Paul,
The rest of the Hybrid story: The cost/benefit story has been around for a while and lots of dealers truly jack up the prices because consumers are sometimes more interested in trendy than facts. If you pay retail thinking you’re saving money, you might be wrong. But back to my Capitalist Pig self.
I bought the car for less than 1/2 of the retail price from a guy who was retiring to travel the country. When you start calculating cost/benefit ratios based on that, then you make/save money.
Ultimately, hybrids will become cheaper and better along with a host of CAPITALIST driven reasons to buy them. It still freaks people out at stoplights when the car cuts off.