Mark Phelan, the man who trashed the Hybrids in an article a couple of weeks ago, has a new article today:

http://www.freep.com/money/autorevie...e_20050217.htm

Here is a quote:

"Fuel economy is to hybrid owners as what horsepower is to sports car owners. They keep track of their mileage, brag about it and argue about it.

So it's no surprise that I heard from a lot of them after writing a story Feb. 3 that showed hybrids don't get the advertised mileage because activating the defroster keeps their engines from shutting down to save gasoline.

I asked those readers to keep track of their mileage for a week -- not that they needed urging. Some of them have been keeping track of their mileage since they bought their car. One reader -- Paul Valko of Oakland Township -- has a Web site with a chart showing the mileage at every fill-up since buying the car in December."