable because of the supportive front seats and the Bose surround-sound system blasting ‘90s pop hits to our heart’s content.

And because the Civic e:HEV has the excellent Honda SENSING active-safety suite, we were protected by life-saving features like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking. Just after 3 a.m. on Thursday, we arrived back in Quezon City, where we found that we averaged 21.6 kilometers per liter across 197.6 kilometers.

With the help of regenerative braking, we achieved an amazing 26.5 kilometers per liter in the drive from Tagaytay to Quezon City.

A late-night dinner with friends in Marikina (check out my friend’s cool Mitsubishi Pajero 3-door on the right).

Frugal in gridlock

Later that day, I had to attend the official launch of the BYD Sealion 7 high-performance EV at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City.

This time, I did not have the cool comfort of darkness on my side – it was the crawl of EDSA traffic in the midst of a hot 10 a.m. day. But again, the Civic e:HEV did a superb job of keeping me comfortable and amused amid the gridlock.

However, the drive home from Glorietta truly put me and this Honda to the test. Rush-hour traffic began building up during the hottest hours of the day, but this svelte hybrid took everything in stride, even managing an impressive 13.9 kilometers per liter in the 29.2-kilometer drive from Makati City to Quezon City.

No plugs

In the five days that I had the Civic e:HEV, I averaged an incredible 20.5 kilometers per liter over 527.9 kilometers without ever refueling.

In fact, when the car was picked up on Friday, there was still enough fuel to potentially cover another 120 kilometers. For comparison, the non-hybrid Civic RS that we tested last year could only muster 9 to 12 kilometers per liter in the city and 17 to 20 kilometers per liter on the expressway.

You will note that all my trips, save for the BYD launch event, were almost entirely spontaneous (or as the kids say nowadays, “sponty”). And herein lies the strength of HEVs like the Civic e:HEV, as of press time – even the longest-range battery EVs require careful planning because recharging isn’t as fast nor as convenient as filling up with gas (at least, not yet).

A “sponty” trip with the Civic e:HEV to Clark, Pampanga for some treats at a convenience store.

For those who want to lessen their fuel costs, but don’t have structured journeys or predictable access to charging stations, a full EV would be rather impractical. HEVs serve as a great starting point to electrification because these still use prevalent fueling infrastructure (also, no need to wage an online war with EV owners who overstay their welcome at charging stations).

Perhaps my only wish is that all HEVs (and even EVs) were as well-rounded and as sublime to drive as the Honda Civic e:HEV.