Bringing teh stoopid

Check out these choice quotes from John Helig of the Auto Page in his review of the Ford Fusion. Apparently, the coolest thing about the Fusion is, it doesn’t look like the Prius. Mission accomplished Ford!

Toyota’s Prius is, arguably, the most successful hybrid. But it, too, looks slightly strange. You know one when you see one, and the owners all have these smug looks on their faces as if to say “I’m special. Look what I’m doing for the environment.” The fact that one-passenger Priuses can go in HOV-2 lanes doesn’t hurt either.

“Arguably”? It is. There’s really no question on this. The sales figures are pretty simple here. As Jim Rome says, “scoreboard”.

And the whole, tired South Park dig, just tired.

The Prius is good for 35-40 mpg in normal driving, but the rear seat is still compact-car size, which isn’t fun for senior citizens.

One has to wonder if Helig has ever driven or been in a Prius. The Prius isn’t a “compact” car by any rational standards and the back seat certainly isn’t small for most senior citizens, at least senior citizens under seven feet tall and 600 pounds.

But there are those of us who aren’t looking for sainthood and expecting “normal car” drivers to bow down to us as we pass. While we appreciate the virtues of hybrids, we don’t necessarily like the sacrifices we’re asked to make.

Yeah, I was thinking about this yesterday as I was driving down the road, sunroof open, relaxing in my leather seats, blasting the stereo. Wow, the sacrifices I have to make just to make a cheap grab for sainthood. Well, enough of that woolgathering. Now it’s time to practice my intimidating smug face.

In the end, I think it’s funny that the first three paragraphs of a review on the Ford Fusion are a diatribe aimed at the most popular hybrid in the world and on its owners. Good luck with that appraoch Mr. Helig. I’ll GM’s PR department has a position just waiting for you with mad skillz like that.

California HOV sticker extensions?

As reported by Mr. Roadshow…

Q I have a Civic Hybrid and have the Clean Air Vehicle stickers that allow me to use the carpool lane when driving solo. I believe the program expires at the end of 2010. Will the program be extended? I would hope so, as the qualifying vehicles are still the highest-mileage cars on the road and it is the carpool-lane cheaters that are clogging up those lanes.
Mark Gion
Morgan Hill

A I offer a ray of hope for the 85,000-plus owners of hybrids with carpool stickers, as well as those who drive electric cars or vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. Two bills (AB 1500 and AB 1502) have been introduced in Sacramento to extend this perk until 2016 or 2017, and a hearing is scheduled March 30. While no more stickers are being issued for hybrids, stickers are still available for electric and natural gas-powered vehicles. Go to www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/decal.htm for more information.

Q We have carpool stickers on our Prius. Are we allowed to use the carpool lane to go across bay bridges during commute hours for free? We always wonder if we are going to get caught doing something wrong.
Wendy and Roger Ng
Palo Alto

A You could. A driver in a hybrid with stickers can use the carpool lanes on the bridge approaches, but the toll crossing is free only if your Prius has the required number of occupants (three on some bridges, two on the San Mateo and Dumbarton).

Slush and ice

Here at POG-HQ in Lancaster , PA I awoke to two inches nicely crusted over with about a half an inch of ice. It took about an hour to shovel, scrape and brush all the snow and ice away.

All of which is to say, if you live in an area with with winter weather, be careful out there today. I know that here it’s slippery and icey and if the weather gets two degress colder, everything will be coated in thick sheathing of ice, two degrees warmer and everything will be covered in slush.

I love the winter. I really do.

Once again, I can’t afford to lose any readers, every one of you is important.

Have fun and drive safe,
russell

p.s. The new Bridgestone tires, while not offering great economy performance, have, thus far, offered fantastic winter weather peformance. Today will probably be as good a test as we’ve had all winter but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how much better the Prius’ traction is with the Bridgestone’s.

HOV Tennessee

Owners of select hybrid vehicles in Tennessee can now access HOV lanes when driving solo.

Shout out

Thanks to Micheline Maynard of the New York Times for mentioning us in her Prius Diaries. It’s always nice to see a mention somewhere else. I suppose it’s somewhat like the fellowship she was writing in this installment.

She did ask some pertinent questions at the end of her diary questions which I hope I can respond to in some qualitative manner.

But I’m looking for advice from the Green Inc. Prius Fellowship about what I should expect when snow flies. What kind of preparations do you make for winter driving? Is there anything I should be aware of? Who buys snow tires — and would I need them with a brand-new car? What will my gas mileage look like? Feel free to post your comments below.

