Those Ariana Huffington SUV and terrorism ads are very funny. I almost bought a hybrid car in 2000 when I needed to buy a new car, but I was wary. The Honda Insight I was told, needs to be plugged into a socket to get power and I don't have a garage so the car didn't make any sense for me. The Toyota Prius looked okay, but you can't get it with a sunroof, and I have to have a sunroof on my car. A sunroof is so essential to my driving life, since I don't like wind blowing on my face.

My Golf is an automatic and it has 2.0 litre engine (a big engine), so the gas mileage is so-so. I get 22-24 mpg for city driving, which is what I mostly drive, and about 30+ for freeway driving. I went down to San Luis Obispo from San Francisco one weekend, and made it there driving on 101 on half a tank of gas one way. The mileage when I drive long distances in my car is amazing! It's city driving that sucks. If a drove a stick, I'd probably have better gas mileage.