As a long distance commuter (130 round trip), I'll second the recommendation of looking at the standard hybrid instead of the plug-in. Where you are going to exceed the capacity of the battery daily, I'm not sure that the hassle of plugging in the car every day would be worth the (potential) savings in fuel. Consider also you'll get a smaller fuel tank, less cargo space, and the car costs quite a bit more. You'll need to step up to a 220V charger if you want to charge the car in a reasonable amount of time - extra cost. For the extra amount of money you'll spend, you could buy a lot of gas. Since the highway MPG isn't any different, are you going to make up the difference in fuel savings?
As for comparing the HSH to other brands, when I was looking I wanted a car that was comfortable to drive, could easily carry full sized passengers and a reasonable amount of luggage. Since I put a lot of miles on the car (about 25,000 miles per year) I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a car that wouldn't be worth much when I traded/sold it. That pretty much ruled out brands like Lexus, BMW, etc. I looked at Ford, Subaru, Kia, Toyota, Chevy. Coming from a VW diesel, I had a hard time with gas-only vehicles due to the mileage difference - it's hard to go back to 23 MPG after getting 40+. Didn't like the look/feel of the Ford Fusion. For me, it came down to Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.
The Honda - Liked the look, it drove nice and was comfortable. BUT, it has a buzzy engine that was loud, no trunk space and I don't think that the rear seats folded down. I figured that if I put my golf clubs in the truck I would have maybe 6" of room left over. Between that and the loud engine (it has a CVT, and that means the engine runs at higher RPM more often - more efficient, but also louder) I dropped it.
That left Toyota and Hyundai. I looked at loaded models of the Sonata and Avalon. Both cars drove and rode comparably. The Avalon was perhaps a bit more luxurious on the inside, but it also had touch sensitive controls for everything. Neat feature, but when you tried to operate them bouncing around on the road they were a bit tricky. It was also about $10K more expensive. Between the price, and Hyundai's warranty, the Sonata won.
After owning the HSH for almost a year, I'm glad I purchased it. In the winter (Idaho) it's a bit persnickety until it warms up (hard shifts, grabby brakes), but it warms up before I get across town and on the interstate. Once warm (or in the summer), I almost never hear the engine, and rarely feel the transmission shifting (moderate acceleration). Very quiet interior - even with the sun roof popped up. Comparing it to my VW Passat TDI, it feels more spacious, rides better, and gets about the same mileage, with cheaper fuel. As others have said, I consistently get about 43-45 MPG in warmer weather, and 38-40 in the winter. I generally keep the acceleration below 40%, but even getting on the interstate that's enough to get me up to speed by the time I merge in ECO mode. In Normal mode it's no problem.
I have only one problem, and one complaint. The problem - I had a bad computer that caused a bunch of errors when I started the car for the first time, AND the temperature was below 20F. The dealer replaced the unit, and yesterday when the temp was about 15F it started with no problems. The complaint - if you go into the hybrid display, you can pull up a screen that shows a graph of your MPG and electric motor usage over time. The electric motor usage has never indicated a value. This appears to be common in all the hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
