What year Civic, what config, and what are you getting by way of mileage?
Also, the EPA test is just a guideline against a standardized test to give people some benchmark as to what to expect from a car. A lot depends on driving habits, patterns, use, and other individual factors. For example, I drive fast, but usually manage to better the EPA numbers. My friend drives about as fast and can never seem to be able to match the EPA numbers... on the same exact car I was driving 10 minutes before!
And as for me, last tank I averaged about 30mpg on my eight-year-old Acura 3.2 TL, with a V-6 engine, mostly highway. Even at $4.50 per gallon, that’s only $1.10 more expensive per 100 miles than a Prius at 45mpg.
Toyota’s hybrid price differential is about $2,000, I gather, so in order to save the extra money for the hybrid drivetrain would take about 20,000 miles worth of highway driving. And that’s at $4.50 per gallon!!