Having said that, i would never drive one, they are only really in thier element in the stop-start trafic of cities, where i would much prefer the agility and trafic eating abilities of my motorbike. If i were running a company (say an IT company) that serviced a wide metropolitan area, a prius would make a great little fleet car. Not only being economical, but also providing a “green” (or should that now be blue?) image would be great.

I still cant see them taking off with any great success, especially in light of the recent drop in petrol prices world wide.

It looks nice, it has great economy, its conveys a “green” (or blue) image and im sure you would feel better for the enviroment when driving it, but i think ill stick to my XR6T Ute, 8.7 l/100km highway and about 11.5 l/100km city will keep me happy, especially when i can step on the loud pedal and feel something (a LOT of something if we are being honest).

Thats my 2c.

The FCX is not available for sale you can ONLY lease it in California and nwhere else on the planet, also how can you buy the GM Hire wire, even you state its not in production. Get real.

Will the new model be cheaper or still a blatant ripoff like the old.

Toyota charging more for less as usual.LOL.

And with the guages it just shows how Cheap Toyota is, the reason they put the guages in the middle is to save money, when building left hand and right hand drive cars.

Now personally i dnt care about this car or any other Hybrids or Diesels, im more of a V8 person.

Some Diesel cars are more economical than this prius, but they are all just gimmicks.

If u do wana save the world go buy something like a Honda FCX Clarity (Already on sale) or a GM Hy Wire (Which isnt in production yet) which produce no emissions what so ever.

The rumor started from those leaked pics of the cars smart keys. One of them has a AC button on it, one doesn’t.

Regardless Honda are saying the Insight will be about 30K or less when it launches in Australia in 2009.

It will be very interesting to see how Toyota can justify to people to spend close to 10K more for their prius, considering they will both look very similar and are both hybrids and both from very reputable car brands.

Unless Honda has shocked Toyota abit of pricing and Toyota will be forced to eather lower the price, or have more kit as standard to make it worth the premium toyota wanted.

Intesting times ahead.

I have to admit I personally think the Prius looks ALOT better then the new Insight. The concept pics of the Insight looked great! but after that side profile pic of the PRODUCTION Insight got leaked, it looks abit gross.

I think it all comes down to the wheels. And the Prius’s wheels do look quite nice.