In general Micheline winter, somewhat the the very hottest times of summer, is not the ideal for the Prius. Of course, drastically different conditions apply.

Again, in general, you’ll see your MPG go down. It takes more ICE running time for the motor heat up, that uses more fuel. Road conditions also contribute to a MPG decrease as loss of traction and just the slogging through the snow demands more horsepower than running down the road normally does.

Snow tires? Well, I’ve never bought snow tires but I don’t live in Detroit. I live in Lancaster, PA where the winters are, quite mild in comparison to your average Detroit winter. That said, there are Prius owners in places with similar weather to yours that do not buy snow tires and seem to do fine. The biggest difference you’re going to see, compared to your former ride, is less ground clearance (no plowing through big drifts) and less traction (I assume you had some more than two wheel drive in something tagged “SUV”). The Prius performs in the winter as most front wheel drive cars do. The engine being directly over the drive wheels helps. The wheels on the Prius are small, so there’s no large footprint to help grip the road as there is in larger vehicles. All in all, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with your Prius’s winter performance, I know I have been.

None of which is to scoff at snow tires. There’s no doubt that some of the offerings from Nokian will give you better winter traction and maximize your MPG performance but at a cost. It’s up to you if that trade-off is a good one.

As for preparations, I make the same ones I do for any car I’ve ever owned. I keep a small, collapsible snow shovel in back, a small bag of sand (for added traction, not weight) and a nice ice scraper. That’s about it.

Special treatment?

The Houston Chronicle did a piece on special parking spots for hybrids focusing on retailers that provide choice “hybrid only” spots.

I’ll take a somewhat contrarian stand and say that I think free parking and incentives from municipalities are a great idea. Free meter parking, HOV lane access (though this is less and less valid as time goes on) are good ideas to encourage better motoring. A retail store that blocks off a few front spaces for hybrids, well, not so good.

Put simply, the private company is sticking a thumb in the eye of every customer that hasn’t bought a hybrid. It’s a little different when a city or state decides to offer an incentive to switch to hybrids. Ikea doing it, maybe not such a good idea.

Just my take.

Dumb quote of the day

It’s what journamalism (sort of like truthiness) has evolved into. As though there would be some point in seeing the “Prius bubble pricked”. I wonder why so many auto writers seem to be personally engaged in seeing the Prius, as a car, suffer somehow. It’s really odd. At this point there’s some kind of reality avoidance talking place here. The Prius is successful because it works, it deliver on what it promises. Not because of hype or smugness or some other silly joke.

That said, as I said yesterday when I posted on the proposed pricing for the new Honda hybrid, it really depends on what Honda actually makes. If Honda’s hybrid is smaller and a underpowered (compared to the Prius) it might not affect the Prius very much at all. Part of the appeal of the Prius is that it is a mid-size, five passenger car. It’s one of the reasons why the Prius survived and flourishes where the Insight did not*.

We’ll have to wait and see.

No pricking the Prius bubble — yet

So far, the recent shrinkage (as George Costanza might say) of the oil price bubble hasn’t brought much relief to buyers of another overpriced commodity — the Toyota Prius.

Data tracker J.D. Power & Associates reports that Priuses remained scarce on dealer lots during the first three weeks of July, even as gas prices began to inch down.

The gas-electric hybrids — which get the best fuel economy of any mass-produced vehicle sold in the U.S. — are staying on dealer lots for an average of five days. The average “time to turn” for all vehicles sold in the U.S. is more like 60 days, meaning that Priuses are basically arriving in showrooms already spoken for.

Some dealers around the L.A. area do have unclaimed Priuses in stock (Toyota of Glendale, for example). But Longo Toyota in El Monte, the world’s largest Toyota dealer, has a three-month waiting list.

That scarcity has helped keep Prius prices in the fast lane. Kelley Blue Book, which tracks auto pricing, says Priuses are selling for $1,000 to $1,500 above the car’s sticker price of $22,160 to $24,430 (depending on trim level) — and this at a time when overall auto sales are at recessionary levels. Used Priuses also command premium prices. That’s especially true in California, where a Prius with the coveted HOV lane sticker — which are transferable to the new owner — can add thousands of dollars to the resale value.

Other hybrids, including the Honda Civic hybrid, which has fuel economy numbers almost as good as the Prius does, aren’t experiencing the same level of demand. Libby thinks the Prius’ distinction as a purpose-built hybrid — as opposed to a hybrid version of an existing model — is part of the reason for that.

