I do not seriously mean blame the EPA, but I've read on posting boards that people forget that the mileage numbers that end up on window stickers is really more of a reference number than the actual number you will get. There has been lots of talk about how outdated and unrealistic the EPA economy numbers are, and I will grant you that their testing regimen is not really representative of current highway driving characteristics or city driving characteristics. But what you can give the EPA is credit for keeping things consistent. If you ignore that you are looking at their MPG test results and just see absolute values and compare values between vehicles, without considering MPG you actually get a good idea of the potential benefit of driving hybrid. As hybrid drivers, we are supersensitive to changes in fuel economy because our vehicles are either always communicating to us fuel economy or because we chose hybrid to get better fuel economy. Although I'm nowhere close to EPA numbers, I'm not unhappy. How many folks out there are getting better than 30mpg with their regular vehicles? And during the winter?

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)