Hakkaboy

oh, you own one of these?

sam_spider

Not everyone cares about the NSX who owns/owned an S2000.

czirrfb3

Well guys. The end is near. Hold onto your S2K's forever!

s2000Junky

^^^ I always intended to hold on to my S2k. As for the hybridization of the civic, well its a civic, not a sports car. Its been dressed up and disguised over the years to play with the sports car market, but the heart of the car has always been a econobox and so turning to hybrid technology doesn't surprise or disappoint me. Maybe shifting the civic back to its roots will create a vacuum for another RWD sports car for Honda.

JonBoy

It's still a rumor about the Civic Type R becoming a hybrid. The additional cost and weight (to make it AWD, effectively) are somewhat outside of Honda's intent with the car.

When Honda says "We're going hybrid on all vehicles," I take it to mean they would offer a hybrid version for all models. In other words, the Civic would be available as a hybrid but that doesn't mean every Civic style/option/trim would be a hybrid. Same goes for the Accord and CR-V. FORCING hybrid technology raises your costs considerably and they'd lose customers if they bump the price on all their vehicles by a few thousand dollars...

Hertz Donut

I don't see hybridization as an issue. The current NSX is a hybrid and seems to do ok.

JonBoy

An insider that works with Honda says the Type R will get a performance hybrid setup, similar to the NSX, where they use the electric motors for torque fill and low-end torque, possibly paving the way for a higher redline and more power.

s2000Junky

So I would assume such a car would move to AWD then right? In which case this really isn't a civic anymore other then name sharing. Or they going to try and cram all this drive technology on to the front wheels only? Which would seem absurd to me from a performance/logistical standpoint.

JonBoy

Depending on layout, they could sandwich the electric motor between the transmission and the drive wheels and keep it FWD and, as stated, use the electric motor for torque fill during upshifts. That's how the NSX does it. These electric motors are quite thin, though, so you might only need one or two inches of extra room. Should be doable! Throw the batteries under the rear seats and call it a day.

Alternatively, they could absolutely put one (or two) electric motors at the rear and make it AWD (eSH-AWD, really). That would be awesome, in my opinion, with full torque vectoring capabilities. The performance possibilities are very strong but the weight would not be to my liking.

The Civic (wagon) had an AWD option, back in the 80s. Having a different drivetrain doesn't change the model, just the trim/option level. Acura offers the same thing, as do Audi, BMW, Lexus, etc. Very common.

s2000Junky

More trq on FWD, asking the front to do even more, then you have to deal with more trq steer issues etc. Its like continuing to throw more and more performance and tech at an inferior drive layout. Why? Make it AWD, or RWD, or don't bother. The whole premise of developing a FWD car as well as making it work was using a small low trq engine to save on fuel and not overtax the drivetrain and handling ie trq steer, while benefiting from better efficiency from minimal drivetrain loss. As technology has improved, and the market shifted to more powerful engines, they have been able to offer better performance while keeping the negative attributes of wrong wheel drive in check, but now its just getting rather silly. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. How much make up can you put on a pig to pretty it up? Put the technology into something that could really use it, ie NSX, however lame some find that as well) rather then taking what was a economical and simple car, and turning into something overly complicated for the sake of some superficial performance marker. Im sorry, but Honda doesn't even resemble the same company it was a decade ago or more ago, they pretty much suck as far as I can tell. I'm just happy I got one of the best cars to have ever ...or will be produced from them.