Obviously, the negative commenters are here to satisfy their opinion - and ignorance at the same time.

Read the article Clark linked to in the piece. Read the results from people like J.D.Powers.

Read something people. Stop listening to Fox Noise.

I get frustrated with these types of articles throwing around cost savings between car types. There are too many things to consider… initial cost of car, fuel cost and maintenance cost (oil, tires, and breaks…tune-ups.) All these things could be captured if the data was presented terms of total cost (all of the above) divided by total miles driven. (Cost/mile). For a fair comparison you could run the calculation at 25K, 50K, 75K…200K. Graph the total cost on the y-axis and the total miles on the x-axis. You will see in any case the more you drive the car the less expensive it gets on a cost/mile basis. In the process it will be clear to compare the difference car types and see which cars have the lowest cost/mile after the least amount of miles driven.

Ok, so why don't they make a diesel hybrid. It sounds like that combonation would give the best MPG. Also diesel used to be cheaper then gasoline but over the past years it's gotten higher priced. So who decided to price diesel higher then gasoline?

Yeah, make a diesel\cooking oil hybrid. That is my solution to energy problem. It's your free no charge.

Ok I have been driving the VW Jetta TDI for the past 2.5 years and I have averaged 47 MPG as most of my driving is on the highway it does a great job for fuel economy but it absolutely sucks in the snow VW needs to redesign it so it has a larger undercarriage clearance, more power to pull you through snow, and a tow hook in the front if you get stuck.

The Prius has been around since 1997. There are a lot of SUVs on the road that have not been in production that long. But, you have a valid point you are making.

We have been manufacturing nickel-metal hydride batteries since 1989. So, it isn't new tech by any stretch. It is also easier to recycle NiMH batteries since they don't contain cadmium (unlike NiCad batteries). They are very reliable - hence why Toyota uses them. Li-io batteries are a different technology but we have proven their usefulness in laptops and cell phones. It is new technology to build large li-ion batteries so that is something a bet evolutionary but not revolutionary in battery design.

Yet, I think at least with Toyota they have proven track record. The Toyota Camry uses the same technology as the Prius. The Nissan Altima Hybrid licenses hybrid tech from Toyota. I can't comment on the Honda, Ford or Chevy technology but these electric systems are not all new and electric motors are very reliable. Even nuclear subs and air craft carriers uses electric turbines. They are very efficient.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius