[Hugh R]

I used a friends Honda civic hybrid to pick someone up at LAX on a late Sunday night and to go 63 miles it used 1.2 gallons of gas. I cruised along with all traffic no problem. The A/C kept me cool and it drove like a regular car. What is wrong with that? I'll consider a hybrid on my next newer car purchase. BTW, my brother-in-law who is high up in Toyota, USA says the five year battery life thing is BS. He says they'll go 10 or more years no problem, and he believes the $5,000 battery projections will be less than half that by then. There are a lot of "life cycle" estimates out there that compare a Prius going 100k miles versus a Hummer going 300K miles and that the Hummer is more "environmental" in a holistic approach. What I care about is which one costs me less.

For the most part, in LA you don't get a driving experience, Porsche or otherwise, what you get is commuter traffic. For a basic transport car, to me, what is comfortable, cheap and reliable is the question. I'll drive the 911 to work but I prefer to drive it up the Pacific Coast Highway, north of Malibu, on a Sunday afternoon.