Yep. Hybrid technology is really great when properly applied. It's only stupid when applied to a small car, and more stupid yet when applied to a small car that will see a mostly highway cruising.
I see hybrids cruising the highways where I live where there's no city driving to speak of (since there are no cities) and I just shake my head.
Im usually either driving ~20 city miles in a day, or ~150 highway miles in a day. 95+% of my driving is highway, and i do it in the Insight, which is a hybrid.
Now, the hybrid bits ARENT the reason my Insight gets 50mpg on the highway. They arent helping me get better highway MPG. But without the hybrid bit, i wouldnt own this car, because the hybrid part is what ALLOWS it to have a tiny 50mpg motor and still have 'normal' acceleration. When i run down the hybrid battery (which only happens in the city, hmmm) the thing is intolerable to drive.
I think that what you are thinking of really only makes sense for hybrids that can propel themselves at low speeds without using the gas engine, like the prius and some others, but there are many hybrids that cant, and the 1g Insight is one of them.
Ditto. I see the PRii cruising between lafayette and Indianapolis everyday. Most are running upwards of 80mph, tailgaiting (brakelights flashing on as they are trying to push the pickup in front of them to go 85) and weaving through traffic. Now that is a great use of a hybrid.
I honestly think that it really is a great way to use a hybrid. I can drive like a lunatic and spend less per mile than 99% of the people on the road. I get 38-40mpg @95mph. 
As for it NOT being what the car was designed for, fair enough. But what are the alternatives? The Prius' hybrid system may be optimized for lower-speed efficiency, but it's higher speed efficiency is STILL well above most other cars on the road. So when you see a Prius driver going 85 everywhere, it's not because they're using the car the wrong way, its probably because they didnt know of any other car that was more efficient at 85mph, and the low-speed efficiency is just a bonus for them.
