Don’t hate on my Prius.

This is Texas. It’s understood that every man in the state should drive a gas-guzzling, 4×4 pickup truck lifted about a foot and a half. But with gas prices climbing and expected to get up to $4 per gallon by the end of the summer, why is there so much hate for the Toyota Prius?

Stories of Texans yelling and taunting come to mind. “Go back to San Francisco” and “I like your clown car” probably make up the most popular uneducated taunts. The Other Guys, a film with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, even referred to a Prius as a tampon on wheels.

But while the truck-driving Texan spends a fortune to fill up on a regular basis, the local Prius driver will average roughly 48 mpg and go about two weeks without filling up.

For a lot of Prius drivers, going green had nothing to do with their decision. It was all about saving green with their gas tank.

The Chicago Tribune reported in January that the best-selling vehicles of 2010 were the Ford F-Series and the Chevrolet Silverado. According to www.fueleconomy.gov, a brand new 2011 V8 Ford F-150 driver will spend $3,823 on gas annually while a 2011 Toyota Prius driver will spend an annual $1,071 at the pump.

New Toyotas come with a five-year powertrain warranty. Let’s say, hypothetically, that is how long a Prius will last someone. That person will have saved $13,760 in gas over that time and would be well on their way to an unorthodox stress-free new car purchase.

Yes, maybe the Prius isn’t as cool as a jacked-up truck, but the battery cools down the A/C within seconds of starting the car. And maybe the Prius isn’t as sexy and helpful with the ladies as a Hemi V8 Dodge Ram, but $13,760 could buy plenty of diamonds to help out with that.

So go ahead, make fun of someone next time you see them driving a Prius. But make sure you realize that while you’re laughing at them, they’re laughing all the way to the bank.