> Priuses don't pay for
> themselves either

I would contend that dollar for dollar, a new Prius will cost much
more in maintenance than a TDI converted vanagon, while giving
relatively the same fuel economy (you cannnot truly compare a brick to
a needle). I say this because after the batteries die, you're stuck
with another $10k repair bill. On top of that, I'm sure California has
strict heavy-metal disposal fees, which would increase the cost of the
repair significantly.

just my $.02 of heavily anti hybrid-as-"save the environment"-vehicle bias :D

sudhir