Will the new Civic Hybrid beat the Prius in MPG?

While perusing TCC's reports on the new Civics from Honda, we noticed a paragraph tucked away under the heading "The Hybrid" in which Honda says the Civic Hybrid will get 43.6 mpg in real-world driving, a number it claims will best the Prius's rate of 42.5 mpg. Of course, these are Honda's numbers, although TCC verified that an editorially owned Prius gets around 42 real-world mpg.

The EPA rates the Prius at 60 mpg city/51 hwy, while the new Civic Hybrid clocks in at 50 mpg city/50 hwy. Unlike the previous gen Civic Hybrid, this one received a whole slew of new hardware to help it conserve more fuel, including the ability to operate in battery-only mode like the Prius and regenerative braking that?s 170% more efficient. You can bet we?ll be monitoring the sales of the Civic Hybrid as compared to those of the Prius as soon as the numbers start rolling in.