As for Christopher’s statement about Ford. They have a Hybrid that is supposed to compete wtih the Hybrid Camry. Its the Ford Fusion and I might take a look at that one as well. The car reviewer for the Washington Post was very impressed with it!

Of course all of this is contingent on my finding work! :<)

My personal feelings on this are we should all celebrate the fact that people are buying hybrids over “standard” cars and that there is even a choice in hybrids. Whether someone buys a Prius or an Insight is immaterial to me. Their needs are not my needs. I am older and have friends that cannot easily squeeze into the back seats of some of the compacts cars out there. My six foot two best friend and his wife (and my six foot three son and his wife) can easily get into our Prius back seats and still have room to move. I do not feel I have needs that require a Lexus hybrid. But some of the features, especially dealing with safety and convenience, will be found on the new Prius. And I may choose to buy those options should my budget allow it. Should I be faulted for not buying an Insight instead of a Prius or a Volt if the Insight does not meet my needs?

Back in 1986, I made a decision to buy a new car only if it had better gas mileage that the previous car that I owned. I have never regretted that decision. And it has always saved me money. And I turned down the chance to own some very popular cars because they did not meet that required need of mine.

If someone buys a hybrid truck that gets 25 mpg versus 20 mpg in a regular truck, they are now using 20% less gas. That is the same as someone choosing a 51 mpg car over a 41 mpg car. And it is the same as someone choosing a 63 mpg car over a 50 mpg car. What the car is that does that is immaterial as long as it meets ones needs and is within their budgets.

I have almost 52000 miles on my ’05 it and it hasn’t let me down. Now, if Toyota would build a 6 passenger Prius I could get rid of my Grand Marquies.

As for policy I wonder if we are getting to the point where the premium for hybrid technology is comparable to the jump in price of a vehicle that goes from a V6-V8 engine? Interesting if we look at this issue in the luxury vehicle sector in terms of possible future policy regulations. Maybe someone could do a story on this topic…..

Hybridcars.com I have wondered why comments go from oldest to newest. Spice it up, would be nice to reverse this, post going from newest to oldest, prob easy to do and keeps conversation going on stories that are more then a day or two old.

All car dealerships play games with Hybrids! (Maybe not in Cali or NY) Snaky and sneaking yes, at least in my experience. Look for the guy with normal hair and no sideburns or stay away from creepy looking mustaches and maybe you will not have to pay a dumb markup or not pay some stupid fee to order a hybrid, that is if you go to get a Insight, keep your fingers crossed…….