By now, Gene should be ensconced in his new Prius; I’ve got my fingers crossed for him. And on that front, I made the call today to my salesman to let him know that I’d decided to wait for the options I want, even if that means I won’t see my own new Prius until February, rather than settling for something less desirable sooner.

I’ll admit that a part of me was hoping that enough other people who’d been contacted had decided to go with the reduced option package, leaving me with a better shot of getting a fully loaded model sooner after all. But the salesman reported that nearly everything has said much the same as me.

My boss’s reaction, though, has been different. She hasn’t yet heard anything one way or the other from her dealer, but she said that if she’s told she’ll have to wait until February, she’ll tell them to cancel the order and she’ll get a Honda Civic hybrid instead. She wants a hybrid primarily for the ease of travel it will provide to and from work, because of the Virginia policy that treats these cars as “special clean fuel vehicles” not subject to HOV restrictions, and for her it’s a more critical, immediate need than for me; my car has problems, but given that my driving consists mainly of very short in-town hops, I can continue to use it for that–and rent for longer trips–while waiting for the Prius.

In fact, given the possibility that the new energy bill will include significant tax credits for hybrid purchasers rather than just the current tax deductions, a part of me would just as soon wait until the new year–and the new policy–to take possession. (Yes, I feel like a hypocrite, considering how little I like the overall energy policy, and truly I’d prefer it not pass, even if it were to mean I’d lose any deduction or credit; but if it’s going to pass anyway, then I wouldn’t mind some personal benefit.)