>>But it's still too expensive. I briefly considered it last time I was buying a car, and 1) there were hardly any used* ones for sale, 2) the ones that were, were about 50% above the price I eventually paid for a Matrix.
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>I paid about 23K out the door for my Prius II new last summer. The gas savings make it a much better deal for me than a $5k less vehicle that gets 33% less MPG - I put a lot of miles on my cars.

Which is completely different from my situation - I didn't drive much, so a $8000 Matrix XRS was a far better choice than a $14000 Prius - no matter how much I'd like to have one. It would take me years until the difference in consumption would balance the price difference.