Double check that research, that was an obvious BS work that has been debunked. In "Dust to Dust" they reference nickel mining techniques that were over 30 years out of date. They also based the energy cost on the lifetime of vehicle with the Prius having a lifetime of 109,000 miles and the Humvee 379,000, total BS. The same company revisited their biased article and reversed their views a year later, I'm guessing they were trying to save face.
Considering this all happened over 5 years ago, anyone still referencing that article obviously isn't very good at doing research. Environmental benefit was tertiary in my decision process, but I can't stand it when people reference ridiculously inaccurate articles in an attempt to make themselves look "smug".
Jetta drivers have been accused of being "smug". Do you feel you deserved that or did you buy a car that you liked and was happy with your purchase without thinking even once that you were superior. And when people stated that pickup trucks were more environmentally friendly than a diesel Jetta didn't you think it was frustrating that people could be so ignorant? And why the sudden need to compare suv/pickup trucks to high mpg cars? I suspect that whenever the gas prices increase, they get upset every time they go to the pump and they take out their frustrations on high mpg cars. Maybe they should stop trying to look bigger through their cars and instead consider getting a more frugal car like a Yaris, it's cheap, reliable, and gets good milage. I needed a bigger car, so I went with the Prius.