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If it came down to it, and I had to buy a hybrid, it certainly wouldn't be a Prius. I'd rather drive an Insight.
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The Hertz agency at a South Denver hotel rented us a Prius at the regular compact car rate for a trip to Scottsdale last fall. It had 200 miles on it and we were the first to take it out of town.
I don't care for the styling either, but liked the gas mileage. It was fun to play with the accelerator under different driving conditions just to see what the computer would do to respond--literally drive by wire. On the last leg of the trip--Farmington, NM, to Denver over Cumbres, Poncha, Trout Creek, and Kenosha Passes--and a week of driving it, I was able to average 57.1 MPG (best of the trip).
Where Prius leaves a lot to be desired is on open, flat Interstate at 75-80 mph--gets maybe 30-35 MPG, but even a slight grade drops it to 19-20. Prius seems optimally designed as an in-town car; on the road, I would take a turbo-diesel for mileage and power over a hybrid any day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
You can get a hybrid from Toyota and not have to buy a Prius. They now have a hybrid Camry and even a hybrid, full-size Lexus.