My wife and I once had the opportunity to test drive a Toyota Prius and we were just smitten. 
Unfortunately, love alone cannot make owning a hybrid car a reality. We may live green at our house, but we don't necessarily have much "green", if you know what I mean. With one car free of car payments and another almost paid off, the economics of our household precludes us from buying a hybrid car that can range anywhere from the low to mid $20,000's (for models like the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Saturn Vue) up into the $30,000+ range (for models like the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid or the Lexus RX 400h AWD). No, the prospect of acquiring a car loan at this point is not only unattractive, but also economically suicidal.
Unfortunately, despite all of our hybrid dreams, prudence takes the wheel and directs our course in this matter. Even with ever-rising gas prices, most people will be better able to keep their heads above water by hanging onto their gas-guzzling cars, rather than springing for that oh-so-attractive hybrid car. According to Consumer Reports, you'd be better off hanging onto your 2005 Ford 500 SEL V6 sedan (21 miles per gallon) rather than buying the 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid (44 miles per gallon). How so? Well, suppose you drive 12,000 miles a year with gas prices at $3.75 a gallon (you'd have to build a time machine to get back to those prices!). That equals about $2,000 a year in gas for the Ford and just $1000 for the Prius---not bad, eh? However, consider the total cost of ownership: "depreciation, finance charges for a 60-month loan, insurance, maintenance, sales tax and fuel costs...the Toyota will cost about $9,000 to own for the first 12 months, while the Ford costs $6,000 during the same period...a difference of $3,000." Ah, the pain of cold, hard economics.
Well, there's always the lottery...
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