Why is fuel efficiency your number one issue? I would think first the fit for the use of the car or truck to your purpose. Then the total cost of ownership.
For me, it is three reasons. Although, as earlier noted, a vehicle that meets my needs (or at least comes close) is first. Otherwise I would be driving a bike
1. I figure the less gas I use the longer we will have gasoline to use. Hate to tell my nephew I wasted precious gasoline when I was younger and because of that, and other wasters, he has none.
2. National security. I hate seeing us borrowing from China in order to send money to people that don't like us (in part).
3. Environmental (and yes, electric cars move pollution from the car to the power plant, but even dirty power plants, processing and transporting the electricity, cough up less co2 than processing, transporting and burning oil)
The Tesla sedan is 60K my Ford F150 cost 15K thats 45K more. At $3.00 a gallon thats 15K gallons of gas! My F150 get about 18MPG, so I can drive 270,000 miles on the difference in price. Pretty sure the F150 won't last that long. I may not last that long. It would take me 18 years to go that far at the rate I drive.
Why pay a premium for milage if the numbers will never work out?
Why do some pay for a sunroof, or leather seats, or seat warmers? For me, it isn't about money, it is about using less of a resource for many reasons.
And unlike a sunroof, it will end up saving me money.
Can't carry a load of firewood in a Prius.
Well, if I needed to carry a load of firewood, I would be unhappy with a Prius, luckily I don't
Just out of curiosity, how much wood is that. Actually, by definition, a Prius can carry a 'load' of firewood