When most people compare their new hybrids to some other car, they don't pick 'another similar car.' They pick the last car they drove, or if they're actually in car-buying mode, the other cars they're thinking about. Depending on the person, this might mean comparing a Ford Focus to a Mercury Sable station wagon or it might mean comparing a Kia Spectra to a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Who knows?

Some people might have a very narrow focus when they shop for cars- all the same brand, or all the same price, or all the same body style. Others might be considering a wider range, especially if they are dealing with a spouse who has a different set of priorities or wish-list items. In the end, all kinds of crazy comparisons will probably need to be made for someone, somewhere to make a purchase decision- and that's perfectly fine.

Magazines and consumer publications try to line up data for some of the comparisions that they think are the most useful or will be coming up the most often, and because those of us in the hybrid community are very sensitive to bias, some of the comparisons they pick seem very unfair to us. Maybe they are, especially if the comparision is used to draw larger conclusions that are not generally true, but if the comparisons are just presented in the abstract, there's nothing particularly unfair about it. It is the choices that these publications make about spinning the story to shock or appeal to an audience that shouldn't be done, not the basic vehicle comparisons themselves.