Toyota recently said it would raise the suggested retail price of the 2009 Prius by $500. The automaker reportedly is set to increase Prius production by 70%, but analyst Tom Libby of J.D. Power said that won’t help wannabe buyers anytime soon. Nor will modestly lower gas prices.

A bigger threat could be posed by the expected debut early next year of Honda’s long-awaited hybrid-only car. Spy photos recently surfaced, taken during a Death Valley driving test. Although heavily camouflaged, the vehicle looked suspiciously like a … Prius.

“If any manufacturer has the brand credibility to take on the Prius, it would be Honda,” said Eric Noble, president of auto consultancy the Car Lab. “I’m not sure that overtly copying the Prius’ exterior design was the way to do that, but it’s apparently the way they’ve chosen.”

Still, the hybrid Honda is expected to cost less than a Prius. And that could finally take a bit of the air out of the Prius bubble.

— Martin Zimmerman

* And I want to be clear here, I have nothing bad to say about the Insight other than, I think, one of the big reasons if failed was that Honda dealer did not support it. I tried to buy an Insight before I bought my Prius and was basically turned away from Honda dealers who didn’t believe in it, didn’t stock it and had nothing good to say about it. On the more objective side, the Insight was a small, very lightweight, two-seater. It’s not as versatile as the Prius. Of course, it’s the MPG champ if you can use a smaller vehicle. To me, it was the perfect car for the younger person looking for a first vehicle.

So, make no mistake, I have nothing but respect and admiration for the Insight. It was a great car. Same goes for Honda in general. They’re a great company.

Not enough suckers out there

Buy a house, get a car
Catherine Poe hopes the incentive of a Toyota Prius will draw buyers
Poe bought the 1905 Colonial home for $335,000, hoped for $40,000 profit
Some Realtors say the incentive is creative, others caution against it as a gimmick

From Kate Bolduan and Edvige Jean-François
CNN

Easton, Maryland (CNN) — New appliances and vacation packages aren’t unusual giveaways in the housing slump, but one woman is taking the unorthodox step of throwing in a car with the purchase of her home.

Catherine Poe is throwing in a Toyota Prius hybrid with the sale of her renovated Maryland house.

“My daughter came up with the idea,” Catherine Poe said. “We’re losing money on the house, and the Prius only adds to losing money, but we also realize it’s time we really got to sell the house.”

Poe and her daughter bought the 1907 three-bedroom colonial in Easton, Maryland, in 2005 as an investment property.

In the past, the pair has bought two historic homes within minutes of Maryland’s shoreline, renovated and resold them during a red-hot housing market.

Poe said she and her daughter bought this house for $335,000, spent $300,000 restoring it and were hoping for a $40,000 profit when they first put it on the market.

Don’t take my word for it, look at the house and tell me that this home is;

a. worth anywhere near $600k

or

b. any or all of the five mediocre photographs show that this flipper actually put $300,000 into the home. I know she said she did but do you see it?

(*EDIT: as of 8/19/8 she’s updated the listing with 8 better images. Still…)

Me either.

Like so many people are finding out right now, pricing is what is holding back real estate. She’s way over the line and tossing in a Prius may get her a human interest story here and there but it likely won’t get someone to pony up more than half a million bucks for her “investment”.

But after more than a year of trying to sell it, taking it off the market and putting it back on, they say they’re ready to cut their losses.

With gas prices hovering about $4 a gallon in most states, they hope the fuel-efficient Toyota Prius hybrid, which costs about $23,000 for a new model, will sweeten the pot even more.

Poe’s real estate agent said he is optimistic about the giveaway, saying that an incentive of that magnitude was a first for one of his clients.

“You have to be creative. You have to learn how to do different things, and if we learn anything from this, certainly, we will replicate it,” said Chuck Mangold, who has put an ad for the Prius in the local newspaper.

But Elizabeth Blakeslee of the National Association of Realtors cautions buyers about “gimmicks” to draw attention to a house.

“In my 18 years as a Realtor, I have never known anyone who has actually received whatever it was, the trip or the car,” said Blakeslee, a regional vice president for the NAR. “It’s generally negotiated away during the process of the buying or selling negotiations.”

She added that a competitive selling price is a better way to get buyers interested and generate a sale.

According to the NAR, existing home sales remain 14 percent below a year ago. Even with a projected small uptick in 2009, analysts are predicting a slow recovery.

