I have a close affilliation with Cairns Taxis and they have been the test fleet for Toyota for Prius for a few years now.
The Taxi owners report fantastic economy BUT only if you ditch the car when it gets to 150K as the repair bills skyrocket after that milage - batteries, gearboxes, control units all costing THOUSANDS to repair.
Also EVERY driver I have spoken to says they are cramped and CRAP to drive.
Have a prang and you are off the road for about 4 times that of a 'normal' car mainly because nobody knows how to piece humpty together again.
These cars are far from being 'green' or planet friendly - the batteries and other issues make them far worse than a Falcon at the end of the day.
If you buy one get rid of it at 100K or less.
I agree 100% with Jeremy - Prius are SHIT cars! They LOOK shit, drive shit and cost MORE to run (at the end of the day) than an 'ordinary' car and they certainly ARE NOT green (what a great con job by Toyota though).