Does going green cost far too much green?

Recently my husband and I were in the market for a new vehicle - an SUV in particular. Given that we would like to be environmentally responsible, and given the soaring prices at the pumps, our first thought was “let’s go hybrid”. Hybrid vehicles use a fraction of gas that regular vehicles do, so it seemed like a wise choice.
However, upon visiting some dealerships, we were astounded as to the price difference between the hybrid and the non-hybrid. For a sedan, you are looking at roughly a $5,000 to $8,000 difference and for an SUV, roughly $5,000 to $9,000 difference. Throw your sales taxes on top of that, and we aren’t talking chump change here.
Now, I understand that the technology will cost extra money, but considering that a vehicle is never an investment, it is a huge difference in price point. On top of that, if something were to go wrong with the vehicle, repair costs are higher, and you are limited in who you can take your vehicle to as not all mechanics are familiar with hybrid technologies.
So for us, as I imagine for many others like us, being economically responsible outweighed being environmentally responsible.