enp:

Um yeah, I bought a hybrid. I live in California, so now I get a carpool lane sticker. That alone is almost worth the price increase from an EX. I get a tax CREDIT at the end of the year which will COMPLETELY abolish my tax liability (I don't make that much in hourly wages to have to pay much tax), so I can look forward to getting ALL my taxes back next year. I get about 50-55 miles per gallon. The truck I had before got about 18-20. Had I driven the same amount of miles, I would have saved about 120 dollars in gas a MONTH (with gas around 2.00 or so). Not to mention, I drive WAY more now because I actually have a reliable car. I've had my HCH II for about 2 months, and it already has more than 5,000 miles on it. The truck alone cost me about 1500-2500 in maintenance repairs in 2005. Probably about another 1000 the year before that....I won't even spend EITHER of those quantities in gas a YEAR with the HCH, even driving it 30,000 miles a year. So I fail to see where I lost out on the deal....not everything is as simple as it seems....

If you want to go and change your oil, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT. I'm done trying to be nice about it and convince you that its a BAD IDEA....EVERYONE ELSE on here is also telling you its wise to just let it go the 5,000 miles, but to no avail. So do whatever you want. When you have problems down the road with the engine, and they find out that you didn't let it go the 5,000 miles before changing the oil, and they don't want to cover it because you didn't follow the proper maintenance schedule, you have NO ONE to blame but yourself. All dealers tell they're new car owners about it, they make a point of it. You aren't an exception, and they won't treat you as such. I was told by 2 different guys at the same dealership when I bought my car for crying out loud. But I digress. You've been warned....