It's no secret that to be a car enthusiast is to cast a jaded and suspicious eye at anything bearing a hybrid badge.

Generally speaking, eco-credentials are incompatible with that hard to pin down fun-to-drive factor. Can they be practical? Sure, given the right application. Are they likely to get your pulse racing? Not likely, barring getting zapped by the battery pack if you try to do your own oil change.

However, given that the Gulf of Mexico is now as oil drenched as an Olive Garden house salad, perhaps it's time to give hybrid vehicles a closer inspection. Much like a man with a Pavarotti-esque figure bemoaning having to switch over to low-fat mayonnaise after his fourth heart attack, some compromise is necessary.

But good news, those of you who are already making faces at the thought of giving up your beloved sportscar for a jelly-bean-shaped eco-pod. First of all, the compromise is not as big as you think, with current offerings actually providing fairly peppy powertrains. Secondly, take a little look in the crystal ball to see what's coming and you may even find that hybrid cars are moving towards -- gulp -- fun?

First though, for those of you living under a rock in the Alberta Tar Sands, what makes a car into a hybrid? Simply put, it's a vehicle with two engines, one electric and one gas.

On the face of it, cramming two engines in one car seems silly. Surely the last thing you want to do when in pursuit of ultimate economy is create a heavier, more cumbersome vehicle that doesn't have any cargo space because of the bulky battery packs required to power the electric engine. Also, all the energy used to power the car still has to come from fossil fuels, as most hybrids aren't being plugged into a wall like an electric car and few of them run on alternative fuels like hydrogen or bio-diesel.

However, where the hybrid powertrain really shines is in recovering wasted energy for re-use. Even with modern updates like direct injection and multi-cylinder deactivation, the internal combustion engine is still about as efficient as Parliamentary debate. Adding regenerative brakes to soak up lost forward momentum in easily-storable electrical form can result in a car that's nearly a third more efficient -- in town at least.

There are three types of hybrids currently on the market: mild, full, and extra spicy. Okay, I made that last one up; no spicy hybrids (yet).

Basically, a mild hybrid has the usual electric powertrain allied to a gas engine, but lacks the ability to run exclusively on the electric engine. The electric motor in a mild hybrid is usually smaller, and thus incurs less of a weight penalty, but operates sort of like the automotive version of Hamburger Helper: it pitches in to make things go further, but you still need to bring the beef.

A full hybrid, on the other hand, operates like a part-time vegetarian. Sometimes all the energy is coming from the old-school, gas-fired lump. Other times, the hemp-wearing, peace-sign-waving hippie-drive is doing all the pushing, man. Full hybrids tend to be considerably more efficient than their mild counterparts, but both do better than gasoline applications in most instances.

Sounds fantastic, but there are a few problems, the first of which is cost. Obviously, creating a more complicated vehicle is going to cost more, both from a consumer standpoint, and in environmental impact. There's been plenty of greenwashing, particularly from Toyota, on all the ways that their manufacturing process displays a commitment to the environment and a green future and blah blah blah I've-nodded-off-again. The fact is: companies exist to make money, and the Prius has been very profitable for Toyota, so don't drink too much of that green Kool-Aid.

The other problem is a little more difficult to define. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's visionary head honcho, has famously said that hybrids "are like Mermaids. When you want a fish, you get a woman, when you want a woman, you get a fish." I can't imagine what possible disturbing reason you'd actually want a fish for, but Mr. Ghosn has a point.

Often times, a hybrid car is very heavy feeling and disconnected from the road. It lacks the fizz and panache of a small-engined hatchback, and you need only compare the Honda Insight mild hybrid to the excellent Honda Fit to see that the efficiency gap isn't that large. Also, most hybrids don't do very well on the highway, as their regenerative brake systems don't really come into play. They might see a few miles to the gallon better than their gasoline-burning counterparts, but if you're a highway commuter, a diesel would do it better.

So there's all the complaints out in the open. All the usual hand-wringing you get regarding hybrids -- they're not fun, they're not that efficient -- has changed very little since the Prius first arrived on the scene. However, things are changing fast.

First of all, the arrival of the plug-in hybrid is essentially here. What with several electric vehicles coming to market soon, it's no surprise to learn that battery technology has come along by leaps and bounds, allowing full hybrids to be plugged in overnight, greatly reducing their reliance on the gas engine, but still allowing for a much greater range than an all-electric vehicle.

Secondly, and a little further off, the alternative-fuels hybrid presents a very real way to bypass the inefficiencies of the gasoline-engine entirely. Diesel hybrids will probably crop up soonest, but Honda is already field-testing a hydrogen-fuel-cell hybrid, the Clarity, having leased a few production models to specially-chosen customers in California.

Thirdly, and this is the bit that actually interests me, is that the fun-to-drive hybrid is right around the corner. Sure, Honda's CRZ is bound to be a disappointment for some (it's no CRX descendant), but there's plenty of potential there, and once the aftermarket tunes one up, it won't be long before the low-end grunt of an electric engine combined with the gasoline-engine's willingness to rev makes a perfect combination. A better example would be Porsche's 911 GT3 R Hybrid, a Le Mans racecar with two supplemental electric engines that's already taken a couple of wins. Again, an electric engine's ability to provide full torque right from essentially zero r.p.m. means a powerplant that's able to slingshot out of low-speed corners. The fact that the added efficiency adds up to less pit-stops helps too.

Ferrari has a hybrid system in development. So does Lamborghini. Infiniti has been bragging about a rear-drive setup for their G37 sedan that will be considerably more efficient than current Toyota-based tech. Mitsubishi is looking at hybrid technology for the next iteration of their banzai EVO X all-wheel-drive rally car.

Over the next little while, Hybrid technology has the ability to become the new turbocharging: a process originally intended to get greater efficiency out of a smaller displacement engine. Admittedly, it's a stop-gap solution, allowing us to reduce our dependence on oil, while pushing forward the battery technology required to make full-electric cars a practical possibility. In the meantime, don't dismiss the hybrid option as being just the smug choice. In a few years, it'll be the sport version.

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. If you have a suggestion for a column, or would be interested in having your car club featured, please contact him at mcaleer.nsnews@gmail.com.