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The Toyota Prius is the least-dirty car on the road that is sold by a major manufacturer and affordable to most people in the US (it has an MSRP of around $22,000 new), sporting a hybrid gasoline-electric powertrain and an EPA tested 48 miles-per-gallon (MPG) city and 45 MPG highway. While it is certainly a welcome advance in cleaner-car technology, it is not enough to solve the problem of climate change. Indeed, it wouldn't be even if everybody who drives now drove one.
This is because it still uses gasoline, which is not only a fuel with a limited supply (a limit we are fast approaching), but a cause of smog and global warming. We need cars that can be powered by clean renewable electricity. Clean renewable electricity is electricity generated by wind power, solar power, geothermal power, small hydroelectric power, or tidal/wave power. These forms of energy cause no net pollution, create no safety hazard, and produce no radioactive waste. (Unlike nuclear, coal, and ethanol, despite the best greenwashing efforts of PR firms).
There are two technologies that can take clean-renewable electricity and make it the basis for powering our cars: plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen (since the hydrogen atoms merely store energy and take energy to separate from some other molecule). Plug-in hybrids are hybrids which can drive for extended periods of time on just electricity but also have a tank for a fuel like gasoline. Plug-in hybrids would be a giant leap forward, but hydrogen should be the goal for motor vehicles.
Remember, there's always the lower-tech approach. The cleanest form of transportation will always be walking, followed by biking. If you want to be cleaner than a Prius now (which you should) try riding a bus or taking a train. We don't just need cleaner cars, we need fewer people driving, and cities that support a range of transportation choices.
