I have whittled my car choices down to the following:
Slightly used Honda Accord Hybrid
New Honda Civic Hybrid
New Saturn Vue green line (hybrid)
New Honda Fit
New Honda Civic
Some facts- There are tax credits for the hybrids. In San Jose, at least for a while, parking is free for hybrids. This is why Hybrids are so prevelant on the list.
The first three are about the same price. The FIT I can buy outright, no financing, it’s about 8-10K cheaper. I can almost do that with the non-hybrid Civic. A CD matures January, which is why January is when I will start serious shopping.
Of course “dealer incentives” that will come to pass in Jan will weigh heavily- 0% financing, large rebates, “loyalty bonus” and so forth. Right now, Honda will give me 0% financing, and Saturn $750 “loyalty bonus”, but that’s now, not January.
I highly recommend a Honda over a Saturn, just because they are ridiculously reliable and that’s nice.
A friend of mine bought a Civic Hybrid a year or so ago, and he just loves it. I rode in it once, and it was much zippier than I expected and seemed fun to drive, but that’s all I know. I do know several people with older Civics that seem to just run forever, and if I wasn’t freakishly tall, I’d drive one myself.
As for hybrid vs. regular, it really depends on your commute. Are you in stop and go for the most part, or are you driving at highway speeds? The regular Civic gets amazing highway mileage, so if you’re not sitting in stop and go, you may not benefit that much from having a hybrid (apart from the free parking/carpool lane/tax perks of course).
I doubt that any incentive, bonus, or tax credit is going to come close to the $8K. It doesn’t look like you are buying a status car, so if the Fit works for you, why not?
I take CalTrain for my actual commute. My driving is: shopping, a very short drive to the Train station, and driving off to one of my bud’s places for gaming. Plus I like driving vacations- drove to LV just a while ago, for example.
Dag Otto: Free parking will save me $1020 a year, assuming it continues I have to pay to park where I live!!! $85-$50). The credits are:
Slightly used Honda Accord Hybrid: $0
New Honda Civic Hybrid:$1700
New Saturn Vue green line (hybrid) $650
The FIT is a little small in the driving position, but it’s amazingly roomy, otherwise.
Note that I am almost 50, and fairly big - so if that means anything.
I am not familiar with the hybrids. I am familiar with conventional Hondas and Saturns. I have much more respect for the mechanical integrity of Hondas.
I would bias towards the Civic or the Civic hybrid. Hondas are more reliable than Saturns, the Fit seems a bit small for a big guy and an only car, and there are no incentives on the used Accord hybrid (and it ends up being the top-of-the-line for Accords).
So I would trade off the lower cost of the regular Civic (and you’ll still get great mileage on your road trips) and it’s reduced complexity against the better in-town mileage, free parking, and incentives of the Civic hybrid.
The Civic is one of the best-rated vehicles in the world for reliability, safety, and resale. The Vue, on the other hand, is not well-rated at all except perhaps in the safety category.