End Of The Road

The Eye on the Road crew drove into Boston on Friday ... on fumes. CBS News correspondent Sharyl Alfonsi says five days on the road had taken its toll on the crew, the cars and everyone's wallets.

Alfonsi says the crew traveled more than 1,700 miles since leaving Miami on Monday. She says it cost about $348 to fill up the Ford Expedition, $175 to fill up the Honda Accord and $141 for the Toyota Prius, a hybrid.

The crew took the cars to a garage in Boston to be looked over by car expert Kenny Morse, who wears his inner-car geek on the outside. "The Prius did amazing," he said.

The average American drives about 10,000 miles a year, so picking a Prius instead of the Expedition could save you about $1,200 a year on gas. That's why they're in high demand — and why some dealers are marking them up anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 over the sticker price. That means you could end up paying more because you're paying a premium on the car itself.

"That does happen with many hybrid vehicles," Morse says.

But for a lot of people, a Prius just isn't an option. When the Eye on the Road crew tried to move the equipment and Jim, a 6-foot-3 photographer, out of the SUV and into the Prius ... it was a little cramped. "I'd last about five minutes in here," he says.

The Honda performed exactly as expected. But garage owner Barry Steinberg says that lately, a lot of cars don't.

"Cars just aren't running like they used to," he says. "I think it's the quality of the fuel."

Steinberg says his shop is servicing more cars than ever with clogged fuel injectors and diminished gas mileage for no reason.

"What else could it be?" he asks.

One thing it could be is speed, which apparently burns a hole in your tank. If everyone adhered to the speed limit, Americans would save 8 million gallons of gas a day, says Morse.

That apparently includes the Eye on the Road crew. Kathryn White of Fayetteville, N.C., who apparently followed the crew for 15 miles, wrote in an e-mail that "They were doing 85 miles an hour the whole time. They were flying through traffic. I didn't know the hybrid car could go that fast."

It does. And, says Alfonsi, "To Ms. White and all the others we passed on I-95, we're sorry. We'll be off the road soon."