fuel efficient and reliable

Over $2,000 for a battery is not chump change for some. If you are not in a warm climate for most of the year the battery will suffer performance during periods.

If driving highway I'd look at a turbocharged 1.4T in a Cruze or Encore. They'll go 300,000 miles before needing a turbo rebuild which the parts about $50.00. If you live where it is wet or snows allot the Encore can be had with AWD and still sees almost 40 mpg as we did in our Encore.

The EPA ratings for the Encore are 28/26/31 mpg combined/city/hwy. 31 mpg highway. Not saying that's what everyone will see, but that's what many people use when buying a car and different roads and traffic vary. I'm suprised how bad that mileage is since it's a Trax with sound-insulation. This buyer could not afford the 2013 Encore AWD, the oldest Encore, which got 30 mpg EPA hwy, 24 mpg combined C/D testing, and a 10 second 0-60 time.

My Prius gets 57 mpg mostly hwy and it's faster, barely (I can't say that too often ;). Mileage gets better in the city. The Prius doesn't handle well in the snow, so unless you need AWD a hybrid makes sense. Batteries will be cheaper in the future as they have already lowered in price since the original hybrids. The Prius and GM I believe have 10 year/150k mile warranties on their batteries. Even GM, the only manufacturer NormT buys/leases from and talks about, believes in an all-EV future.

A 2010 Prius is rated for 50 mpg combined, which is in giami's price range. Don't go with the Honda Insight or Civic Hybrid.

You can't compare the mileage of a plug in to a standard hybrid. The plug ins have much larger batteries capable of running in EV only for over a mile, unlike a standard hybrid. Prius Prime has 77.5 mpg on Fuelly while the Volt gets 86.8 mpg. The Volt has a battery giving you close to twice the range of the Prime and only gives 9 mpg more. It shows the inefficiency of the gas engine in the Volt. Also, the Volt's gas engine has had problems in its first year as well as loss of power steering.