Well, I tried to keep the post from getting too long. Here's the clarification. We are a 3 vehicle family - my Impreza, her Beetle, and the family Yukon XL which is often driven by our nanny. The nature and schedule of our jobs requires a vehicle each. The Yukon isn't going anywhere - no other real options for what it does. We are trying to relegate it to very limited duty ie. when everyone and a large amount of gear are going somewhere. We have decided to replace the Beetle with a smaller 6-7 passenger to achieve this goal. The Highlander is the front-runner here. The big issue was whether or not the HiHY would see the real world gains in our situation over the ICE Highlander that the EPA numbers suggest. If it does, it will be worth the extra $$ (Toyo dealers throughout BC will only sell the HY for msrp). If our driving habits are likely to degrade Hybrid performance much more than ICE performance and we won't see much benefit, then as stated we'd put cash towards a different project.