Poe said she is motivated by a love for old homes.

“It’s not flipping, so much as coming back and renovating and presenting it to the person who appreciates that,” she said. “It’s not like coming and going ‘Wham, bam, here’s a house for you,’ just jack up the price $100,000.

“The love affair with historic houses is still there. We’re having to be realistic also.”

The house is selling for $595,000, and Poe says she is willing to reduce the price if a potential buyer doesn’t want the Prius.

She just hopes the car gets them through the door, because a straight price cut apparently just doesn’t cut it anymore.

HOV lane in Colorado

Finally reacting to a law passed in 2003, CDOT (Colorado Department of Transportation) began issuing 2,000 HOV lane stickers to owners of hybrid vehicles. As of yesterday it’s been reported that 1,100 stickers had already been issued.

“Hysteria”?

The only hysteria I see comes from media organizations. Most people I know or have contact with aren’t hysterical in any sense of the word.

Live by the hype, die by the hype.

A few comments interspersed the article continue below…

Hybrid hysteria for buyers seeking scarce Prius
By TERRY BOX
Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Toyota’s Prius hybrid already owns the so-called nerd niche — the legions of greenies, techies and trendies smitten with the little gas-electric sedan.

But with fuel prices hovering around $4 a gallon, scores of regular people are joining them, snatching up every Prius they can find and driving up prices at some area Toyota dealerships by as much as $5,000 over window sticker.

A year-old Prius with average mileage is worth more than it was new, or more than $28,000, according to many dealers’ Web sites.

“Lots of folks are so unsettled by fuel prices that they’re mad and really want to strike back,” said John Mathews, managing partner of Pat Lobb Toyota and Scion of McKinney. “It’s hybrid hysteria.”

Most small-car sales in general are up as buyers continue their dramatic shift away from trucks and SUVs. Through May, U.S. sales of the compact Honda Fit were up 64 percent, and the previously slow-selling Toyota Yaris rose 50.4 percent.

But with a dazzling fuel rating of 48 miles per gallon in the city, the Prius stands atop the heap of small cars in prestige and image.

Dealers are feeling the heat of the hot little car, which is powered by an electric motor in concert with a 1.5-liter, 110-horsepower 4-cylinder engine.

Last year at this time, “we had 30 or 40 of them on the lot,” said Dane Minor, general manager of Freeman Toyota in Hurst. Now the dealership has none on the lot and a list of 50 prospective buyers clamoring to buy one.

Part of the problem is that Toyota says it can only build 150,000 Priuses for the U.S. market this year — the same number as last year — because its suppliers can provide only so many batteries and electric motors.

“People who drive a truck or SUV and are paying $100 a week for gas are saying ‘I’ve got to get into something more economical now,’” Minor said.

Although Freeman Toyota and several others continue to sell Priuses at window-sticker prices — the cars start at $21,500 — many dealers are asking $3,000 to $5,000 over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Demand for the Prius is so high and the supply so tight that many Toyota dealers set the price of the cars based on demand, said Sonny Morgan, managing partner of Sport City Toyota in Dallas — meaning above window sticker. Dealers buy their vehicles from the factory, and, as private businesses, are free to sell above or below MSRP.

“Nothing else comes even close to the Prius in mileage,” Morgan said. “I believe in selling to the market on these particular cars.”

That market is currently “$3,000 to $5,000 over window,” he said.

Just for the record, I do not support in any way dealer who mark their cars up past MSRP. Dealers who do this demonstrate a willingness to gouge customers whenever possible. Chances are, they’ll find some other way to screw you. Avoid them.

When Amy Meaux and her husband decided in May that they wanted a Prius, she checked the inventory at Sport City and found 10 or more cars available. Two days later, there were none.

“That’s when I knew we’d have to pay over window-sticker price for the car,” said Meaux, 33, an Episcopal priest in Dallas.

She said she didn’t mind because the car offered a unique combination of features, ecology and economy.

“I feel like I’m getting all the amenities I want, and I’m doing something kind of good for the environment,” Meaux said.

Most dealers said they have never seen a market in which demand has swung so rapidly from large vehicles to much smaller ones.

And while most buyers are moving away from SUVs, a touch of hybrid fever is present even there.

“We’ve seen a big surge of interest in the Tahoe Hybrid” SUV, said Ken Thompson, head of the Thompson sales group at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine.

