New 78.5 MPG Honda Civic 1.6-litre i-DTEC Diesel Priced from £19,400 in Britain

There's a new fuel-efficient model joining the European market Honda Civic hatchback's range, one which is equipped with the Japanese brand's freshly revealed 1.6-liter i-DTEC diesel engine.

Following its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in September and before it goes on sale in January of 2013, Honda announced pricing for the 1.6 i-DTEC Civic that starts from £19,400 (equal to US$31,100 or €24,200) for the base SE model, rising to £20,595 for the ES and £23,175 for the top-of-the-range EX.

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Buyers Disagree with Consumer Reports Recommendations, Civic, Passat Sales Soar

You may recall Honda’s 2012 Civic comprehensively hammered last year by Consumer Reports. The publication's verdict was such a big blow that Honda decided to speed-up its next redesign and its CEO took responsibility for its poor performance.

One would expect its sales to slump; but instead, they have gotten through the roof. Civic deliveries have increased this year by 40 percent through September, to 234,029 units and Honda’s compact car is on course to regain the segment crown in the U.S. after finishing third last year behind the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Cruze.

This brings up an interesting question: how much does automotive experts’ testing weigh on buyers’ decision when the time comes to buy a new car?

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Honda Offers New Civic Natural Gas Vehicle Customers a $3,000 Fuel Card, Is It Worth a Look?

With gasoline prices creeping up again to as high as an average of $4.67 a gallon (€1.23 a liter) in California on Tuesday, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, Honda thought it would be a good idea to launch a new promotion for its natural gas-powered Civic.

The Japanese carmaker said that it will offer customers purchasing a new 2012 Civic Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) at participating dealers from now until January 2, 2013, a debit card pre-loaded with $3,000 worth of fuel.

As always, there's some small print including that the card can only be used at Clean Energy CNG fueling stations around the country to purchase fuel. There are approximately 150 Clean Energy filling stations in the U.S., 40 of which are located inside California.

According to the most recent Department of Energy, Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price report on fuel prices, the nation-wide average price of natural gas fuel for vehicles in July was $2.05 per equivalent gasoline gallon.

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