As a Prius owner, I can say
As a Prius owner, I can say that Consumer Reports is dead-on on how low-cost the Prius is to own.
I've put 60,000 miles on my 2007 Prius so far, and over the past 5 years I've owned the car, I've spent $360 on oil changes (every 5000 miles), $400 on a new set of tires at 40,000 miles, and $100 on a transaxle fluid change (proactive preventive maintenance). Just $860 of maintenance costs over 5 years is the lowest I've paid on any of the cars I've ever owned. I could drive that cost down even further if I change the oil myself, but for the sake of convenience I just go to a local mechanic for that.
My Prius won't need to have its brake pads changed until well past 150,000 miles. I vacuum-clean the air filters to re-use them. The next preventive transaxle fluid change will be at 120,000 miles, and the radiator coolant doesn't need changing until 2015. The next probable item I will replace is most likely the small 12-volt lead-acid car battery.which should cost around $120 or so. (The OEM car battery usually lasts about 5 years or so).
And before any uneducated person pipes up about the costs of replacing the big hybrid system battery, it is a Non-Issue. That battery is warranties for 150,000 miles / 10 years, so if it fails before then, it will cost me exactly ZERO dollars to replace it. And if it fails past warranty, I can buy a salvaged low-mileage battery for around $600 or so. The HV battery is actually a part of the Prius transmission, and just like a normal car, you don't buy a brand-new $2000 transmission to put into a 10-year-old car-- you buy a rebuilt unit.
After experiencing how low-maintenance my Prius is, I'm never going back to a normal car.