Okay, you've nearly convinced me

Except for the safety features, which you didn't mention - mostly standard on the Prius, mostly optional on the Matrix.

Does your Matrix have ABS, traction control, stability control, and side curtain airbags? If it does, then by all means that's the car you want to keep. Between the two of them, the difference in MPG alone isn't enough for everything you're talking about giving up for it. Honestly, if the Prius didn't have the advanced safety features, I'd probably still be driving a 25 mpg Subaru.


Just for the record, what I referred to a "49-state" vehicle is actually fewer than that now, since several other states have adopted the California emissions standard, or "Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle" (a goofy piece of doublespeak if I've ever heard one - part of zero is still zero, no? Um, no.) Oregon is on track to implement the California standard, but hadn't as of 2005, so if you bought your Matrix new in Oregon, it's almost certainly a 49-stater that releases evaporative emissions.