Civic is one of the most-modded cars in the community, so there would be tons of aftermarket parts I imagine. I have a 96 Civic and I won't be getting another car until I can get a full-electric ride. My car is completely paid off and it's carbon footprint is paid for as well (unlike a new ride.) At 30-40 mpg, I wouldn't save a lot of cash with even a 50 mpg hybrid, certainly not enough to be offset by the cost of the car. Civics also can run for tons of miles, and I imagine their popularity will lead to an easier-to-replace engine than most cars. I could see a situation where in 5 years there still isn't a vehicle on the market that fits my needs better and I just get a new engine.
To me, hybrids are a stop-gap. They are better than most people's SUVs and certainly can help bring a larger car/truck into a more manageable mpg, but full-on electric is where we need to go. Why would we refine the gas delivery process into the hydrogen delivery process when the easier way to go is upgrade the electric grid and deliver that electricity right into our car. Kill two birds with one stone.
Al Gore gave me a hard-on on Meet The Press this week.
edit: Forgot to add, your 97 Civic gets better gas mileage than a new Civic, unfortunately. New safety standards have added weight to the cars that the engines aren't able to compensate for. That too will keep me from buying another gas-based car in my lifetime.
