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It depends on how you count it. If someone is going to buy a new, resource-intensive luxury car ANYWAY, getting a hybrid is a step in the right direction, so long as you believe the reduced fuel consumption is enough to offset the 40 pounds of nickel in the batteries and the environmental impact they have.

Just as the problem of overconsumption was created by millions of tiny choices, it will only be corrected by millions of tiny choices. If nothing else, getting a hybrid adds weight to the argument that people _want_ to be more green, which will get the larger societal values pointed in the right direction.

Both.

I'm a bit of a scrooge when it comes to hybrids or any new car. I think many of the people who are buying them are admirably somewhat Earth-conscious, but buying a new car is almost never truly Earth-conscious. The amount of waste produced in making, driving and disposing of a car far outweighs that of buying a perfectly dependable and (relatively) fuel efficient used car.

I live in Seattle and see a lot of Prius' around and, frankly, they're as much a status symbol as this Lexus. If you're truly concerned about the planet, buy a used car. Period.

My 1999 Saturn SL, a wonderfully dependable car, still gets 35mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. Oh, and no car payments or debt.

I'm amazed at all the billboards touting the new hybrids as fuel efficient when my car and other cars of its era (Geo Metro) get better gas mileage than the numbers in big bold print!