Hello folks, quick introduction as to where I popped up from, I am Mark’s high school buddy from Calcutta, India. I have finally settled in Michigan via London (4yrs), then Montreal(3yrs). So Krissy (my wife) and I were shopping around for an “affordable” green car. We had heard alot about the Toyota Prius and since we live close to Ann Arbor, we had seen quite a few on the roads. Now I myself, have always been an ardent supporter of mass transportation, and living in large cities such as Calcutta, London and Montreal, it makes more sense, so I had decided if I was going to get a car I was not going to give in to my reptilian brain and buy a gas guzzling vehicle. The Toyota Hybrid Prius looks very sleek and trendy, starting at $21,725 MSRP and depending on trim, etc, it could go up to $23,700. So I started reading the reviews, and this is what I found. The new Prius 2006 is pretty much similar to the 2005 model, apart for the the mp3 adapter, leather seat and navigation system. My initial search only kept bringing up positive reviews (vehix.com) and since I am new at the “buying a car game” this did seem alarming, but then again the Prius has only been around for a few years. The Prius is rated by the Federal Government EPA 60/51 mpg City/Highway 55 mpg Combined, however one is more likely to see 41 to 48 mpg, so if you think that this car is going to save you a whole lot of money on gas, then you are in for a a suprise, the reason you should want to buy the Prius is because of the extremely low emissions (http://www.vehix.com and toyota online specs brochure). This car virtually pollution free and all reviews state that it is environmetally friendly. Now the cons, the technology is very new, and hybrids work on gas and electricity, so your car is literally a huge traction Ni-Metal Hydride battery. So you just cannot take it in to you local mechanic. Toyota gives a 36 month-36000 miles full warranty and roadside assistance. That does not seem to good. So if you want to decrease air pollution and help save our planet,and if you can afford to shell out $23,000 go ahead (tax break as an added bonus) but I would wait till a little bit more, since there our other new technologies such as the Fuel cell and ethanol cars being tried out. My wife and I would have loved to get our hands on a Prius, but grad school and a wedding has done away with all our saving, the Prius was way out of our budget. So we settled for the Mazda3i, we could not pass over the Umich employee discount ($16,000) and the fact that we needed a good car immediately that was our only solution. As a mid-size sedan, it is very peppy, since the last car my wife owned was a 1991 GMC Jimmy, we are working our way towards more environmentally friendly vehicles.

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