We bought a 1996 Civic for my son 5 years ago. He's driven it this whole time, and we recently bought it back from him, for our 14 yo to use in 2 years. It now has 198,000 miles on it. We are having the timing belt and water pump changed (water pump is just done while the belt is off). My husband has been driving it 25 miles to work (even though it looks like crap right now), instead of his F150, because of the gas prices.

It still gets 38 miles per gallon, sometimes 40 (it's a 5-speed). I have an Element, and when I was at the dealer I noticed the new Civics are only rated at 34!

My dad has a '97 Civic that he's still driving, but they don't drive much as a rule. It only has 60K miles on it!

I wanted a Fit when I got my Element, but they were just too hard to come by, and because of my wreck I needed a car NOW. I'm glad I didn't get one now. Just too small for my husband to even sit in. He couldn't fit in the CRV, either, so the Element it was!

I think the Fit and the Civic are for two different purposes. If you like utility, get the Fit, and if you would rather have more style, get the Civic. (A friend rolls his bike into the back of his Civic, BTW.)

Karen