2009 Honda Civic GX: An Afternoon at the Pump

Ha ha ha. I wonder if the bus is why it took so long. 99% of the flow to the bus (which will still take 2 hours) and 1% to the Honda.

My thoughts exactly - how long did it take to fill that bus, then?

I guess that is how the GX really saves the environment. You spend so much time filling up the tank that you never have time to drive it anywhere. I mean really, how many people leave the car parked for 20 hours between trips?

This makes even a plug-in EV look practical by comparison.

Jriz, you can actually be kind of funny when you aren't ripping on Detroit.

I am surprised to hear that it takes so long to fill the car. In India, where most of the buses are on CNG by law, there are a lot of private cars running on CNG. I have seen a CNG powered taxi take about just twice the time to fill up when compared to a Petrol powered one. I was slow, but nowhere was it 'glacial'. On a recent visit, my taxi driver filled up his CNG Maruti Suzuki from near empty to full in about 15 minutes.

A number of countries in Asia have CNG powered cars & buses and they don't seem to suffer these glacial times.

What are they doing there that can't be done here?? JRiz, are you SURE you weren't playing hooky from work????

Funny you should ask about that bus. I asked the driver how long it took to fill up.

"15 minutes," he said.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well, not from completely full."

He wasn't very talkative, so I didn't want to ask how much was in the tank when he began 15 minutes earlier. Apparently, that side has a higher pressure pump. So I suppose my Civic fill up could've been quicker had I been lucky enough to get that side, but since there are only two pumps and no other station within miles and miles, you just have to suck it up and use slow old Betsy. Also, the bus left about two minutes into filling, so I doubt it effected the fill-up, if that's even possible.

As for ripping on Detroit. Hey, how'd the Lions do last year?

@jriz

"As for ripping on Detroit. Hey, how'd the Lions do last year?"

Was that really necessary? Hope atleast YOU have a nice day...

hahaha.

Same as getting stuck at a slow clogged gas pump. At least for those, you just drive across the road to the other brand's gas station right across the street.

Not knowing the exact details of the pump, but reading about the safety video requirement, I'd guess that the pumps are 'dumbed down' due to liability issues (real or imagined).

I worked at a hardware store in the 80's that filled propane tanks the old way, actually filling your tank, not exchanges. That pump could fill a 20# tank in about 90sec by pumping the propane in as a liquid. The bigger hose for filling RV's could put out 150# in about 5min or less. Sure we were dumping pure propane into the atmosphere and the real hazard of fire/explosion was high, but it was quick. And you could fill an empty pop can in 5sec to have some REAL fun with.

Frankly, if a high school kid like me could do it safely, then they should be able to make an auto pump to do it quicker than this.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. I'm sold on the Volt and clean diesel - much more liveable alternatives.

JRiz, come on... The Lions? That's too easy. How about, corruption and theft on most levels of city government and the worst public school district in the country. That's weak man!

And like most Detroiters, I am numb to Lion failures.

Anyways, back to the Honda, did you guys put the CNG sticker on the back the of the car, or was it given to you that way?

It was already there. If we were going to put a sticker on it, it would be...

STAND BACK. I HAVE GAS!

As soon as I saw the picture for this post, I knew it was going to be interesting, and again I'm not disappointed. Keep it up, this blog has some great potential for personality, if only because of the Edmunds staff.

I'm diggin Riz's posts with pics. Funny stuff.
I'm just waiting for him to draw speech bubbles on them...

More like thought bubbles for these. The faces say it all, though. :)

Maybe the gas station's tank was low. Less pressure at the sources means less flow into your tank.

I'll take any post with JRiz photos... he has sort of a Tom Brady look in profile. Car nerdiness and good looks *sighs*.

knowing joebar mentioned the whole propane thing, i would like to add:

considering that the tank only took 5.423 gallons, they should make them replaceable like those propane (4.5 gallons) tanks. that way you can have one filling somewhere and just swap them out when the car is running low.

if this actually happens i want royalties for it... :-p

So did you end up taking the bus?? LOL. And quit lying down on the job! Sheesh! :P

I've driven a GX for years and never run into this situation. It sounds like a problem with the dispencer. It never takes me over 2-3 minutes to top off and I fill from 1/4 tank (remaining) normally.

