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It's hard to really come by anyone who really understands hybrid car pros and cons in a balanced way. Anytime a new technology comes along, it spooks consumers no end. And on the other hand, the overeducated, the foolhardy and the overenthusiastic can go and accept new technologies that eventually mean nothing. They do it just because it makes them look like cool early adopters.

Take hybrid cars for instance. They've been around for years now, and it's pretty clear that their batteries don't fail all that often. And yet, there are lots of people who worry about this before they buy a hybrid. And people who love to preach environmental responsibility will often by a Prius and just be smug and happy that they've done their bit for the environment. They don't care about how those huge battery packs will end up in the landfill.

Well, let's look at a few of these areas of misinformation about hybrid cars.

Certainly, the kind of hybrid car mileage you get is far better than anything you would get with a regular straight-out gasoline car. But hybrid car owners aren't happy. Because as usual, the find that what they get is nowhere near what is advertised.

But you shouldn't really blame the car manufacturers for making tall claims. Surprisingly, it's the government that is to blame. The EPA's fuel efficiency test has this flaw – that it will hype hybrid performance.

For instance, the Honda Civic Hybrid is rated by the EPA to give you about 47 mpg in the city and slightly more than that on the highway. At no time though, are you likely to get more than 33 mpg or thereabouts. No, there's nothing wrong with your car if it does this. You can have it checked out everywhere, and you would never find anything wrong with it. It's just the way your car is.