First and foremost, thank you to all the wonderful members of this board. I have learned a tremendous amount of information and everyone has been responsive and very kind.

After much consideration, I have decided to sell the HCH II for safety reasons. The acceleration is just too slow to deal with the aggressive drivers in Houston. This became very apparent when an Hummer H3 out accelerated me and cut me off in order to get in the entrance ramp to the freeway (nearly causing an accident). There were numberous other occasions where merging onto 70MPH traffic became a serious issue. For me, the MPG is not worth becoming part of a Mack truck's grill.

The hybrid only has 13K miles and is only 12 months old. I will probably loose $4K but I consider this a small price to pay. Again thanks to all on the forum.

You might want to wait at least a few weeks. The Hummers & others may start to drive slower/safer as gas prices rise. Just a thought. Have you tried shifting to "2" to help with acceleration?

Best, Ed & Drew

I agree, the drivers in houston are very aggresive. I almost got clipped by a ford f150 today on the way home. The safest way around this situation for me is to travel on off-peak times, there is less congestion. Sorry that you have decided to sell, but I understand if you don't feel safe..

I notice the same thing here to a degree. When you've got the carpool lane stickers on you might as well have a bullseye painted on the car. People seem to go out of their way to show their aggression. Gas is hovering around $3.30 to $3.50 a gallon here so those Detroit driving sore @sses are really in rage mode. But, I'll deal with it and as a matter of fact love it. F 'em!

PS - if it weren't for carpool advantage I'd probably not want to deal with the slowness and give up too.

I don't think the problem is the Civic, it's that you're stuck driving with idiots. Connecticut drivers are the same way and it really gets on my nerves. Unfortunately I don't think driving a faster car is going to help much, but suit yourself. Maybe something like a TCH would be more to your liking? Those are supposed to be pretty darned peppy and still worth some excellent fuel economy.

I stay in the right lane and ignore them.
I never make eye contact.
Haven't got killed yet.
They pass me up.

They love their gas pigs too much to scratch them up driving over hybrids.

I think you are letting your fears get the better of you.
But so be it.

Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.

Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.

Perhaps you should look into the accord hybrid instead

Perhaps you should move. Or get a Porsche so you can out accelerate everyone else.

Interestingly enough, the Honda has a better crash rating than the Hummer...

http://www.safercar.gov/Index2.cfm

In fact, if you should ever be in an accident, you are more likely to survive it in a Honda than in almost any vehicle.

A faster car won't make you safer, learning to drive defensively will.

Sorry but the link is not bringing up the HUMMER safety rating page - you can navigate to it through the this link if you want.

http://www.safercar.gov/

Just because of stupid drivers you're gonna give in and sell your car? Kinda extreme dont u guys think? If you figure pound per HP the civic hybrid is nearly comparable to most mid sized V6's out there.

When i see jerks driving 70-80 in the first lane where cars need to merge in, I just time it right and just accelerate it.