I always wanted to buy more environmentally friendly car, so I was thinking of Prius, but could not wait for long, so I got Civic Hybrid. Not much regrets so far. It may have slightly worse gas-mileage than Prius, but IMO looks more conventional and sporty.

I am consistently getting 40 to 41 mpg at driving speeds 75 to 80 mph, in Bay Area. This car handles much better and has better acceleration than previously owned Toyota Corolla. It has no problem climbing steep hills, and going through mountain passes on 580 and 680 I usually pass most other cars, all while getting better mileage than them.

Probably the California steepest road, Old Priest rd on the way to Yosemite, is no problem for this car. However, when going down on this particular road, I noticed that even in low gear I tend to use breakes more and they overheat, something that never was happening to me with my old Corolla. But that's a minor problem.

This car comes with all the goodies, ABS, cruise control, front and side airbags, all at the price far below Prius. So if you want to be good to Earth, and (with current gas prices) to your wallet, get this car. Or wait for FFV (flexible fuel vehicles) that can run on E85 fuel...