A gallon of regular unleaded weighs roughly 6.2 lbs, so when the low-fuel alarm goes off, the car is 62 lbs lighter than when the tank is full. That can roughly be estimated as saving 0.5 mpg. Pointless really.

Terry, I have floored it sometimes just to accelerate onto the highway when there's lots of traffic (people going 70-75 in the right lane = unpleasant merging). The car's not very fast but it's never an issue to me, but then I'm used to a Jetta with a 0-60 of 10 seconds, which is faster than this car but it isn't a speed demon. But I think I would enjoy the Camry Hybrid when it comes out in 5 months.

 

The HCH-I could do 0-60 in (roughly) 10 sec CVT and 12 sec MT (numbers from Edmunds). I have the MT and verified its number. In case anyone wants to know why the disparity, the CVT has better gear ratios, and can hold the engine RPM at its peak efficiency, the MT gears are tall and you have to shift.

Chances are the HCH-II will beat the HCH-I CVT due to the increased power, but I haven't heard anything yet.

 

I have to floor my HCH-II regularly to merge into the carpool lane from dead stop.
It feels zippy enough - and quickly accelerate so that you are rearended by Suburban (or similar).

I did notice that above 3.5 - 4K RPM, there is measurable power boost.

 

Consumer Reports measured 11.7 seconds for 0-60 with the 2006 Civic Hybrid. There's no way the HCH-I CVT does it in 10. The Prius does it in 10.5 according to CR and it's quicker than the HCH. I can't find CR's overview of the HCH-I but there's an article on it mentioning its 0-60 was 3 seconds slower than the conventional Civic.