I personally like the suggestion about having more specific control about how much the assist is used. For example, there are times where the battery is nearly full, but the assist doesn't kick in even though the engine is revving pretty high to get up a hill. There are also a lot of times where I go to brake and the battery is already fully charged, so I think that the computer can be a bit too "shy" in using the electric motor.

My idea would be a switch three "modes" for using the assist:

1) Light Assist -- assist would only kick in very gradually, for example, for a long hill climb, selecting light assist would make it so that the battery wouldn't get fully drained before reaching the top, as the computer would wait longer before using the assist, and wouldn't use it as heavily.

2) "Normal" Assist -- this is how the cars run out of the box

3) Heavy Assist -- Electric motor runs at the highest level possible in any given situation. For shorter hill climbs, or for "rolling hills" this would allow the battery power to take on a lot of the heavy load without revving up the main engine a whole lot. Though this would lead to the battery pack running out much more quickly for longer ascents.

It could even be taken a step further an have a continuous "dial" rather than three settings, with one end of the spectrum favoring less assist, one favoring more, and anywhere in between being an option.

I also find there are a lot of times that the Civic Hybrid tends to idle when it could be running in "auto stop" mode. Manually starting and stopping the engine is a bit too much of a hassle for things like waiting in line at a drive though IMHO, what I would like to see is a toggle switch that would, if depressed, cause the Auto-stop feature to kick in at any full-stop, rather than waiting until the car gets up to speed first. I agree though there are other times where it's better just to let the thing idle, such as a stop-and-go line up of some that is moving very quickly. I just find it irritating when I stop, only to have to roll forward a couple of car lengths, and sit with the engine idling for a long time.

Another thing that I think would be a clever, if a bit far out idea, would be a fuel consumption display based on auditory or tactile feedback, so it wouldn't be necessary to divert my eyes from the road at all. Perhaps something that would give out a few "clicks" in succession, or maybe even small pulses in the steering wheel that could be felt, in response to a significant change in the immedate MPGs--slower pulses to indicate less fuel consumption, faster ones to indicate more fuel consumption. So, if I go to accelerate, it would first give me a set of fast clicks, after a whlie, as I settle out, another set a bit slower, then if I change from 40 to 60, or 60 to 80 or whatever, each time I'd be met with the appropriate speed "clicks" or "pulses."