Also take into account the insurance costs associated with the car. From what I can tell, a 4cyl Accord is a bit cheaper than a 4cyl Civic to insure. That can vary from company to company, it just depends on how they figure their rates.
An example of that is my Accord. It was cheaper monthly for me to insure the V6 with the 6spd manual than the 4cyl with the 5spd manual. The company I use goes primarily by incidents per vehicle--and since there are very few V6 6spd sedans on the road, there are few incidents. There are tons of 4cyl 5spd sedans out there and quite a bit of incidents. The Civic is primarily a car targeted at younger drivers, so I'm sure it has a high incident rate. The Accord is targeted at middle-aged drivers and should have a lower incident rate in general.
As far as car price, if you like the 7th gen models (2007) you may be able to find a really good deal on a left over. What was a $21K or $22K sticker price would now be $16 or $17. The Accord also has a better residual value (what they use to determine leases) over 3 years than a Civic, so that might be an important thing to keep in mind.
Personally I can't stand the look of the newer Civics, particularly the interior. The dash is ugly IMO and way too "deep" on top. The location of the shifter (auto or manual) is annoying also. I also didn't feel comfortable in the car (I'm 5'11").
