is a prius worth it?

There are not going to be enough vehicles on the road getting gas mileage in the high 40's even in a few years. It is and will still be early in this run, there is not going to be a glut in this high mileage/size category for quite some time. There will be more than there were, but the used market should be strong. (Yes, it is crazy now but I don't know that anyone is banking on it remaining nearly this strong.) Being a Toyota, mid-sized, with good gas mileage and a proven track record it is very unrealistic to suspect anything other than good resale value. I would however be very concerned about selling a mid-sized vehicle with mileage less than 30 mpg in a few years.

The battery issue is way overblown for this third generation vehicle. Heck, many domestic vehicles have tranny trouble in the 80-100k range (esp. those built on truck chassis) that cost as much as the hybrid battery. Yet folks were still nuts over them until gas prices went up.

Gasoline is likely to be far more expensive in 5 years than it is today. All the old theories about crude supply coming on to meet demand when oil hit $50..then $75, etc. have been debunked. Global recession is the one thing that is likely to suppress oil price in the near term (a year or two).