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Hi Brandon:

___Here is your problem. You own a Civic HX and barely touch the EPA. I take 2 brand new HCH-II owners out for a 15 minute clinic (one driving and another in the back seat) just 2 days ago and the second lady misses 70 mpg by 2 mpg’s running stop light to stop light in a traffic laydened environment. The car had less then 800 miles on it and most certainly was not setup to my specifications! Do you get it? 70 in a an HCH-II and we weren’t FAS’ing, P&G’ing, D-FAS’ing, or drafting anything! It was relatively easy to achieve using just the basics. The second driver used to own an HX and guess what? She GOT RID OF IT FOR THE HCH-II and she is ecstatic because of it! 35 from a Fit is just like the 37 mpg reported by those I hang out with over at DriveAccord.net. They hit it once in a while but their lmpg’s over the long haul suck. The Hybrid drivers are kicking your HX’s teeth in just as they are kicking my Accord’s teeth in an. They not only eating our respective automobiles FE alive, they are doing so without much more then a few foot pedal adjustments, with emissions you or a Fit driver will never come close to achieving, and with amenities and safety design you could only wish you had in case someone does pull something nuts and you happen to get caught in the middle of it all. Care to ask what a Fit driver running 60 mph at almost 3,000 + RPM across the country feels like vs. the same driver in a Prius II or HCH-II? The Prius and HCH-II driver whose car is all but silent is not only far more comfortable and safer but is saving fuel by the gallon vs. the Fit’s in the real world. Go look up some of the Fit drivers in Europe. There is a forum you have access to with all the details … Even those with the 1.3’s overseas are lucky to achieve 45 US once in a great while whereas an HCH or Prius II can hit 45 without doing anything but turning the key and heading out to where you want to go.

___Can I get my Accord up near 70 + mpg’s pulling every stunt in the book? Sure can. And I can get a Prius up to 120 just by moving my right foot a few millimeters back and forth all day long without an issue … Both get me to my same location at their max mpg’s except one can do it with a lot less BS and can do it even faster in fact! The Accord doesn’t stand a chance and neither does a Fit or an HX … It’s all about ease of FE and the Fit can’t come close to what a Prius or HCH-II can do no matter what star you are wishing upon let alone the Prius and HCH-I/II’s limited depreciation vs. anything else they have had to compete against over the last 5 years …

___I took out a loaded up and brand new Prius II out for a test drive around Libertyville, IL. earlier today. Dealership lot to dealership lot was 5.1 miles and she allowed me 94.x mpg’s. I didn’t touch the shifter but once. That means place it into D and hit the start button. Can a Honda Fit, Accord, Civic HX, or anything but another hybrid even come close to doing that? A Fit certainly could not do it unless you know some magic the rest of the world has yet to figure out …

___If you would like, I will pull my Insight’s TCO over the year and half I owned her and you can compare your own HX over the same. Would you like that? Better yet, the next time you have a 150 + mpg RT segment in your own Civic HF or a Honda Fit, let us talk again about who hit their head and doesn’t have a good handle on even the basics of real world FE …

___All said and done, many of us cannot afford or choose not to purchase a hybrid but by doing so, in most cases, we have had to makes sacrifices that are very hard to overcome given what the fuel efficient hybrids offer over and above brand new Fit’s, Civic’s, Corolla’s, Yaris’, Camry’s, Accord’s, and anything else I can think of at the moment.

___With all of the above, do I willingly invite those with Fit’s, Civic’s, Accord’s, Yaris’, Corolla’s, Camry’s, Focus’s, Fusions’, Metro’s, Aveo’s, and Rio’s to name just a few over to learn how to improve their own FE? You bet I do because no matter the car or truck we own, we still have the opportunity to improve our FE and I will do just about everything in my power to see that it happens for the betterment of our local towns and cities, our country, and even our planet let alone that new or used car owners own wallet!

___Finally, let us keep the “falling on one’s head” kind of replies for the back room from here on out, ok?

___Good Luck

___Wayne