1 How old are you
2 Are you married or do you have a partner
3 Do you have children, dogs, horses, pet alligators
4 What is your annual income after tax
5 Do you have a mortgage on your home
6 Insurance; have you or any other drivers had a recent claim
7 How tall are you
8 What do you weigh
9 Where do you live
10 What is your estimated annnual mileage
11 Do you cycle, canoe, snowboard
12 When you ask about the car "at the end of its life" are you talking eons
There may be a hundred more such questions that need to be considered before you ask us totally unbiased observers what we think of the HCH!
Take a look at intellichoice.com and look at their numbers. They seem to believe that the Hybrid will be cheaper than either an LX or an EX if I remember correctly over 5 years (can't give you lifetime figures). I believe their numbers make a bit more sense than Edmunds Total Cost of Ownership numbers from my perspective (Edmunds maintenance and depreciation numbers are out to lunch - at least in my part of the country)
I went through the same analysis and bought a Hybrid. Good luck with your choice.
It's probably a close call in strict money terms, that is unless Iran decides to cut off part of their flow of oil to the west, Venezuela acts on their desire to hurt the US, oil consumption in China and India continues to heat up, ... and gas prices get to $4 or $5. My guess is that gas prices are going to go up substantially, maybe not in the next 12 months, but before too long.
For me, more important was to contribute in a small way to decreasing the demand for oil in the US.
My personal philosophy on this financial analysis - and I've cut this a number of times before I made my purchase - is that whatever analysis you put together, there will be a number of assumptions.
These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual mileage you would get with either car, the actual number of miles you will be driving, how long you will have the car, the price of gas, and the residual value.
Each of these factors as an individual will greatly influence the financial outcomes, even more so when you consider multiple interactions.
What made up my mind was that I got the HCH II at an almost even trade for my full size pick up - I will actually get back money due to the tax credits/incentives. If I got the lower models (i.e. LX or EX), I would have taken a bigger hit on my trade in value.
What I would get in the future would depend on my trade in value of my HCH II as it will provide more data on the financial analysis.
The regular Civic may not be the best dollar-for-mile value either considering there are a few base models available for about $10K such as the Chev Aveo, Kia Reo and Toy Yaris.
No hunting for 0W oil. No having to go to a Honda dealer for pretty much any service. Resale value will almost definitely be higher on a non-hybrid.
I saw 0W-20 Mobil oil on the shelf at Kragen the other day. That's pretty easy hunting. And any Honda dealer will have it for the asking.
As for resale value, you're definitely wrong. The higher gas prices go the better the resale price of a gas miser. People are getting astonishingly good prices for 2004 and 2005 used HCHs right now, for example.
Re: Cost: Civic vs Civic Hybrid
