Honda Civic Hybrid (2006-) Review

Running Costs

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The Civic Hybrid's fuel consumption is good but not sensational: it returns an official figure of 61.4mpg on the combined cycle (versus 65.7mpg for the slightly smaller Prius), or 54.3mpg on the urban cycle (the Prius does 56.5). If you do a lot of motorway miles, it's likely that a decent diesel will give you better mpg.

However, you also need to factor in the low insurance group and Honda's excellent reliability, which should ensure you don't get on first name terms with the blokes in overalls at your local Honda dealer. Servicing is every 12,500 miles or 12 months.

The Civic Hybrid is exempt from the London congestion charge and will continue to be exempt if Transport for London's proposed changes introduce a 120g/km cut-off point. The Honda has a CO2 figure of 109g/km; the Prius is 104.