A lot of people seem to think all hybrids cost atleast $4k more than same car in a non-hybrid trim (I even had one girl ask why I would spend $40k on a car just to save gas for other people). I like to point out that an '06 Civic Hybrid's MSRP is $2,790 more than the MSRP of a Civic EX sedan w/automatic transmission. You could subtract about $500 from $2,790 if you want to include the HCH's standard rear spoiler and floormats (and automatic climate control), but I don't since theres no sunroof on the hybrid. Anyway, $2,790 minus the $2,100 federal income tax credit bring it down to just $690. Let's round down and say the average person drives 12k miles per year and gas is only $2.25 cents per gallon, and the hybrid gets 50mpg vs the EX's 35mpg...you'd save $231 per year in fuel costs. $690 divided by $231...3 years to recoup the costs of upgrading to the Hybrid version of the Civic.

I also remind people that the second generation Prius is a midsize car like the Camry and not a compact like the corolla...and that the prius starts at $22,955, a lot of people think it's a $30k car.