wombat_socho

Hmm. I think a large part of the reason Honda didn't do so well in the hybrid market is that its initial offering, the Insight, was just a bad car. Besides its image flaws, it had two seats, an anemic powertrain, and very little cargo space -- and if you want a cramped two-seater that gets 60 MPG, a Kawasaki Ninja will do that and also a hundred and eighty miles per hour. They did the right thing with the Civic and Accord hybrids, but those came after Toyota had already established itself as the premier hybrid brand (with a sedan that actually functioned as such, and, yes, was also fairly distinctive). As such, they're catching up a bit in certain markets now, although I think Toyota's definitely won this round.

Also, while I don't know the details of your own situation, if I was given the choice between a new Explorer and a new Prius as daily drivers in a metropolitan area I'd take the Prius -- and I say this as an Explorer owner. I'd also buy a bumper sticker for said Explorer saying "One Less Hybrid", but that's just my instinct for being reflexively contrarian talking.