Natural Gas Powered Sedan Review
Let’s correct one ordinary assumption about natural gas powered vehicles; they don’t get better fuel mileage. They do burn cleaner giving you access to high occupancy lanes and the fuel does cost less and the engine oil stays cleaner. You pay for that with a much smaller trunk as the natural gas tank resides there. Resale prices are lower and most importantly, there are far fewer places to literally gas up. Throw in slightly less performance and you wonder why someone would pay $25,195 for a Honda GX? Well. If you live in the city, commute daily, and don’t like the extra maintenance costs of a hybrid or the possibility of ever having to go to a gas station again this is an excellent buy.
Natural gas is lighter than air, and so tends to dissipate into the atmosphere. When confined (for instance inside the trunk) it can reach it's explosive limit, which is from 5% to 15% in air. It is not odourless because an odorant is added to the otherwise colourless and odourless gas.
Late model CNG vehicles (built after ECE-R 110) have a lot of safety devices that deal with these properties. An electromagnetic valve mounted at each gastank will close the tank in case of an accident or when the engine or the ignition is turned to the off position. A release limiter will also reduce the amount of gas that can be released in case of a leak in the gas lines. For service of the vehicles or in case the electromagnetic valve fails, the gastank can also be shutoff manually.
It is easy to drive the Honda and the heater works better than any car we have ever tested. It has enough power, but it is not a snappy powerplant as the compressed natural gas (CNG) reduces the energy from the 1.8-Liter engine to 113@6300 and 109@4300 pounds of torque that has the best pollution rate the government gives. Despite this reduced output you don’t get better fuel mileage. Look for 30 mpg in mixed driving whereas we got nearly 34 with the unleaded fueled Civic.
