[iamnotahippee]

Hello all! I just purchased my first hybrid last night. Now I have typically seen a hybrid as the status symbol of the pretentious blowhard hippee wannabes, so this is a big step for me (I have to admit I still kind of feel that way about the Prius...). My current DD is a 1986 Chevy Pickup I got from my grandpa and a 2004 1 ton diesel work truck. My wife drives a 2006 Volvo XC90. She is a teacher and her commute is around 50-60 miles each way. While we love the Volvo, the whopping 18 mpg it is knocking down is not cutting the mustard. Another issue is we just bought the Volvo so we want it to last more than a year. The optimum plan is for her to drive the Civic, but since our 2 and 5 year old make the commute with her, not sure if that will work out.
So about the car... It is a 2003 HCH 5 spd with 185k on it. Right now it has an IMA light on and according to Honda needs a battery. It is still knocking down 35-40 mpg though. We got the car from some friends for really cheap. I plan to install a grid charger and see if that will settle things down with the battery. My biggest draw to the car is that it is a manual trans car. I am a tinkerer and motorhead, so I am really looking forward to the adventure ahead, and the prospects of a completely new toy to play with!
So enough of the novella.