At Pat Lobb Toyota, which has a waiting list with about a dozen people on it, the staff created a spreadsheet to help buyers determine whether a Prius is really the right vehicle for them, Mr. Mathews said. That approach is used with other vehicles as well.

Because of the higher cost of the Prius compared with a Toyota Corolla — which starts at about $15,000 and gets 27 miles per gallon in town — a buyer would need to keep the Prius for at least 5.5 years to justify the additional expense, he said. The dealership is selling its Priuses for their window-sticker prices, he said.

At what price per gallon? And that obviously assumes, as statements like this alwaysm that gas will never change price. We all know that’s a silly assumption at best.

Which isn’t to say that a Camry or a Corolla might not be the appropriate answer, far from it. Only that these equations to “pay back” the cost of a hybrid are seldom all that valid.

“When we walk them through the survey, probably 50 percent of our Prius prospects leave in a Corolla or Camry,” Mathews said. “With all the anger on this (fuel) issue, we just want to make sure people buy the car they really need.”

Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas, said he doubts that skyrocketing fuel prices will continue their “irrational” movement up. He suggested that people carefully assess all of the costs involved before jumping from a depreciating large vehicle to an inflated small one.

Anytime someone suggest gas prices will go lower or stabilize, question their judgment. History does not support their view and, I think, it ignores the trend.

“When there’s blood in the streets, sometimes the best course is to not get in the street,” he said.

Good advice. Problem is in this case, not doing anything costs people money.

You know electric car thingie we’ve been talking about, well…

…maybe you shouldn’t count on us making all that many of them.

Oops.

GM to government: Don’t count on Volt, plug-in hybrids when setting mileage standards
BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON — General Motors Corp. has told federal regulators they should not count on any fuel economy gains from the upcoming Chevrolet Volt or other plug-in hybrids when setting new efficiency standards, saying such vehicles would be built in low numbers through 2015.

The comments counter the enthusiasm GM and others have been building for the Volt as a revolutionary model with technology to reduce oil consumption and leapfrog Toyota Motor Corp.’s lead in hybrids. GM’s has set a goal for the Volt to travel 40 miles on batteries charged from a home outlet, with a engine powering electric motors providing an additional range of a few hundred miles.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Free Press last month that the automaker planned to build 10,000 Chevrolet Volts in 2011, the vehicle’s first full year of production, and 60,000 the following year. He added that the goal was highly dependent on battery and electrical suppliers, and that GM was still targeting a sales price of less than $40,000.

Earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a 25% increase in fuel economy rules from 2011 through 2015 model years, with costs to GM alone estimated at $17.3 billion. NHTSA based its rules on product plans from GM and other automakers, along with its own models of the costs and benefits from various fuel-saving technologies.

At the time, NHTSA said no automaker had provided enough information about plug-in hybrid vehicles to use them in its models. It said it would ask automakers for updated plans and incorporate estimates of plug-in hybrid production into its final rule, expected before the end of the year.

But GM told the agency last week that plug-in hybrids and Volt-type models – what GM calls EREV for extended range electric vehicles – “present numerous challenges” in being built.

“For the purposes of the NHTSA rulemaking, GM’s game-changing EREV technology should be treated as a low-volume application during the time period under consideration,” the automaker said in a filing. “We strongly discourage NHTSA from applying either PHEV or EREV technology in any significant volume in its … model during the 2011-2015 timeframe.”

GM spokesman Greg Martin said the automaker was trying to set “reasonable perspectives” with regulators.

“We’ve been very cautious in terms of the volume, just because of the innovation and the technology associated with that vehicle,” Martin said. “There’s a note of caution that, yes the technology is breakthrough, it is a game-changer, but as with any new game-changing technology, there needs to be a reasonable expectation set in terms of volume.”

GM and other automakers criticized the proposed standards on several other fronts, saying the combined target of 31.6 m.p.g. for cars and trucks woefully underestimated the industry’s costs, and took no account of its financial challenges. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that includes Detroit automakers, said the rule would cut annual sales by 856,000 vehicles, triggering job cuts of 85,000 workers.

Environmental groups and some Democrats have pressed the Bush administration to make the proposed rules even tougher, since they rely on estimates for gasoline prices of about $2.30 a gallon through 2015, far below what the government’s experts now forecast. Higher gasoline price estimates would make more expensive technologies viable under the government’s model, despite the increased burden on automakers.

Contact JUSTIN HYDE at 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com.

So Maximum Bob lets slip the truth about their halo polishing Volt when push comes to shove.

Hilarious.

