Originally Posted by
edbyu
The goal is to not drive a car that gets a lot better mileage than my car which averages 24 mpg. In the end I don't want the miles on my car and I want to save some money.
You may have an extra not in there. As suggested above, a corolla gets 35-40 mpg, thats what I drove before my camry hybrid (which gets 41 lately).
At 24 mpg, for 650 miles round trip, 4 bucks a gallon, I get $108 for using your car. 35mpg corolla costs $74, 45 mpg prius costs $58. If the prius costs more than $16 more than the corolla (bet on it), either the novelty or enviromental consciousness is worth the expense, or you're wasting green being green.