Hello,

i'm new to the this forum but my brother and friend have been on here a while. Let me explain my story so you can understand and hopefully help me out.

I am a young adult with a fiance and a 22 month old son. I currently have a acura integra 2 dr with 147,000 miles on it (has after market hood and bumper from light accident along with some scratches and light dents here and there). i would like a four door car for my family (we only have this one car and i fear it may have problems soon, perhaps cv joints or anything and have a snow ball effect.) and of course safety and in this economy gas efficiency is very important to me.

My mothers husband (i don't refer to him as my step dad.. but legally that would be the term used.) has his own son from another marriage that is a senior and he would like to get him a car. Coincidentally he wants an Integra, always has and still does (can't blame him, and who doesn't.. lol) Well the conversation was brought up that he is looking for a car for him around 3 g's give or take, or buy himself a new car and give him his acura cl with 150,000 miles. so i told him i may be willing to part with mine but i won't guarantee it until i look into the market and see if i can afford it.

long story short from there.. i have been racking my brain like most people looking for hybrids with a decision most come faced with... a honda civic hybrid or a toyota (dont ban me for using that brand name.. lol) prius. Well i read the reviews and informed myself with everything i thought i needed to make that decision.. and i thought it was evident that i would go for the prius. Before i became biased i wanted to test drive first, after all it looked good on paper but that doesn't help while commuting. So i tried them both today, and i am in love with the honda civic hybrid.. although it is rated lower in city which is what i mainly do, the style and appearing and honda name which i am familiar with helped me save a place for it in my heart...

so now your wondering, what's the problem... here's the kicker... i'm in sales and i know it's good to be an educated consumer so i did more researched and i liked most of what i saw, but what is holding me back is the fact that i see a lot of reports about people losing the high mpg after tires wear down or a oil change. Its a radical change from people saying they had 40+ miles and then they go down to 22-24 mpg, which is insane! I can't afford to stick my neck out for a car that fuel efficient and then that happen to me. I only have one car and if that happens and it takes days to fix i wouldn't be able to survive. I need some insight, i see it's mainly the 06-07 models but i know its to early for the 08 to tell... I just want what pay for, please help.

-A Yearning Honda Owner Who Would Like To Stay A Honda Owner.

 

i say just get a 06-08 civic and not the hybrid..they get good MPG, cheaper, and easier to fix than a hybrid...

 

is $2-3k more for 10 more mpg's worth it to you? IMO you should be able to get a OTD price of ~$22,500.
both the regular civic and the hybrid get pretty good gas mileage (i get ~33mpg's) while my friends hybrid gets ~42mpgs. the regular civic might be easier and cheaper to maintain as well than a hybrid, which is something you might want to consider.
as for comparing it to a prius, toyota claims 48mpgs or something like that but i have never seen a prius make that. i know 4 people with them and none of them get that kind of mpg.
i have never heard of people loosing substantial mpg's after an oil change or normal tire wear. you may experience bad mpgs right when you get the car for the first 3k miles as you break the motor in. i got 27 initially but slowly increased to 33

 

If this helps, the 2007 Civic Hybrid was listed as a "most reliable" car in the small car class by Consumer Reports.

 

I wouldn't get a hybrid if I were you. Take a look at these two sites and you will understand why:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/....html
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/ne...1.asp

Also, a few years down the road you would be looking a $5,000 or more to replace the batteries in your hybrid. You should look at the regular civic or the fit.

 

first you must understand why you want a hybrid,
Is it save money? Then the hybrid may not be your best choice. You need to look at the added cost of a hybrid, compared to the savings down the road. If you are looking at a hybrid to "Save a tree", then go for it.

Hope this helps.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dramsey@vtaig.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">first you must understand why you want a hybrid,
Is it save money? Then the hybrid may not be your best choice. You need to look at the added cost of a hybrid, compared to the savings down the road. If you are looking at a hybrid to "Save a tree", then go for it.

Hope this helps. </TD></TR></TABLE>




your basically paying for that extra trip to wal mart before you fill up

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chiggin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Also, a few years down the road you would be looking a $5,000 or more to replace the batteries in your hybrid. You should look at the regular civic or the fit.</TD></TR></TABLE>
FWIW I've seen many IMA batteries replaced and I've yet to see a customer pay for ANY of them. Even an Insight with a salvage title Honda still payed for it.

 

i would like to thank everyone that has posted here, it has helped me in one way or another... i now realize it isn't worth it to buy a hybrid when in 2 years they will have more efficient hybrids... ie. 70 mpg vw and possibly honda/toyota...

so i swayed my attention to a used honda 4 door... i founda a used honda civic lx sedan with 1 owner and 33,000 miles from maroone auto dealership.... got them to 8792 then they hit me with tax and title which i saw coming but then they tried to slap on the dealership fee of 599...which is excessive bs...

so at 10,192 out the door i told them 9,700 or i'm out... well needless to say i walked and hopefully they call me tomorrow and we can close this up.

 

Take any vehicle and look up KBB trade value and deduct $3k off that and you will have an idea of what the dealer took that car for. Negotiate from this price on a used vehicle and you will be golden. $599 doc fee is rape anything more than $50 is 100% pure profit.

I would never buy a used Hybrid. To much technology to chance on what little warranty is left, that is unless it's certified.

 

If ur heart is set on getting a hybrid get the Prius (I too work for a dealer and its Toyota) but I have a 4dr si and a new born and a 4 dr is alot better than a 2dr. Have gone through the whole 2dr car struggle with my 1st and its a pain in the butt. Sorry off topic, but I took my civic into honda for the 3rd gear issue and they gave me a civic hybrid and that thing sucked, the gas mileage wasn't good at all. The Prius' tires do get bald and it does change mpg, but that depends on how u drive and if u keep up w/ the tire pressure, if not ur spending 400.00 for new tires. I would go for a regular civic thats in ur price range and they too get gd MPG and are easier to fix, then the hybrids.

 

With dependents and a hybrid vehicle, you tax return should be very high. MY buddy and i make the same exact amount of money, and make all the same claims, but since he has a hybrid, he gets an extra $4100 on his return. Thats just another thing to think about that I did'nt notice anyone mention.