IT’S HEADLINE HYSTERIA!

There seems to a few things in article that could be described as hyperbole.

$28k for a used Prius?

‘It’s hybrid hysteria’ for buyers seeking the hard-to-find Prius
By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News
tbox@dallasnews.com

Toyota’s Prius hybrid already owns the so-called nerd niche – the legions of greenies, techies and trendies smitten with the little gas-electric sedan.

But with fuel prices hovering around $4 a gallon, scores of regular people are joining them, snatching up every Prius they can find and driving up prices at some area Toyota dealerships by as much as $5,000 over window sticker.

Tax breaks for hybrids are fading
In fact, a year-old Prius with average mileage is now worth more than it was new, or more than $28,000, according to many dealers’ Web sites.

“Lots of folks are so unsettled by fuel prices that they’re mad and really want to strike back,” said John Mathews, managing partner of Pat Lobb Toyota and Scion of McKinney. “It’s hybrid hysteria.”

Most small-car sales in general are up as buyers continue their dramatic shift away from trucks and SUVs. Through May, for example, U.S. sales of the compact Honda Fit were up 64 percent, and the previously slow-selling Toyota Yaris rose 50.4 percent.

But with a dazzling fuel rating of 48 miles per gallon in the city, the Prius – for many buyers – stands atop the heap of small cars in prestige and image.

Dealers are feeling the heat of the hot little car, which is powered by an electric motor in concert with a 1.5-liter, 110-horsepower 4-cylinder engine.

Last year at this time, “we had 30 or 40 of them on the lot,” said Dane Minor, general manager of Freeman Toyota in Hurst. Now the dealership has none on the lot and a list of 50 prospective buyers clamoring to buy one.

Demand laps supply
Part of the problem is that Toyota says it can only build 150,000 Priuses for the U.S. market this year – the same number as last year – because its suppliers can provide only so many batteries and electric motors.

“People who drive a truck or SUV and are paying $100 a week for gas are saying ‘I’ve got to get into something more economical now,’ ” Mr. Minor said.

Although Freeman Toyota and several others continue to sell Priuses at window-sticker prices – the cars start at $21,500 – many dealers are asking $3,000 to $5,000 over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Demand for the Prius is so high and the supply so tight that many Toyota dealers set the price of the cars based on demand, said Sonny Morgan, managing partner of Sport City Toyota in Dallas – meaning above window sticker. Dealers buy their vehicles from the factory, and, as private businesses, are free to sell above or below MSRP.

“Nothing else comes even close to the Prius in mileage,” Mr. Morgan said. “I believe in selling to the market on these particular cars.”

That market is currently “$3,000 to $5,000 over window,” he said.

When Amy Meaux and her husband decided in May that they wanted a Prius, she checked the inventory at Sport City and found 10 or more cars available. Two days later, there were none.

“That’s when I knew we’d have to pay over window-sticker price for the car,” said Ms. Meaux, 33, an Episcopal priest in Dallas.

She said she didn’t mind because the car offered a unique combination of features, ecology and economy.

“I feel like I’m getting all the amenities I want, and I’m doing something kind of good for the environment,” Ms. Meaux said.

Prius alternatives
Most dealers said they have never seen a market in which demand has swung so rapidly from large vehicles to much smaller ones.

And while most buyers are moving away from SUVs, a touch of hybrid fever is present even there.

“We’ve seen a big surge of interest in the Tahoe Hybrid” SUV, said Ken Thompson, head of the Thompson sales group at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine.

At Pat Lobb Toyota, which has a waiting list with about a dozen people on it, the staff created a spreadsheet to help buyers determine whether a Prius is really the right vehicle for them, Mr. Mathews said. That approach is used with other vehicles as well.

Because of the higher cost of the Prius compared with a Toyota Corolla – which starts at about $15,000 and gets 27 miles per gallon in town – a buyer would need to keep the Prius for at least 5.5 years to justify the additional expense, he said. The dealership is selling its Priuses for their window-sticker prices, he said.

“When we walk them through the survey, probably 50 percent of our Prius prospects leave in a Corolla or Camry,” Mr. Mathews said. “With all the anger on this [fuel] issue, we just want to make sure people buy the car they really need.”

Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas, said he doubts that skyrocketing fuel prices will continue their “irrational” movement up. He suggested that people carefully assess all of the costs involved before jumping from a depreciating large vehicle to an inflated small one.

“When there’s blood in the streets, sometimes the best course is to not get in the street,” he said.