Come on.... be honest!

[LT1bird]

Hey all,

I was just curious about how many of you actually considered buying a Honda Civic hybrid? I actually considered it... but I just couldn't bring myself to buying one... too ugly! The thing that really sold me on the Prius was the touch-screen LCD, it's so cool!

LT1bird

[Panther87]

While I have not yet ordered a Prius, I have looked at the Honda Civic Hybrid. The 2 reasons I prefer the Prius are 1) gas milage and 2) Prius has more extras that the HCH. I am close to ordering one, just waiting for the New Car 2006 Motor Trend Issue to be sent to me. It will tell of any changes.

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

I fell in love with the looks of the ’04/’05 Prius the first time I saw it in real life . . . but I was not allowed to touch.
The love affair intensified when I drove it for the first time several months later . . . the beauty wasn’t just skin deep!
Now that we have been together for ten months, I will never look at another car the same way.

The Honda Civic hybrid may be a nice car . . . but it looks kind of Plain Jane to me. I guess the hybrid emblem as a distinguishing feature just doesn’t do it for me either. :wink:

[Tideland Prius]

I've never considered the HCH.

1) I don't want to drive a Civic. The 01 Civic that my friend got as a courtesy car felt cheap to me

2) in Canada, it's expensive at $28,500. A Prius can be had for $30,000

3) It looked normal. If I wanted a hybrid, I wanted something different.

4) I was considering the top-end compact models instead e.g. Corolla LE and Mazda3 Sport GT

[Godiva]

Well, yes and no.

I first test drove a Saturn Ion last November when I was waiting for my coupe to be serviced. Wasn't that impressed.

Started doing some internet research in January when I decided I might buy a new car.

Decided to look at hybrids and then compared what there was at the time.

I wanted something comperable to what I was giving up and it had to be an automatic.

I eliminated the Insight because it was only two seats with not much cargo space.

One of the Hondas was only manual.

I think I eliminated the other because the mileage wasn't as high as the Prius.

The Prius also had going for it the low emissions, five seats plus cargo. The hatchback which I love. And the price was suprisingly reasonable. Just slightly more than what I paid for my Saturn 10 years ago. When I saw a picture I really liked it. The pictures of the others didn't do much for me. I like the Insight until I read about it's lack of space and it's pricetag.

I also didn't want to wait on any list.

In April I used cars.com or some other sight to e-mail my preferences to all of the local Toyota dealers. I had responses within an hour with Prii on the lot and available.

Kearny Mesa Toyota had a Black #1 at MSRP. Only difference was ivory instead of gray interior. I decided to buy it rather than wait. No regrets (except I really like the gray. That's OK. Next Prius will have gray interior.)

So while I did consider the Honda Civic Hybrid, it wasn't for long and I never even saw it in person or test drove it. It was eliminated pretty fast.

[jfh3]

I did ... for about 5 minutes. Actually saw/drove the Civic before I saw the '05 Prius.

Was not impressed AT ALL with the Civic hybrid. Was surprised at how disappointed I was with it.

[IALTMANN]

Yep considered the Honda offerings, I had HYBRID on my mind since starting to look. Considered the CIVIC, and the Ford Escape.. the Insight was just too small. The Civic was just outclassed, offered lackluster performance, and plainly was just nothing special, could not test drive one, they had none and a mile long waiting list. The Escape caught my eye especially since coming down from an Explorer, price and mileage was the problem. Most of them cost in the mid thirty's, $28,995 was the starting price, then you had typically $4-5000 in dealer options, no choice and waiting list. A Prius could be had for about $10,000 less, big enough and good performance, it was no contest.

[seeh2o]

I test drove a Honda Civic Hybrid. It didn't impress me and the hybrid system never seemed to kick in while I test drove it. I later learned that it wasn't a "full hybrid", maybe that's why it seemed funky. It also seemed very very cheap, and had a real crappy interior - as bad as the Prius first generation interior (one of the reasons I waited for the second generation Prius).

[Fredatgolf]

I had wanted a Prius before they ever came, but our need was immediate and the Insight was here. We bought one an like it a lot as my wife had a long commute at the time. When the commute ended, we got rid of the Insight and got a Corolla S. I still wanted a Prius but, again, our need was immediate. This year, after I retired and decided to travel, I still really wanted a Prius. We decided to sell my Camry XLE V-6 and take the plunge. There was no way to justify this economically at the time. I just knew I would feel better. And, I am really glad we got the Corolla instead of the Prius several years ago because the 2G was not out at the time. I looked at the HCH as a possibility, but it just didn't compare.

[Hatfield]

I wasn't tempted by the Honda either. My friends rave about Hondas but they've always seemed cheap to me too. Toyotas just seem more solid to me. I've owned Toyotas in the past and always been happy with them. Also, the Honda Hybrid system just doesn't seem all that appealing to me.

The only other car under consideration, actually, was the Scion xA. (That's the cute little four-door hatchback, not the Borg cube). I was looking for a small, efficient four-door, and the Scion seemed to fit the bill. True, not a hybrid, but at ~$13k the Scion xA is an incredible value. The 5-speed seemed peppy enough but the automatic seemed really slow. I definitely wanted an automatic for my stop and go commute. At some point I realized that I probably wanted something a little more plush and quiet since I'd be driving it most days.

So even though it was twice the money, and even though it seemed too big at the time, I decided to go with the Prius and I'm glad I did.