You actually bothered to open a photo gallery to look at pictures of a Prius? That's like opening up a photo gallery of Hillary Clinton. It's not worth the click of the mouse.

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That car has monkeys butt written all over it.

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Do you consider a real middle class tax cut a subsidy too? You know, as opposed to a tax cut where 95% of the cut goes to the top 1%. If you do, I agree with you.

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Settle down, I wasn't making political commentary. My point was that we used to offer tax credits for the Prius (a subsidy), and they have since expired. The Japanese government currently offers a big credit for buying "green vehicles," so they currently subsidize the Prius. I merely wonder how much of the profit on the Prius is due to being able to hold prices artificially high because of the subsidies in Japan.

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What a TURD!

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Well in that case how about healthcare? Many foreign countries provide healthcare for their citizens, so manufacturers don't have to pay healthcare costs. In some ways this is a similar subsidy that allows them to have higher profits compared to US companies.

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WTF Healthcare? From which bus did you just fall? That is a Prius not a fecking ambulance!

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If only that changed the fact this car is uglier than the devil's face.

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Hybrids and the prius were here long before the worldwide "green" crisis, they were technological displays from manufacturers as a midway step to different powertrain, the green shift in the past years just gave them the image and companies are obviously using it as a marketing, and isn't that the obvious thing to do? A hybrid is not worst of a purchase than a sports car or a motorcycle. Any dingbat knows they can save money by buying a used cars or a non hybrid, some care where their money goes, either to petrol companies or car companies. Europe is laughing at us with their 70 MPG + diesel cars, thanks to the American view on Europe and EPA restrictions.

I own a motorcycle and I like saying how cheap it it to run, then people say yea but you spent 4000$ on it. I say yes I'd rather spend money on a vehicle than gas...at least I get a good resale value.

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*thanks to the American view on DIESEL and EPA restrictions.

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Actually, remy, the environmental movement as been around since long before hybrid technology, or for that matter cars. Karl Benz was granted the first patent for an automobile in 1886, while the British Alkali Acts, intended to regulate air pollution, were enacted in 1863. For as long as there has been industry, there have been those who would inhibit and deny the progress of our society by claiming concern for our planet.

There are, without a doubt, countries in which hybrids make sound fiscal sense. In Japan, the vast majority of driving, for those who even own a car, is in stop-and-go city traffic and gasoline prices are absurd, not to mention that whatever effects emissions have on the global ecosystem, they certainly are unpleasant for city dwellers navigating the streets on foot.

Japanese hybrids in this country, though, make no sense whatsoever. They are too expensive to realize a positive ROI within the ownership period of the first buyer, they require a significant output of emissions during transportation from overseas, their fad status results in questionable sales tactics by dealers and the people who buy them are for the most part motivated by a deep-seated need for acceptance by their likeminded peers or a misguided sense of superiority in their often inconsistent and hypocritical defense of the "environment." These are not reasons to purchase a car.

Europe can laugh themselves silly over their 70mpg diesels (and I, for the record am fully in support of diesel power), but I'm afraid I laugh even harder at their fuel prices. Understand that the reasons these cars are popular there is not because the people have somehow evolved their thinking on a fundamental level to supersede some primitive American concept of motoring bliss - these cars are popular because their socialist governments have heaped tax after tax on them to cripple the traditional automotive industry and thereby create a stifling engineering atmosphere in which auto makers must bow to legislative mandate rather than actual customer wants and needs.

The error in your reasoning, remy, is that you believe Europeans WANT frugal cars and are being given those products by the car makers, but what you fail to connect is the preceding step where the government lays a burdensome penalty upon the consumer if they fail to comply with the mandate for "greener" vehicles.

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Thanks to Bush's CAFE standard accelerated to 2015 by Obama, you better learn to love them, or you will be doing a lot of walking.

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Don't confuse a very good machine with politics. It's goal is efficiency and it does that very well.

Some people pay exorbitant premiums for power that isn't even possible to use ($10k for a 160 mph SS Camaro). Some pay premiums to keep from going to gas stations.

Personally, I don't want to send my money to the Saudis and I hate going to gas stations. Since I live in LA traffic, that means I can go over a month without a fill-up, two if I ride my motorcycle. For me, that's worth it.

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