Smartmoney.com: Consumer Action: Are Hybrid Cars Worth It?

There are a couple of things that are just assumed about males that don't seem to be true for me. I've known about them since I was very young.

First of all, I've never had any interest in sports. As I've gotten older, I've realized that it's not just that I'm not good at sports; the fact is that I am pretty good at some physical things. The problem is that the physical things that I am good at like juggling, hackysack, jumping on a trampoline, throwing knives and tomahawks are rarely featured on TV and definately don't have their own channel. So, the ESPN type sport, whether football, baseball, nascar, or whatever has never held any interest for me. I can honestly say that I've never watched any game of any kind all the way through on TV in my life. More on that subject some other time.

The other thing is that I've never had any interest in cars. I never collected matchbox cars when I was a kid, and I didn't really ever play with cars or trucks. To this day, my knowledge or even awareness of the vehicles surrounding me on the road is VERY limited. Holly can tell you that if I have to describe somebody's car, usually the best I can hope to remember would be the color. In fact, i think it's only since I've been out of college that I've started to understand that vehicles like Ford and Chevy are American made and things like Toyota and Honda are foreign. I'm telling you, cars have just never interested me. They're a way to get me and my stuff where I want to go. I don't want to find my identity in my car. It's fun to drive fast, but you can't do that much without getting slammed with a ticket. I've just never really had a desire to own a new vehicle.

Until now.

The one thing I've come to understand to be true about myself is that I am a gadget guy. I think that really became clear to me one christmas when Holly's mom got me a little 64KB Electronic Organizer. I'd never thought about getting one and she got it for me all on her own. However, I played with it all day long. It led to Palm Pilots and my Clie that I use now.

And now there is a car that is distinctly "gadgety" the hybrid vehicle. Notice, that I didn't say which one. I've owned both a honda before and a toyota before and I liked them both. I don't care at this point, I just want a hybrid car.