I borrowed a Prius for a few days last year. It really impressed me. I thought it'd be a dinky little car but it drove very well. Much better than most economy cars i'd driven. Because of the tall shape, the interior room was pretty good and the hatchback meant better luggage space than a sedan. The acceleration flat out isn't that great but because of the torque of the electric motor, the car feels quicker than it is. I averaged 54 MPG which wasn't up to what the sticker said but was still double what I average in my Accord. Its hard to drive that and not be impressed with the engineering talent of the Japanese. I wish the American companies could show themselves to be as innovative. I also wish Toyota would market an option to turn the car into a "plug-in" Hybrid. I've read a lot about the owners who have modified their cars to get 80 or 90 mpg (while still being as usable on long trips as a normal gas car) and I would buy a factory "plug-in" car in a heart beat for the savings on gas. Kinda nice to take money out of the pockets of Middle Eastern islamofascists and South American socialists like Chavez.
Are an Accord and a Prius equivalent? I'll bet if you simply stripped out all of the extras in your Accord, replaced components with all of the ultra-light weight versions in the Prius, and so forth, you'd get a lot closer. I.E., most of the energy savings in hybrids is due to things other than using batteries.
I own a 2004 Prius & have had nothing but a great experience.
I love my Prius, get about 48 mpg & have plenty of pick up & room for 2 dogs in the hatchback.
That would make me smile every time I cranked the car!