The Prius

A great decision. We had a Honda Odyssey minivan as our primary family car. It was nice - good ride, spacious, could separate the kids, haul stuff. It was sweet. It also averaged about 16 mpg. Not an issue when gas was below $2, but with gas creeping up to $4, that would have been a costly fill-up. When we bought the Odyssey in , we had really wanted a Prius. But, our youngest was in a very wide carseat being only a year or so old, and the middle child was also in a good sized car seat. Try as we might, we simply could not fit those 3 car seats or 2 car seats and an adult, in the back seat. So we went with the Odyssey. It was a good temporary choice because we traded it in before the big gas crunch. We got our money out of it and a really good deal on the Prius as they were not in as high a demand at that point.

So, if we figure an average of 16 mpg in the Odyssey versus an average of 46mpg in the Prius - at $3.89 a gallon..... To go 1000 miles in the Odyssey would take 62.5 gallons and cost 243.13. The Prius would take 21.74 gallons and cost 84.56. Wow.

Now for people who say they need a big vehicle for their kids, we are a family of 5. Kids of 11, 8 and 4. Give them a Nintendo DS, some books, a portable DVD player, crayons, whatever - they are perfectly fine in the back seat together. Sure, they are more crowded than in the 8 passenger minivan, but we make do. Plus, the Prius is a hatchback and has a surprising amount of cargo space. We'll be driving it 8 hours to the beach sometime this year, so we'll really test it out.

158 dollar difference every 1000 miles. Figuring 12,000 miles a year and gas never going up from $3.89 - that's a savings of $1902.84. Covers the DS, 2 Leapsters and a DVD player with money to spare.

Oh - you can easily haul 300 pounds of feed in the back at the same time. And the backup camera is pretty cool too.