What would you do? Civic Hybrid vs X-Trail

[Me]

I looked at the Hybrid Civic yesterday but have a size issue with it. The batteries are in the boot behind the back seats and dramatically reduce the boot size compared to the regular Civic. This also means that the back seats don't fold down.

Atm I struggle to fit stuff in the boot of my commodore sedan for work, so I know the Hybrid Civic would be too small but I'm hoping to be able to send a lot more stuff by couriers anyway.

If I need to deliver things that don't fit in the Civic, I'd end up having to drive DH's territory. My other option is to by an x-trail and I wouldn't have the size problem.

I'd love a Hybrid, but the size has me really concerned. DH would choose riding his motorbike over driving the civic, so I'm worried that we'd end up with the civic sitting at home unused. To think of how much emissions I could save by using it instead of a regular petrol car gets me so excited, but that gets shut down at the thought of those potential savings being wasted due to size issues.

What would you do? Buy the Civic and borrow DHs territory? Or buy the x-trail and not have to worry about size problems?

Poll to come

[Roxy]

We had the same dilemma...

I wanted to switch to the Civic Hybrid (currently have a CRV), but once we looked at it, we realised that the car was going to be far too small to meet our needs, so we have stayed with the CRV.

We did peek through the windows of one of the Toyota Hybrids, and they seemed bigger on the inside - maybe that could be an option?

[aardvark]

What about looking at Diesel vehicles instead?

They are more future-proof than petrol (because of biodiesel), and supposed to be better than Petrol for the environment.

I think Hybrid technology has a way to go yet before it is a real alternative, because of the issues you raise.

[ThomasMum]

Great advice by aadvark. One of the reasons that we didnt get the Hybrid, because of the current style, too small etc. Thats why we bought VW's Jetta TDI for our family car, its fantastic, plenty of room , and we hardly go to the petrol station because its very efficient, plus its better for the environment...

[Me]

I knew I could count on BH! Thanks for the options, I will investigate Diesels a bit more.

I think the Prius is a bit over my budget, but will have a look. Does anyone know if the back seat folds down?

[bootiful]

how bout getting a car with a gas conversion...can i ask why you need to buy another car? Can you get gas done in your current car.

Hybrid cars are great for small families but nothing bigger.

Hopefully they will come out with a larger hybrid car soon but atm they struggle with power issues.

Good Luck with your search