What is a fair price to pay for an efficient automobile?

My intention when I started this started this project was to write an entry every day, as I sipped on morning coffee and while my dreams of the night before were still fresh in my mind.  I sit here this morning, and I realize that in order to do that, then I have to get myself out of bed a bit earlier than I have been.  I am by no means a late riser, but I am a bit wordy at this point in my writing.  I think I get the point across, but my goal as a writer is to be as clear and concise.  I find myself rambling on a bit, sometimes getting off topic, which adds to the word count pretty quickly.  m Basic math teaches that more words means more time.  Knowing that I have to dedicate at least 90-120 minutes to this task every day, and that I should be getting out on the road by 7:00am or earlier for my job every day, something has to change.  I had thought of switching up writing time to after I get back from my travels, or to the evening after dinner perhaps.  I may yet do one or the other.  For now, there is something about the routine I have laid out that I prefer.  Writing my piece in the morning is like a sunrise jog for my brain.  It gets the juices flowing, and hones my focus, lasting all day long.  It makes me more effective in just about everything I do for the remainder of the day.  So, having said that, tomorrow I am getting up at 5:00!

I have been reading quite a bit about how to host an effective blog in the list few weeks.  I have changed up the design and layout of the site more than a few times because of tips I have read.  Then I had a thought.  "Why am I concerned with what other people are doing?  This blog is about me, and about my readers."

Sure there is advice which would be applicable but lets bring this baby along together, like parents of a new born.  If there are things you would like to see, share with me.  If there are better blog hosts out there than blogger, educate me.  If there are topics of interest that you would like to read about and discuss, suggest them.  I have said that this is a half a million followers project for me.  I mean that, but along the way my vision is for this to become a daily stop, like the evening news, or the "funny pages".  People get up, check emails, look at Facebook and the sports scores, then stop here, at Blunder Years.  I want to increase interaction somehow, and I have had a few people mention that leaving posts here is not as easy as I would like it to be.  I have discovered that in order to post here, or to follow the blog, you have to have register with the Google conglomerate.  If you have G-Mail, then you are all set already, if you don't then, it is a necessary step, to get a Google ID.  I am not one to leverage my readers into this type of thing, but I will say, over the course of my online career, Google is the best free email I have experienced.  I have had Yahoo, Hotmail, Ymail, and a few others, and the only time I stopped looking for a better solution for my personal email, was when I was invited to G-Mail.  So, I have no real problem with saying, go ahead, sign up!  I don't want to make work for anyone, and want the interaction on this page to be as simple and easy as can be, but for now, while I am using Blogger to blog, I ask that you do this.  So far, 9 posts in, I would say I have put in about 30-40 hours of work on writing, and on managing this site.  I am doing this for my own reasons in part.  I am also doing it for you!  The whole process takes less than five minutes to register, and I think i am worth that!!  ;)

Now, I want to open this up for discussion.

I am kind of in the market for a new car.  My new job has me driving all over the southern parts of the Garden State and Delaware, and the Eastern parts of Maryland.  It is a good territory, manageable populace, beautiful pieces of country.  However, I am averaging 150-200 miles on the Forester every time I leave the driveway,  which is about 3-4 times a week.  I will likely be driving between 800 and 1000 miles a week once I add in personal usage.

My dream solution to this would be to own a Tesla Model S with a 300 mile driving range on a full charge.  It is a very nice looking full electric car, which costs in the neighborhood of  55k.  If you have never heard of Tesla, you owe it to yourself to read up on them.  They are the future.  Take a lookie: Tesla Model S
If i ever thought i could afford a 120k car, i would go for the Tesla Roadster.  Electric car technology has come far enough that in my opinion is the wave of the future!

 Tesla Model S

Tesla Roadster

Well, the fact of the matter is, I can't afford a 55 thousand dollar car, let alone a 120k one.  My upper limit is likely 40k, and even that is pushing it.  I tend to land on the frugal side of the fence you know.  I have looked at all the options that are realistic, and I have come up with the Toyota Prius as the most likely candidate: 

The 55 mile per gallon advertised, with many owners reporting over 60, is the real lure of this car.  I would be able to do my 1000 miles a week on 20 gallons of gas.  My current ride gets me 22 miles per gallon on average.  This math would require upwards of 45 gallons of gas to drive for the week.  At $3.00 a gallon,  I am looking at $60.00 a week in the Prius, and $135.00 in the Forester.  Annually, Prius: $3120.00 a year, Forester: $7020.00.

$2900.00 a year difference between the Forester and the Prius. Now, Subaru has announced that starting in 2012, they will be introducing a hybrid Forester.  Projections are that it will get roughly 35 miles per gallon, maybe up to 40.  While I love Subaru, and have owned 3 straight Subaru's, and want to carry on my loyalty to the brand, money talks.

SO the question I need to answer is this: 

While driving a Subaru Forester is not a proclamation of manliness so much as a practical solution to what needs I had at the time of purchase, is putting what is left of my proverbial balls in a jar (which I believe comes standard with all Prius buyers of the male persuasion) and storing them in the glove compartment, really a fair price to pay for the highly efficient hybrid that Toyota offers?

Please help me figure this out.  Are there solutions i am missing?  What thoughts do you have on the matter?

Please register with Google (sorry), and lend your thoughts.

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Oh, and by the way, GO Canada!