David Pogue's experience is like many of ours. He was looking to buy a replacement car and the Clarity just popped out of nowhere. Although the Clarity is is a so-called green car, there's no need to bring politics into factoring how one chooses it (sadly, why is it even political to be fuel efficient?). For us, we were looking for a mid to full sized sedan that drives well, is nice inside, and comes with the latest safety features. Fuel efficiency is always a factor because who in their right mind wants to waste money? With the tax credit, state rebate, and dealer discount, our Clarity Touring cost about the same as a similarly equipped Civic. At current gasoline prices/electric rates, we will save about $800/year in fuel over our previous vehicle. I've learned that it will cost less to maintain over the long term (not much to go wrong with the electric motors, won't run the ICE too much, and easy on the brakes because of regenerative braking). Basically, we bought a big, luxurious car for the cost of a compact that keeps paying back year after year. From a pure value proposition, there's nothing else like it out there. Forget about politics, the Clarity is simply a smart buy (of course, no one's stopping you from feeling good about hurting the environment less)!