Fuel capacity and mileage: As is the case with my Accord and Odyssey, the 06 Civic holds significantly more fuel than Honda claims, which greatly enhances its cruising range. I can consistently add an extra two gallons in if I'm patient enough to dribble it in once the pump shuts off, giving an actual capacity of over 15 gallons. By comparison, my Accord takes an extra three gallons, for an actual capacity of 20, and my Odyssey takes an extra five gallons, for an actual capacity of 26. A lot of people have cautioned me about overfilling my tanks, but I haven't had any ill effects from doing this, and it is the only way I know of to accurately measure fuel economy. Even if you don't fill your tank to the brim like I do, if you keep a cumulative total of miles and gallons instead of simply logging individual tanks, you will eventually get a very accurate computation for fuel mileage.

The EPA ratings for the Civic with auto are 30/40. My worst tank ever was 30 in the city, though most of my city tanks are closer to 33-34. The only special thing I do to achieve this city mileage is to not idle needlessly when waiting in line at drive-thrus, banks, gas stations, etc. Realize, too, that my city mileage is not in a highly congested area like L.A. My best tank ever was 41 on the highway, which I've achieved three times; most of my highway tanks are around 38 cruising between 75-85 MPH. My most amazing tanks have been cruising at 90-100 into a stiff (~30 knot) headwind with a lot of time in 4th gear to maintain speed; the mileage still only dropped to 36. Overall, I've logged 16867.2 miles and used 469.3 gallons of gas, which works out to 35.94 MPG.

When the low fuel light comes on, there are about three gallons left in the tank. When the last fuel bar goes out, there are about two gallons left in the tank, but it still makes me nervous driving like that. My longest-range tank was 529.4 miles using 14.2 gallons (37.3 MPG).

Engine: The 1.8 engine feels very similar to the 4-cyl Accord up to about 80 MPH; beyond that, the extra power in the Accord becomes apparent. The rate of acceleration in the Civic at 100 MPH starts to drop off significantly, whereas the 4-cyl Accord is still pulling at 100 MPH. Bottom line: for real world driving at legal speeds, if you like the way a 4-cyl Accord drives, you'll be pleased with the 06 Civic. The Si must feel like a hot-rod by comparison. I've had my Civic up to 117 MPH (verified by GPS), at which time I was starting to run out of road and nerve. I believe somebody else posted a top speed of 122 on the internet.

A pleasant surprise is how smooth the Civic engine is, nearly as smooth as the Odyssey. My 04 4-cyl-auto Accord has had the service bulletin done to make it idle smoother, but it still isn't as smooth as the 06 Civic.

Stability and NVH: The ride and cornering are amazingly good; this certainly does not feel like an economy car. I am very impressed with the tightness of the chassis and the feel over bumps on both hi-speed and low-speed corners. Honda's claims of rigidity better than a BMW 3-series seem legitimate. I even did a test going 90 MPH with one side of the vehicle on smooth pavement and the other on the reflective bumps many states put on highway stripes: the Civic tracked perfectly straight with no hands on the wheel. During bumpy corners, the chassis is very composed, and there are no squeaks or rattles to be heard. This is a very confidence-inspiring vehicle and handles the way I would expect an Si to. I can only imagine how much better the Si must be.

It is disappointing that Honda does not offer a stability system on any 4-cylinder models in the United States, because I would certainly love to push the envelope further with my Civic. European and Japanese Civics have stability systems, so hopefully they will make it to the US market in the future.

Exclusive features: The 06 Civic introduces some nice features that are exclusive to any other Honda, though I think there may be a few Acuras and certainly other manufacturers that have some of these. Most of these have been described elsewhere, so I will only summarize them here.

1. One-touch open-tilt-and-close sunroof.
2. Speed-sensitive-volume-compensation.
3. Seek and stop-scan for the radio from the CH knob on the steering wheel.
4. Album, track (song) name, and artist readout for CDs (might be on the Fit, too?).
5. mime=asc">IPOD music link as announced by Honda is exclusive to the Civic and a few Acuras.

Cost cutting: A few features are missing compared to the Accord and Odyssey, which I chalk up to Honda's efforts to keep costs down. Some might argue that if the Civic did have all these features, there would be no reason to buy an Accord.

• No lights on the visor mirrors, but both visors do have a mirror.
• No glove box or center console light.
• No bezel light around the ignition switch, but the area is well lit from the front courtesy light.
• No courtesy lights on the front doors.
• Windows do not roll down with the remote.
• Windows do not roll down or up with the key in the door.
• The single European-sound horn is an embarrassment; definitely needs the dual American-sounding horns from the Accord and/or Odyssey.

Design Oversights: When a car is as perfect as the 06 Civic, it's easy to focus on its shortcomings. Along with the disappointments and missing features I mentioned earlier, there are two oversights that should be easy for Honda to fix:

1. The interior lights automatically turn off after three minutes to protect the battery, but not the exterior lights. My Accord and Odyssey turn off the exterior lights automatically, so Honda could include this feature on the Civic if they wanted to. It would be even better to have headlights that turned on automatically.
2. All Hondas have a yellow top on the transmission dipstick, and an orange top on the oil dipstick. The entire oil dipstick on the 06 Civic is orange plastic. It is very difficult, at least for my middle-age eyes, to read the oil level against the orange plastic background, especially with fresh oil right after an oil change. As the oil ages and starts to turn darker, it becomes a little easier to read the level. Keep the top orange for uniformity with other Hondas, but make the area where you actually read the oil level a color that contrasts better with oil, perhaps white.