Fun? You bet--especially when filling up at the local gas station. I drove 215 kilometres and topped off with just 14 litres of fuel. Later, I'd gone 230 kilometres on a whopping $11. That's mileage that makes me giggle, and you can yell "Chug-a-Lug" at Honda Civics at the pumps.

This mileage also means you never have to think twice before going for a car ride--which is fun in its own way. I like tire-melting horsepower as much as the next guy, but with gas at today's prices, this is all the fun you need.

The Prius features an LCD screen that displays all of the intricate workings of the Hybrid system.

The Hybrid System
A gas engine, battery, generator and electric motor are connected to one another by a complicated computer system which tells each device what to do and when. In low-load or low-speed situations, the car drives on the batteries alone, recharging them as the vehicle decelerates through a process known as regenerative braking.

Battery-powered driving is magical, as it uses no fuel and is completely silent--which freaks out pedestrians and people nearby.

Request more power, and the gas engine fires up quickly and adds its ponies to the mix, whizzing the car along. Lift off the gas and coast, and it shuts off. The claimed result is small-car performance with Vespa-like fuel consumption.

There's a lot going on underneath the Prius as it sends electrons, horses and polarities this way and that. As a result, you often feel like it's squirming about underneath you, sometimes surging or lagging depending on the situation. I didn't always know what the computer system was thinking--though I'm sure the highly-paid engineers at Toyota do, and that's good enough for me.

The numbers please!
Mileage averaged around 6.0L/100 km on the highway and an impressive 5.0L/100 km in the city. I managed as low as 4.9L/100 km in one instance, and as high as a whopping 7.2L/100 km while flying down the 401. It all depends on how, and where, you drive.

Mileage is only half the equation here, though.

The Prius is a hybrid that is actually fun to drive.