LEARN MORE ABOUT TOYOTA HYBRIDS:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=127826

Guy walks into a Toyota dealer — sounds like a joke so far, right? Not quite.

Guy walks into a Toyota dealer looking for a 2008 Toyota Prius. He’s heard about hybrids for awhile now, and the Prius is one he knows by name. He vaguely recalls some celebrity bragging about taking one to the Academy Awards instead of a limo, and then there was that South Park episode, “Smug Alert” a couple of years back. And didn’t Al Gore’s own son make headlines for getting busted doing 100 mph in his Prius?

Something like that. Beyond the hype, Guy’s never really given hybrid cars much thought, much less gone looking for one. And even though he can afford a decent-size car or SUV, the price of gasoline has him looking for fuel economy in a serious way.

And there on the showroom floor, Guy sees a 2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid for almost the same amount of money as a Prius. Now what?

Our reporter, Gavin D. J. Harper visits California and speaks to Roy Kim of the California Fuel Cells Partnership and Diedra Wylie of General Motors. Produced in association with the PURE Energy Centre.

CHECK OUT THE HYBRID VS. NON-HYBRID COMPARISON:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/…

Consider this: The 2008 Toyota Prius base model costs 50 percent more than the 2008 Honda Fit base model. Then again, the Prius is 50 percent more fuel-efficient than the Fit when you look at the EPA’s figure for combined mpg. So how does this add up?

You could save ,425 right now by buying a ,420 Honda Fit instead of the ,845 Toyota Prius. Of course, if the price of gasoline goes higher, then the Prius with its EPA combined estimate of 46 mpg will pay you back for your investment sooner than you’d expect. Then again, the Fit with its EPA combined estimate of 30 mpg doesn’t carry the same penalty of higher financing charges, insurance costs and taxes as the more expensive Prius, plus the Toyota will be needing a new ,585 battery pack when the odometer shows 100,000-150,000 miles.

Which car is best? It sounds like the kind of question for one of those money magazines. Yes, we’ve painted ourselves into a bit of a projected-cost corner with this comparison of the base models of the 2008 Honda Fit and 2008 Toyota Prius, but we think we can get out without stepping on too much wet paint

2009 Toyota Prius Hybrid Cars – Safety Review

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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EQUINOX WITH FUEL CELL:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=131810

Not an hour after my chat with Tom Williams, another driver of a 2008 Chevrolet Equinox FCEV as part of GM Project Driveway, he leaves a message on my cell phone:

“When I drove up to downtown L.A. from Orange County today, I got 60 miles to the kilogram. I don’t know about you, but I love that.”

It’s the kind of excitement I’m used to hearing from truly motivated Prius owners. By any standard, the hydrogen-fueled Chevy Equinox fuel cell electric vehicle qualifies as alternative-fuel exotica, as rare and fascinating as it is expensive and impractical.

You can call it the 2008 Chevrolet Equinox FCEV (FCEV as in fuel cell electric vehicle), but this is no production vehicle. Only General Motors knows what it costs to build these SUVs, but each of these prototypes is probably worth the equivalent of 10 Tesla Roadsters.

For the next 72 hours, though, I’m going to drive our Chevrolet Equinox FCEV test vehicle like it’s an ordinary, ,000 Chevy Equinox LTZ. Of course, the FCEV’s 150-mile range prevents me from leaving the green dreamland of Southern California. A Chevrolet dealership will probably never be more than five miles away, and specially trained OnStar advisors are waiting to take my call.

As a participant in the hydrogen-powered GM Project Driveway, I even have my own Driver Relationship Manager. She tells me I can call her cell any time, day or night. Not even my mom wants to talk to me that often.