Take "power" out of "powertrain" and you’ve got the Civic Hybrid’s performance. The electric motor provides a nice torquey take off, but then it bottoms out like a drunk at a wedding. Going up a hill, you start feeling bad for the car – it eventually gets there but complains loudly as it tries. But with patience the Civic Hybrid gets you to where you’re going, and unless there’s a hill, you may not even notice the lack of power. With all that braking regeneration hoo-ha attached, you’d think that braking would be funky. It’s a bit weird and mushy at times, but the pedal was prompt, if not very linear. It’s much better than the previous Civic Hybrid.