The Prius isn't that behind in orders anymore. I just bought one with a week delay. My dealer had two on the lot right before I bought mine.

BTW, I also own a 2003 HCH.

 

I bought the HCH CVT because of the price and availability. It would have been an extra six months for the toyota, and I couldnt even test drive one to know what I was waiting for. I narrowed down to a Civic or a toyota corolla, civic was a much better car and the hybrid made a lot of sense so I ended up with a civic.

 

You hit the nail on the head for me. I'm 6'6 and Those side curtain air bag/ "A-bars" were right in my line of sight. It felt so restrictive. Then you look in the rear view mirror and you have that hatch back, another visual obstruction. Then you have everything in the middle of the console, down deep in the car.

Also to me, it didnt feel fun at all, felt like an electric go-cart.

And the only previous car I've had was a 96 Yukon, so it was a definite change, but i love it. I've got 41.6mpg avg on this tank right now because of the dealer and my parents driving it, plus i didnt realize the amazing difference 65 makes vs 70 on the interstate.

 

Value. I feel the Prius is over priced vs. the Civic.
Comfort. The Prius has no center arm rest!
Highway mileage. I drive more higwhay than city and the Civic appears to be better at such.
Wait list. Prius= a long time! Civic's are available.

 

Just a FYI. . .
I have a 2005 Prius (since March) and get 52-58 MPG highway.
City suks, 32MPG maybe 35 MPG tops. Overall average is 50-52MPG.
No arm rest but fabric covered console (close enough).
Walked into showroom and drove away in it 40 minutes later (gotta go on line and check all the dealers inventory).
Yeah long waiting list at some (but they ain't gonna tell you the guy across town has 5 on his lot).

 

My previous car was a '97 Malibu with a slow coolant leak and a broken air conditioner. I test-drove the HCH at a dealership within walking distance of my apartment, then attempted to find a Prius to test drive. I tried 4 different dealerships in the Baltimore/Washington area, and none had any in stock. One salesman even told me, "People don't usually test drive the Prius, they just put their name on the waiting list to buy one". I was satisfied with the HCH, and wasn't crazy about the smugness of the Toyota dealers, so that's why I made my choice.

The fact that I think the Prius is kind of ugly helped a bit as well.

 

My reasons for buying the HCH instead of the Prius:

1. Price. Got my new HCH for less than a used Prius. (Dealer stopped offering discounts the day after I bought mine!)
2. Availability. No wait vs. a waiting list of 9 months or more for a Prius.
3. HCH had a better ride than the '04 Prius I test drove.
4. Prius display too cluttered for my taste. Guess I'm just too old to abandon the tried-and-true analog speedometer.
5. Honda salesman was very friendly and obviously valued my business. Toyota salesman treated me like an interruption of his work. (And this was at the same dealership that had serviced my '90 Toyota for the last 10 years!)

 

I test drove a Prius and didn't care for the visibility out the rear window (I had the same complaint of the Insight). I like lots of glass.

But the deal killer for me was the availability of the manual transmission. When it came down to it; I just couldn't buy an automatic.

I did check out the Insight; but didn't like it because of visibility and I wanted to be able to put a car seat in the back... eventually

 

There is an empty connector on the back of my 2003 Civic single-CD. This is intended for a cassette or CD changer, but the P.I.E adapter plugs in there. My MP3 player appears as a CD changer that's always on disc one track one.

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/piehon98aux.html
PIE HON98-AUX Auxiliary Input Converter

http://makeashorterlink.com/?C1D73243B
remove the standard Honda stereo - Dold - rec.autos.maker.honda

 

1. Civic is a car not a spaceship

2. Essential information is displayed in front of the driver, not the middle backseat passenger.

3. Prius were not available used any cheaper than new ones, and I found a civic for about $5k lesss than new with low miles.

4. Originally I wanted a manual so the prius was a hard sell. However, after driving the HCH CVT I was sold on it. Ended up getting a Civic automatic after all. :-)