>>>>>>>>>Too bad they can't make a hybrid (or any other high MPG vehicle) that competes with Toyota or Honda.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Prius came my country last year. Sorry but it's so ugly car. Honda Civic hybrid we selling there from years. It's a more beatiful car.
>>>>>
>>>>>I got used to its look. First it looked like a tennis shoe to me. But then I liked the concept - this is not a hybrid car pretending to look like a regular car (as in case of the Civic), but a computer with engines and wheels, which proudly refuses to imitate a regular car. It's a car with an OS, no less.
>>>>>
>>>>>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.
>>>>
>>>>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.
>>>
>>>Interesting. The base Prius here is about £21K - which would equate to around $33.5K
>>>A friend of mine had one. I liked it but couldn't justify it on economic grounds.
>>>I bought a little 1100cc car that is surprisingly nippy and fun to drive, cost under £6K, and is supposed to achieve 65mpg.
>>>Could have bought five of them for the price of a Prius......
>>
>>BTW I average around 60MPG when the weather is warm. The battery is apparently fairly temperature sensitive. Lowest MPG I've got on a tank was 45 over a couple of days when temps were in single digits F.
>
>Interesting. I had not idea that ambient temperature was such a factor (or does MPG really only decrease noticeably at pretty low tamperatures?)

MPG picks up a lot once the temps get a little above freezing. My last tank of gas I got 52MPG over a few days in the 40's to 60's F range. The tank before was 47MPG but temps never got over 25F.

The car keeps a running track of MPG vs miles based on the trip odometer BTW, so I always reset it at fill-up so I can see the history.