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Well, I drove down to the Springs and took it out for a spin. The Civic Hybrid definitely makes the short list. While I'll agree with the critics that it is pretty short on horsepower, because it was a 5 speed and I was able to downshift as I saw hills or on ramps coming, I was able to safely operate in moderately heavy traffic. I took it out for about of 40 mile test drive including highway speeds up to 80mph and several moderate hills. It did fine and it was a fun car to drive from an instrumentation standpoint. I also loved the fact that the car auto-stopped and auto-started when I went in and out of neutral. That makes hypermiling easy!
I'd asked in advance if they were interested in my trade, so I even brought my title and cash with me. However, it was all talk. While they listed a very reasonable price on the windshield that I was willing to pay, they wouldn't even come close to Blue Book Wholesale and that was only after a ridiculous starting offer ($2,400 for my trade). I guess I'm going to have to sell it myself if I want a fraction of what it's worth... If I decide to sell. I'm still on the bubble, but leaning toward doing the deed right now rather than two more years of good, but not impressive mileage.
I also want to go play with a few other new cars, like the Echo, Fit, Yaris, and possibly the Prius. However, my desire for a 5-speed and the auto start feature definitely gave a distinct advantage to the Civic Hybrid. That said, if I could find a high MPG car with a little better power to weight ratio and none of the liabilities of the older Honda batteries, that could be a game changer, too.
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