Who would consider purchasing a Prius?

[Kal-El]

I know the Prius purchase debate has been touched upon many times here but let's have an official discussion and poll showing where we generally stand on Prius consideration.

Lately, I've been feeling the itch and really loving the new Prius. Never cared for the 2nd generation, but the 3rd is vastly improved in styling, driving dynamics, and even better FE at a very reasonable $22K base price.

I know as Yaris owners that we've all argued against the economics of a Prius vs the Yaris.
Yes, the numbers work out better for the Yaris but we must remember that they are a different class of car. So we can't run numbers on an apples to apples comparison. The Prius is more in line with the class of the Camry, just smaller.

Many of us chose the Yaris for good reason because it is the lowest true cost of ownership. However, the Prius sells much better than the Yaris for good reasons as well. The question is whether we would buy one for those reasons.

The other thing to consider, and the likely tipping point for many of us is of course the price of gas. Under $3/gal (US) makes the Prius a tougher sell for many. But what if it is consistently around $4/gal, or even $5? It could, and is likely to be at least $4 this summer. $5 isn't far fetched the way things are going in this world.

Let's discuss.