> Every time I drive past a gas station, I laugh at the people with SUVs. Maybe this will get people to drive efficient vehicles.
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> ~Chrysan"I want a hybrid"themum~

I've been putting some serious thought to the Toyota Prius. I have some reservations about the cost of replacing the batteries. I tend to keep cars for ten years or 200,000 miles, whichever comes last. So I wonder how many sets of batteries I would need and how much they would cost.

Another train of thought is that if they get their best mileage in town and not so good on the interstate, would it be the right car for me? Most of my driving is trips. As I understand it, the car runs on electricity most of the time in town and on gasoline most of the time on the highway. I think the electric motor kicks in to help on hills and when passing another car, which means that performance is respectable.

I found out that I can improve my mileage if I work at it. On a recent trip to Georgia I drove 68 instead of 72 or 73 as I usually do. Coming home, I stayed off the interstate, and cruised at 55. I turned off the cruise in hilly country and tried gaining speed down hill and losing a little going up. I also backed off early at stops or coming into towns. This was in the truck which normally gets in the high twenties, but we got about 32 miles per gallon. I am not making this up. The truck has a small engine and a manual transmission. We used the air conditioner most of the time, and on the way home we had about four or five hundred pounds in the bed, but I worked at saving gas the whole time and succeeded very well. I'm sure it took a little longer, but not enough to make any real difference.

One word of caution. If you drive below the speed limit on the interstate, stay in the right lane as much as possible and watch your mirrors. Getting rear ended by a trailer truck or a flying SUV would be no fun at all.
Howard