The Honda HX Coupe, with a 5-speed manual transmission, turns out to get pretty darned good mileage, so far. 46.6MPG, if the first 200 miles or so of mountain driving are any indication. That's coincidentally almost exactly the average mileage HCH or Prius gets, according to this site. Admittedly, I am not an aggressive driver, and the car hasn't been through the coldest winters and such. Just up and down mountains, and admittedly half of that driving is downhill...;-) I'm probably on the higher side of gas mileage for this model, so the comparability of the gas mileage is somewhat suspect if you're lead-footed and driving in stop and go traffic all the time.

The HX is actually near the bottom of the line of Honda Civic cars in price. About $4500 less than the equivalent HCH, after I put in the A/C (which will take its toll in my toasty 100F summer). The HX does not come with A/C unless you have it put in by the dealer. That's bad for me, but might be less important to you if you live in a more moderate climate. Another $200 at an electronics shop for an MP3 CD radio installed, but an MP3 CD player can now be had with certain Honda models as well. The original radio was a competent CD/stereo, but seemed to have poor reception compared to the cheap JVC one I put in. The radio antenna is integrated into the rear window, while the HCH has an external antenna. Possibly some interference down below with the batteries and such.

The car is indeed small, but comfortable inside. It came with stock aluminum wheels, and an engine capable of 'lean burn' mode, a little something the 'real' Honda hybrids also do, that consumes a bit less fuel on the highway when cruising. The gearing of this car is higher than I was previously used to on a manual Saturn SL2. The main difference in the interior compared to other little Honda Civics is the cupholders don't have a silly lid, and there isn't an armrest/storage doohicky.

There's a big farbric map pocket on the back of the passenger seat, and pockets in the doors. Pocket and tray next to the parking brake. Pockets below the radio and just above the cupholders. The windows are manual crank. The door locks are electric (keyless optional, and no longer built into the radio, apparently), and if you lock the driver side, the passenger side automatically locks with it. The driver side door locks on all Hondas require you to hold the interior or exterior handle in order to lock it. (I wonder if anyone has ever collected "lock out" statistics by car brand that show Honda owners lock their keys in any more or less often because of this.) Electric mirrors, and a keen-looking red instrument cluster with clear analog guages.

The spare tire compartment under the trunk was a pleasant surprise. When I got it home, there was a bunch of common 'just in case' junk that I used to have stuffed under my VUE's seats. The first aid kit, electric tire pump and fire extinguisher (wrapped in a towel) all fit nicely around the spare tire. The spare appears to have the same aluminum rim as the other tires.

Most little Honda cars are 'Ultra Low Emission Vehicles' (ULEV), and that basically means that you can get your green, "warm fuzzy" feeling with any of the Civic cars without breaking the bank buying a big, fat battery pack (a recycle/disposal problem in its self), electric motor, motor controller and customized transmission, all of which is in addition to your normal engine and drivetrain as candidates for something to eventually fail.

$4500~$6000(no A/C) is a lot of money, and it would take a lot of fuel savings to make up that difference in cost (factor in car loan interest on top of it), by the time it came out a financial wash, I fear a Hybrid car's battery might need replacing (and that's not a trivial expense). Maybe when they incorporate supercapacitors instead of batteries, so the 'battery' pack doesn't ever wear out, then a hybrid will be more 'worth it', at least economically rather than as a trendy gadget geek item. The main difference amounts to the gas mileage (and a small one-time federal, and perhaps state tax break that barely dents the cost difference, and certainly doesn't cover the sales tax and registration), which is an economic/political difference, and a fairly small one for now.

Of course, fuel prices in the U.S. could spike like they did in the 70's, and a few MPG could more than make all the difference in those hybrid vehicles (at least the ones made to save fuel and have low emissions, not those 'wannabe hybrids' made just to deliver a more gratifying power rush when you stomp on the accelerator). All those gas guzzling, speeding SUVs and cars on the highways now could become undesirable junk, like the big, heavy cars of the 70's, too.

The administration won't be able to throw many more bandaids at the problem of rising global fuel demand, like their recent demand for OPEC to produce more to make up for the production versus demand shortfalls. OPEC is now producing with essentially no reserve capacity left, and Iraq isn't going to settle down any time soon to produce oil as promised. If anything happens to a major production facility (whether accidental or not) prices will shoot up, and stay that way until more drilling, processing and delivery infrastructure is developed, and that takes years of time and major capital investment, and the price never really goes back down. As it is, prices will go up anyway just through sheer demand. The only step left is to dip deeply into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, dumping its contents onto the market at a lower-than market price to try to cover shortfalls, which amounts to direct federal subsidies on petroleum prices (as if Iraq doesn't count), something everyone complains about alternative energy prices having, and there's only a finite quantity of that reserve which can be delivered, anyway, though I don't for one second doubt the feds will dump more than we can strategically afford (i.e. rob national defense) to keep people in SUVs happy for just a little longer... like maybe through an election... to mask our decades of ultimately doomed energy strategy focused on "practically free" fossil fuels that never get more expensive.