Carlsbad Hybrids sip fuel more efficiently than their conventional counterparts, but they are kind of wimps when it comes to powerful performance.

We are talking horsepower and torque – the grunt that gets the car moving and pushes you back in your seat or gracefully propels your car up a 10 percent grade.

Not any longer.

With its 2005 Accord hybrid sedan, Honda smashes the image a hybrid must sacrifice performance for fuel economy.

Experts say the auto industry has embraced hybrids and more models like this are on the horizon.

The technology has matured so the industry can use it, said Eric Noble, president of the CarLab, an Orange, Calif.-based automotive consulting firm.

“And you’ve had a very noticeable spike in gasoline prices at the pump. Suddenly, you have a lot of consumer interest.”

Auto companies are learning consumers may pay a premium for performance in a hybrid, Noble said.

“People don’t really want to change the type of vehicle they drive. What they like to do is feel less guilty about that choice,” he said.

Honda, which introduced its first hybrid in 1999 with the two-seater Insight, retains the same basic technology.

When the gasoline motor needs an assist, an electric motor kicks in to boost acceleration or to power up a hill.

That is why these Honda vehicles get better gas mileage on the freeway.

Its Accord hybrid, which pairs an electric motor with a standard six-cylinder engine, has more oomph – 255 horsepower – than its traditional Accord V6.

It also gets slightly better gas mileage, averaging 37 miles per gallon on the freeway and 30 in the city.

The traditional Accord, with 240 horsepower and a V6 engine, gets 30 on the highway and 20 in the city.

“The Accord may not get the mileage of the Prius (Toyota’s popular hybrid that relies more on its electric component), but it’s fast,” said Dan Kahn, road-test editor at Edmunds.com, which evaluates vehicles for consumers.

“This is a sedan for people who care more about performance but still want some fuel economy.” A test drive along winding roads in Carlsbad, Calif., proved the sedan certainly handles well.

The only noticeable sign this Accord was a hybrid – other than the lettering on the rear that says “hybrid” – was the automatic shutdown of the gas motor when the car decelerated to 10 mph and lower.

Once the driver eases the foot off the brake, software signals the car to turn that gas motor back on – and there was a slight shift then.

Otherwise, unless the driver looked at the front console, which shows if you are driving with the electric-motor assist, you cannot tell it is a hybrid.

The Accord also has technology that allows it to deactivate three of the hybrid’s six cylinders under certain driving conditions.

For example, if you are cruising at 70 mph on a flat freeway, you do not need all six cylinders to maintain that speed.

“It has great driving, a sporty steering feel and you get the extra horsepower,” Kahn says.

The vehicle is not without its flaws.

“You’re getting a gain – the most powerful Accord ever built,” Kahn said.

“But at the same time, you have to give up something.” In this case – a sun roof.

To keep the car at a reasonable weight (3,500 pounds), designers had to forgo that option. (The only option available is a $2,000 navigation system.) Leather interiors and run-flat tires (you can run over a nail and still drive) are standard.

But the sedan is also expensive.

The Accord hybrid is priced at $30,000.

You can get a traditional Accord for $3,000 to $4,000 less, and the difference in gas mileage is not all that great.

“The Accord hybrid would take so many years for the vehicle to pay for itself,” Kahn said.

Consumers could “buy an Accord EX 4-cylinder and get close to the same mileage for about $24,000, and you can get a sun roof,” he said.

Honda understands this.

It realizes the public has not completely decided if hybrids are worth the extra cost, despite the recent popularity of the Prius and Civic hybrids and with gasoline prices averaging greater than $2 in California – a key market.

Sales of all hybrids make up roughly 3 percent of the whole auto-sales pie.

Honda says its hybrid sales (Insight and Civic) should reach 25,000 vs. 23,000 last year. Competitor Toyota is on pace to sell about 45,000 Priuses this year.

Others are set to roll out their hybrids next year, including Lexus with the first luxury hybrid sport utility vehicle.

Honda will make 20,000 Accord hybrids.

“You have to decide what your priorities are,” Kahn said. “If you drive a lot of long hauls, it might be a worthwhile deal.”