Hi,
We are actually on our 2nd Prius. First was a 2005, and I've documented the whole deal on it here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/ourprius.htm
We traded in the first one at just over 100K miles. I figure that compared to driving our Honda Pilot small SUV (or the Subaru Outback we had before that) that we saved 3467 gallons of gasoline, $10,400, ad 65,800 lbs of CO2 -- the calcs are explained here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/ourprius.htm#100K
We traded the old Prius in on a new one, so I guess that tells the story on how much we like it.
Most of our driving is highway driving, and I think the Prius is great for that -- I'd take it on a long trip any day over the Pilot -- its quieter and more comfortable.
We have snow on the ground here 6 months of the year, and the Prius is fine on snow. My wife likes the Pilot better for snowy driving, but I think its more image than substance. One downside for snow is that ground clearance is low, so you won't be going anywhere in 6 or 8 inches of heavy snow.
I've never quite understood the EPA city mileage being better than the highway -- we routinely get 50 mpg on the highway, but mostly high 40's around town. Maybe the EPA city test is more severe than what we drive in.
One thing I feel is that the Prius is not just another hybrid, its an exceptionally well engineered car from a fuel efficiency standpoint. Its the combination of a great aerodynamic shape, low rolling resistance, attention to weight, the Atkinson cycle engine, electrically powered accessories, ... that just make it shine from an efficiency point of view. Most of the other hybrids are not designed from the ground up with efficiency as the main focus -- they are just regular models with a hybrid power train added -- and the fuel economy numbers tend to reflect this.
I took a cut at how various cars compare for total cost of ownership (MSRP + fuel costs) for 100K miles. I tried to cover a wide range of vehicles including hybrids and non-hybrids. I think its an interesting read with some mildly surprising results:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Vehicles/Compare/CompareLife.htm
This is kind of hard to do accurately (especially in getting comparable MSRPs), but I tried to make it clear what assumptions were made.
By the way, Toyota announced two new members to the Prius family a couple days ago -- a sort of station wagon model, and a baby Prius.
http://green.autoblog.com/ has the details on them.
Gary