I’ve been a proud owner of a Prius for 18 months now. I love it – its got all the features I could want (cruise control, climate control, air-bags), drives nicely, and super low fuel consumption.
I’ve had plenty of chats with my friends about how much I save in petrol, but had some spare time this evening to actually calculate it. So you can relate your experiences to mine, I drive around 20,000km a year. I used to get around 4.6-4.8 litres to the 100km. After a recent move, however, my driving is mostly made up of frequent small trips so that figure is now more like 5.2l/100km.
So, with petrol prices at $1.20/litre I’m paying $1248 a year in petrol. For comparison, according to www.greenvehicleguide.com.au, the owner of a Subaru Forester would be paying around $2640 a year. (actually, I think the real figure would be higher – the quoted fuel consumption is 11l/100km which strikes me on the low side…).
So, I’m saving around $1400 every year. Or, to put that in more meaningful terms thats 3 1/2 iPod Nano’s every year. 
Not too bad!
Of course, its nothing compared to my mountain bike – the petrol savings are even higher there 
– but impressive nontheless. Combined with the fact that there are pretty much no sacrifices for that saving (drives like a normal car, servicing costs are the same, uses normal petrol), its a great car. Its nice when being green carries a greater reward than just a warm inner glow!