At the time of this writing, there is a game being played. And in my opinion, the game is called, "confronting the US oil crisis". The major players are the car manufacturers, the government, maybe the EPA and have course the people being the unwitting spectators that are readily lured to the show.

And the game pieces are the fuel economy cars also known as hybrid cars.

I will begin by emphasizing the point that I don't know everything there is to know about this so called "impending oil crisis". And I'm not sure if there is anyone who knows everything there is to know about this impending oil crisis too. However, I am fairly certain that the hybrid cars wouldn't be a prospective solution to the problem; not at least for a few more years.

One would notice a massive influx of hybrid cars on the roads today and yet, did nothing to help put a dent in the oil problems; but instead made a quandary with regards to car-pooling. As early as January 2005, hybrids car owners were allowed to use car pool lanes, even when driving alone. Given the fact that thousands of hybrid cars have been sold since 1999, some of the car pool lanes are becoming more congested than the regular traffic lanes they're supposed to lighten.

According to a compiled report for the past eight years made by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the pervasive presence of the supposedly fuel economy cars have saved only a measly total of 5.5 million oil barrels. It's a rather distressing contrast against the approximate 8.5 million barrels a day to power the present usage of the light, private vehicles. But even then, researchers are very optimistic with regards to fuel economy cars. They have concluded that for fuel economy cars to have an impact, they have to at least cover more than 50% of the car population in the United States. And given the growing sales of these fuel economy cars, it's just a matter of time.

On a more personal note, can fuel economy cars help you cut back on gasoline consumption? Yes they could, depending on your driving habits. However, if you consider the initial cost of the hybrids, you may want to reconsider buying one. One of the biggest challenges of the fuel economy cars is that it takes so long to repay that extra expense of purchasing them. Even in the best-case scenario (as with one of the most popular hybrids, the Toyota Prius), five years time is already considered lucky. One could purchase a standard 4-cylinder Toyota for a much lower price and the fuel economy on these models are just outstanding. Again, this will all depend on you're driving habits. Personally, being a city driver, I get excellent mileage with my four cylinder.

So what is your reasoning to purchase a fuel economy car? Is it for the environmental aspects? Whatever it may be, personally I wouldn't purchase a hybrid car for purely economic reasons.