I got my first oil change for my HCH at close to 5K, but they said I should get my second at 8K. I thought that sounded unreasonable for my vehicle, so I'm waiting to find a day that I can get it changed — with work it is pretty hard to get the time and also my dealer is nearly 40 miles from where I work. I'm at a little over 11K right now. Is this bad? I really do feel like I'm being ripped off everytime I go to my dealer. I'm on an extremely tight budget, being only out of college for a year now. Sometimes when I'm at the dealer they don't seem to know the difference between the Hybrid and a normal Civic. I tried to explain to them what I read in the manual and they essentially told me I was stupid — I think it is because I'm 24 and I look like I'm 15...nobody really takes me seriously, but that is an issue for a different time.

Anyway, long reply made even longer, are there specific things I should be watching for on my HCH — ya know, besides the usual "check the fluids" routine.