The wonderful, heart-calming news was that my daughter was okay, with only a bruise. The bad news? My car was totaled. When your work is to advocate for clean transportation choices, what's your next step?

It's not as though you have a leisurely window to assess all possible choices or wait for release of intriguing new models in 2011 - you have only a few days to choose. I vacillated between a 3-year-old used vehicle in a model I once desired (with less than 10,000 miles on it) to a funky over-30-mpg cube-shaped newcomer. I also looked at a new, high-mileage diesel in addition to the full spectrum of available hybrids.

It's a complex calculus of needs, cost, likely use by other family members, and of course, our family's long-standing test: does the daughter's harp fit?

In the end, my answer was a new hybrid - officially getting over 50 mpg and unofficially seeming to do far better from my short experience to date. The option of switching to an electric mode only for in-town driving tipped the balance for me. A fortunate dealer swap enabled access to a base model without the usual many-month wait.

Will report how it goes in coming months.