It's unfortunate that this happened to you and that you have the public audience to cast a negative image on the GX, when in fact, the poor infrastructure situation in your neck of the woods is the true problem.

The Phill refueling appliance will be available to the public early next year through the legendary alt fuels company Impco. Many home refuelers opt for the larger VRA (vehicle refueling appliance), the FMQ2-36, a one gallon per hour (equivelent) slow fill dispencer from the same company that brought you the Phill.

Since those units fill your car while you're sleeping, their speed isn't much of an issue. In fact, it's a non issue.

Do thise of us that adopt cng vehicles have to take a few extra steps where fueling is concerned, yes we do. We have to think about our range, how many "chicklets" are left on the gas guage and where the next pump is located, but it's a small price to pay for driving the cleanest ICE engine in the world. Sometimes doing what's right isn't the same as doing what's merely simple.

Putting $150 wort of gasoline in your SUV is far more abhorent to me than 24 minutes at a problem station. Perhaps your next article could be on why the people that maintain that station don't get their equipment working right, rather than make it about the having to suffer to drive a Civic GX.

I would hope that you use your position of influence to promote the solutions to what is wrong with this oil addicted nation, rather to turn a minor inconvenience into a story to steer people away from this technology.

As cute as the story was, I think you could have found something more positive and relative than this unfortunate waste of time that came to you curtesy of the station operator.

If you want to talk to 6,400 people that own cng vehicles, stop by www.cngchat.com and get the facts from people that live the alt fuels lifestyle.
Curtis

I've owned a Honda GX for about a year and a fill-up has never taken longer than a few minutes. If the photos and story were "not staged" as the writer insists, I find it odd that the writer remembered to bring a folding chair, a magazine and a photographer to the pump, yet forgot the code number to activate the pump. Utter nonsense.

I've had a 2004 Civic GX since it was new and unless there is a problem with the dispenser it doesn't take any longer to fill than a Civic that runs on Gasoline.

I'm not going to be as kind as Curtis about the author. For someone to write such a one sided, totally incorrect, completely biased article and have Edmunds post it without any confirmation that the information in it is in general correct and not an isolated case is totally inexcusable.

Edmunds, shame on you. This article needs a retraction and the truth be told.

Either the writer of this article is a lier trying to put CNG cars down, is lazy and does not do his homework or he is just plain stupid. Maybe all three.

Did the 24 minutes include watching the video? You only have to watch the video once (if you remember you PIN). And besides you used the 3,000 psi filling nozzle - of course you're not going to get a full fill (all "chicklets" lighted up). You should try filling up in Utah where you have to wait for several vehicles to fill up in front of you and then you only get 1,500 - 2,000 psi. I fill up every other day and it takes me 10 minutes on a "bad" day. I echo everything that Curtis and Timon have said.

I also own a Civic GX, and normal fill ups take the same amount of time as a regular gasoline powered Civic. Obviously, the Edmunds tester is a rookie and/or wanted to give the natural gas powered car a bad review. If you try and fill a car at the same time a bus is refueling, there isn't sufficient pressure to allow both to refuel at once. I refuel at the San Jose International airport, and have learned that fact from experience.

I commute over 500 miles a week, and my Civic is my primary car. I have no problems with living with a natural gas car. I also like the fact that I am not buying foreign oil, have access to the car pool lane as a solo driver and not polluting the air.

Edmunds: Please set the story right!

Holy cow!

This author is either a shill or a complete moron. And since I'm assuming that Edmunds vets their hires for conflict-of-interest associations before turning them loose on their own article ... I'm going with the 'idiot' choice. It doesn't make him a bad guy, but he sure as heck is dead wrong on about every point he makes in his little report.

Ask anyone who owns one of these puppies - the time to fill with CNG is the same as filling a car with gasoline. "Most of the time it's glacial?" WTF? Nope - only diff is that while the unleaded pump will march right up until the familiar 'clunk' of the automatic shutoff, the CNG pump will get to about 90% of full and then slow right down and creep the last ten. I've never known how long it takes to get to 100% 'cause I've never met anyone stupid enough to wait for the last 10%; most folks just do the quickest 3/4 of a tank or so and then shut off, pay up and go.

Stupid can be unlearned, young man. Get off your lazy duff next time and do a little bit of research before putting pen to paper. And 'wag of the finger' to Edmunds for not fact-checking this piece.