I wrote this myself, it got quite popular so I thought I will share it :)

If you love Iron Man the movie as much as I do and you want to know more about the background info on Iron Man, then you can satisfy your nerdy side a bit here.

Well I am glad he has a sense of humor..

I think there is a mistake in the article, it assumes you can buy a Prius for MSRP from Toyota's website.

I was at a dealer recently here in NJ, and used Prius were being priced at 27-28k, while the new Prius on the lot were being priced 30k+

I asked if I can special order one for MSRP, they told me I cant, the only way to get a Prius is get it off a dealer, not directly order one from the factory.

At 30k, I think one would start to think the benefit of a Prius vs what they can get for 30k, or what they will save for getting a Corolla.

Also, Accord is a bad comparison as Accord is a large sedan and serves a different purpose than a small Prius.

The article is right on that hybrid can save you a lot of money, you will be amazed. But that cant hold true much longer considering the premium you will have to pay to own one of those things.

Fuel efficiency is the key.

You don't need a Prius, but you wouldn't want a car from GM when the same class of car from Toyota is similarly priced, have better reliability, and uses less fuel?

Granted American cars have better reliabilities now, but it takes time before the notion of poorly built American cars wear off... so if you can't beat them on price, on public image, what can you do? ;)

Well if you are more concerned with your wallet, then the used car would be the way to go.

There are not very many unsold Prius on the lot right now... the used ones have a higher sticker cost than a brand new fully loaded one from the Toyota website!

And when you ask the dealer if you can buy a new one without all the markup, they tell you that you cant directly order from the factory so you will be paying the premium for a Prius.

I think those extra 10-20k spent on the hybrid could be better used to better the environment in some other way ;)