If you played Elemental circa 1.05, then picture a more polished and playable version of that. There are a few significant gameplay changes (specifically: the magic system and city-building/economy are both quite different and imo much better) but for the most part it's the same game with more polish: bug fixing, balance tweaks, improved AI, etc. If you thought 1.05 had potential but wasn't there yet, you'll certainly like 1.1 better. Whether it's "good enough" by your standards yet obviously depends on you, but it's definitely improved.

As for comparing it to Civ5, agreed with Fistalis that that's.. difficult to do. In the vaguest possible sense, Civ5 feels more 'finished', it's easier to get into and more fun at first, but needs more replayability and depth. Whereas 1.1 Elemental would be pretty much the opposite in those areas - more complexity, different ways to play the game, but still has balancing and AI issues (but improved since 1.05), and a learning curve that's still harsh on new players (but improved since 1.05). As-is I'd have an easier time recommending Civ5 to a friend, particularly one not as hardcore into TBS's, but Elemental can hold my attention through more replays without feeling stale, and I look forward more to its future patching/expansions.

I like games from Matrix Games and Paradox (EU2 & HOI 3), and Civ5 just felt...... empty.  It just didn't seem very deep.  Elemental seemed deeper when I played it, but due to bugs I couldn't finish a game due to crashes.  Are these crashes fixed now?

You can get it for 30 at Walmart, its worth that.

Elemental has nowhere near the depth of an EU2 or HOI3.  In fact, I would say it is comparable to Civ5 depth-wise.  Having said that, I still find myself playing Elemental more than Civ5.  However, I partially attribute that to playing with my own custom factions (the in-game ones are just blah) and some select mods.  If I were stuck with vanilla, I'd probably be out shopping for something else to do.

The game still crashes, but the CTDs are much fewer and further between than they were; definitely within my toleration.

Edit:  Is it worth $40?  That depends on how tight your budget is.  If you can only buy one game in the next six months, I would look for something more finished and come back to this later.  If you can spend $40 on entertainment a week, then go ahead and grab it, but think of it as an investment that will mature as the development of the game continues.

In my opinion/experience: crashes are fixed, the game seems technically sound. Not to say it's perfect, but I don't crash any more than I do with.. say, Civ4:BTS, which is to say I'm not shocked if I CTD once in an evening of playing, but I can't remember the last time it happened twice. As is always the way with technical issues, your mileage may vary - some people didn't crash even in the beta days, and some still say they crash constantly, but most people seem able to play without/in spite of any technical problems.

Gameplay still needs some work though - there are a lot of choices to make, many different ways you can play the game, but those choices don't feel as interesting/meaningful as they should be due to balance and AI issues. Disclaimer: haven't played 1.11 yet, they say it helps with the AI, maybe someone else can comment from experience.