He Says Driving This Car Is a Gas

John Bennett gets about 200 miles from a tankful, pays about $6 to fill it up, and never buys gasoline.

Bennett, deputy superintendent for the Santa Ana Unified School District, has been test-driving a car fueled by compressed natural gas for a marketing study by Southern California Gas Co. and American Honda Motor Co. Inc.

Honda hopes to start selling fleets of the cars to government agencies by the fall of next year, said Robert Bienenfeld, a spokesman for Honda.

Although the Santa Ana school district does not maintain a fleet of passenger cars, Bennett said, it may eventually buy natural gas trucks, campus police cars or other vehicles.

Meanwhile, Bennett said, he has been enjoying the natural-gas-powered Honda Civic.

“It starts great,” he said. “Runs like a top.”

Natural gas cars emit fewer pollutants, and fuel costs about 85 cents a gallon.

But Bennett and Honda officials acknowledge that the car has two main drawbacks.

The number of stations selling natural gas is severely limited, the main reason the Civic GX will not be marketed to the general public. Bennett, for example, must go to Irvine or Anaheim to refuel.

The large, highly pressurized fuel tank also reduces the amount of trunk space by about 40%.

Officials from two other school districts have driven similar vehicles since the Gas Co. began lending the cars for test drives in Orange County in June, spokeswoman Gail McEneany said.

Bennett has become a sort of goodwill ambassador for natural gas vehicles, because the car provokes questions.

“No matter where I go--the supermarket, the library--someone will see the car and ask me about it,” Bennett said.