My experience with the Prius has been very good running those 1-2 mile errands if you do all of them in the same afternoon. The engine heats up quickly if it is not freezing outside adn normally after the first 1-2 mile trip the engine will only turn on for a short while and I can easily scoot around on the electric motor only between 30-40MPH. I only need the engine if I need to get up to speed from a light and then run on the motor from there. I find that I actually get better MPG on those trips than my normal commute that can have a lot of fast (70-80 MPH) highway driving.

If you don't do the short trips within a short period of each other the MPG will suffer significantly. Just a matter of figuring out how to manupilate the HSD to make the electric motor do most of the miles on short around town trips.

as an owner of neither car (i'm here reading these threads because i'm considering both) - i'd just like to point out that - in most cities at least - you can likely walk for a lot of those 1 to 2 mile trips, unless you face a physical handicap. With infinite gas mileage...