The LAST car we bought was a hybrid. What will the next be? Something more efficient again. Possibly a supplemental plug-in battery powered by solar panels on our garage roof? The drawback is that batteries are heavy so require even more energy to lug around and lots of space to put them in. So here's wishing for lightweight, compact batteries.

It would be better to make more use of public transportation, but we do a lot of carpooling (my wife and I both work at the same institution and my son goes to school nearby, so we're making fairly efficient use of vehicles that way) and public transit doesn't permit hauling much stuff around. Besides for short distances (<10km), it's faster (and healthier) to bike (at least when the snow finally melts....BBBRRR/GRRRRR). Now, when is my city finally going to become bike friendly?

I dislike having to drive and had given up my licence for over 10 years. Unfortunately, we now live in a rural area with no transit and we must drive everywhere.

I miss the excercise of my bike and of walking and the time spent in real time in the real world. Just going out for a walk, bike or run is excruciatingly boring in comparison. The world of car is so -- unreal -- that it has to be one of the leading causes of depression and it is no wonder that this depression has leant itself to the recent popular explosion of "road rage".

I'll be buying a gas engine car in the near future, a lot smaller, newer, and more efficient than what I'm trying not to drive now, I'm not sure hybrids are a lot better than very high mpg cars anyway, once you consider the environmental costs of producing the batteries, their lifespan of 5 years, complicated recycling (or export) and expensive replacement. I may be wrong, but I can't afford a hybrid anyway, so when I get my more efficient gas car, I'm going to use it as rarely as I can.

I'll definitely be getting a gas car, once again...What kind of gas car? That remains to be seen. As a student, hybrids are too too expensive, and I think the technology needs time to mature. I like the idea though...

Me, Spouse, Four pre-teen children, one income (minister's salary). The financial costs of hybrids will have to come down for me to purchase one (do they even make hybrid mini-vans?). I will continue have just one vehicle, I will walk and bike as much as I can, I will drive the speed limit and I won't leave the van idling. That's the best I can do so far.

I wish I could afford a hybrid - or just a next car in general!

My next car, which I pick up tomorrow, is gasoline. But it is a more compact car than the one I am currently driving, with better mileage. I try to combine my trips as much as possible so that I am not just running the roads all the time. Again, as has been said a few times, the hybrids are just too far out of my price range to be considered. Maybe by the time I go to buy my next car after this one, the technology will be less expensive, or there may be new technology all together that is better.

Considering our car got stolen out of the church parking lot 2 weeks ago during Sunday worship, this is really pertinant for us. Up until then, I had my heart set on a Prius to replace our echo. Now after reading the LemonAid used and new car buying guides, I think I'll see if we can find a Yaris instead. Like most things, there are drawbacks that in our case at least do not seem to balance off the benefits, and in the long run I'm not sure the hybrid cars are better from an overall impact picture. Feedback anyone, before I sign for delivery?

We bought a new car last month. We thought about a hybrid but for the additional cost we decided to go with a smaller car which had better gas mileage. Now we are seniors so we have to think about what we are putting into the car up front and the additional cost for the hybrid did not compute for us. We did buy a much smaller car which we feel will last us for many years. wE went from a Nisssan Maxima to a Nissan Versa and are very pleased with our choice. It was quite funny when the sales manager commented that we were giving up such a luxury car for our new smaller car. We told him we wanted to save on gas and that is what we are doing. We feel we are doing our small bit for the environment; maybe not as much as a hybrid would do but at least we are contributing.

We share one vehicle between 4 households (13 people in total)... and "in a perfect world" it would be a hybrid! Alas, we just can't afford one. During the times that our families are not sharing the vehicle we all use public transit, bike and yes....walk!

I have to agree with the suggestion that our cities and towns should become more "bike friendly" as safety is a huge consideration for most of us. Canadians must follow the example of our European neighbours and implement bike lanes and construct more trails to encourage this "green" form of transportation. The health benefits alone would be staggering, not to mention the environmental impact.