Good for you, Barry. St. George, in Canada's Alberta (?) province has a taxi fleet made up of Prius.

One question, though: When you are travelling, where do you put your suitcases? In the trunk of the Prius I saw, the space was mostly taken up by a cylinder of some kind of fuel.

About having to replace all four tires on the Ford Escape, I understand it is what the manufacturer requires, having to do with balance or some such. I should do some research on it, but since I no longer own a car it is not of great moment to me at this point.