If you're just as spooked by rising gas prices as the rest of us, Car & Driver has an update on the upcoming 2010 Toyota Prius that reaffirms much of what we've heard before. "In general, claims Toyota, customers are happy with the current car, so the basic five-door hatchback silhouette remains, and the changes have to do with details."

The report said that the car's "Hybrid Synergy Drive," with its twin electric motors and continuously variable planetary-gear transmission, will carry over as conceptually unchanged&mdash:but with "improved power from its electric motors and a larger 1.6-liter, Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder in place of the current 1.5-liter unit, which dates to the old Toyota Echo." Expect to see a modest power increase and a modest increase in fuel economy, meaning slightly better numbers than the current car's 48-city/45-highway EPA rating.

Toyota ran into a few supply problems recently regarding the car's nickel-metal hydride batteries. But the report said that a new factory in Japan due to go on line in 2010 should break the logjam and create capacity for more hybrid models. The 2010 Prius should cost about $1000 more than today's model. A long-awaited plug-in version will hit the market in 2010 in very limited numbers as well.