Well I feel the need to but in here......

I love my Escape Hybrid and the Prius I have at work, but they both have 2 major short comings -

Space and Beatablity (or what every you want to call it).

I am 6'6" and my 2 boys are heading that way. At 6 and 8 they are almost as cramped in the FEH as I am. The Prius is of course much worse.

Also I can't seem to carry anything in my FEH without causing a dent or a scratch. The car is just to fragile for those of us who live in truely rural areas. Just yesterday i need to carry 2 12' 4x4s to my house and it involved some very tricky work with the roof rack and straps. Carrying fertilizer or gravel is even worse (I now keep it on the hitch in a hitch rack, but the weight causes the suspension to bottom out).

We need some more roomy hybrids - hopefully pickups. My old F-250 extended cab could carry the whole family and tons of gear or home improvement stuff without any complaints. My contractor wants a hybrid pickup ASAP, he does 50k a year in his trucks and gas is eating him alive.

Right now for those of us who need a larger vehicle there is no hybrid option so we are stuck with the gas guzzlers.....

My 2 cents. - let the flaming commence.

Chris Brown