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Is the Toyota Prius Hybrid still the best choice.?

For practical purposes is the Toyota Prius Hybrid still the best automobile to consider purchasing? I'm not picking on specific qualities but simply trying to get an overall idea as my wife and I who are retiring want to get an energy conserving and as environmentally friendly vehicle as we can and still stay reasonable for we do have a couple of Grandkids. The way-out rocket ship cars are out of the question here :)) At our age we have to think in practical terms. Thank You I thank you all for you answering my question and have given everyone a thumbs up. I will choose a best answer later tonight.

Public Comments

1. A Swiss study just concluded that the Prius is the greenest car on the planet: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070727/sc_nm/cars_pollution_dc Plus it's well-constructed and fun to drive. Best car on the road for sure!
2. I'm a major car buff. In my opinion the Camry Hybrid would be a better choice. To the swiss army knife above: "fun to drive" is a huge stretch of even my imagination.
3. Get a Mazda 323. Reasonably priced with an economical 4 cyclinder engine.
4. It really depends on what you need it to do. There are cars that are more powerful but less efficient, and cars that are more efficient (Honda insight) but look odd. Or you could hold out for a year or so and go for a full out electric. Prius is the most popular choice, because it is so well known. It's like branding, Prius has become synonymous with environmentalism.
5. The Prius is over-rated. They exaggerate the gas mileage. The Honda Civic hybrid is much cheaper. You might also want to look at the Ford Escape hybrid. It's larger, more room, easier to get in and out of than a low to the ground car and they start at 25k.
6. Well, its a little bit odd, to say that an Hybrid is the cleanest car on earth, when its batteries need heavy recycling technology to avoid making heavy metal pollutions, which is poisons!! So, my point here is that those cars are still far from being ecologically efficient, and not even sure they will become efficient before the advent of fuel cells in the car making industry, which is years ahead...