When the new ones hit the market I'd bet you could get a great deal on an 05.

 

The bar is only for current (instantaneous) mileage. So it's 0 when you're not moving and infinite when braking and the engine is off. There is a separate display for average mileage, just like the 2005 HCH, and it's a digital readout. It has nothing to do with NAV because it's on the dashboard, not the console.

If you test-drive or even test-sit-inside a 2005 Civic Hybrid, you can see the dashboard has a button used to toggle between different displays. One display just shows the odometer, but another shows trip or lifetime MPG, and there were other displays as well, if I remember correctly. I'm sure the 2006 is identical in this regard.

As for how people calculate their FE here, they usually use only the odometer and fuel pump readout. Assuming the tank is exactly full each time they reset the trip odometer, they just divide its reading by the amount of fuel pumped to calculate their mileage.

 

I looked at the pics a little closer.
I think I like my 04 better because:

*More instant MPG segments
*I noticed the front seats are ran all the way forward and the rear seats appear to have about the same as mine ran all the way back. Could be camera perspective though.
*Looks like a terrible nightmare to upgrade the CD/sound stack.
*Where did the ECONOMY button go?

It definetly looks more modern with the split dashboard and all.
I'll probably be looking to replace mine in about 8 years, no doubt it will further evolve until then.

 

Don't need the economy button because the A/C is hybrid. That was the reason for the economy button, preventing the engine from autostopping and turning off the air.

 

For the '06, there's now "A/C" and "Max A/C" which define the characteristic of the air conditioning. At Max A/C, it will run both the electric and belt-driven A/C compressors, but with just the A/C button selected, it will automatically switch between one or the other to get the best fuel economy.

 

hey don't forget about safety, 06 hybrid comes with standard 8 airbags while priuses its addon option. not sure about 01-03 priuses and 03 -05 civic hybrid safety ratings though.