CHICAGO -- Hybrid cars are said to cut pollution, save oil and lower gas costs. What's not to like? For consumers across the country, the answer is in Lisa Parker's Target 5 report, "Who's Hiding the Hybrids?"

Scroll to the bottom of this page for links to more information about the hybrid car debate, and feel free to leave your comments in our discussion forum. Images: Which Hybrids Save Most Money?Video: Watch Lisa Parker's Report

There are a lot of compelling reasons to buy a hybrid, and no shortage of equally convincing reasons not to. But consumers wrestling with that question are bumping into a problem they didn't expect -- no way to make an informed decision, they say, when there are so few hybrids available to inspect.

The only hybrids many see are on the TV screen. In the many commercials on the air, hybrid drivers look and sound so content.

Nick Wilder: "Oh, it was very frustrating."

In real life, consumers who say they'd like to be hybrid drivers just sound frustrated.

Wilder: "They simply were not available."

People like Nick Wilder, who wanted a Nissan hybrid but was told:

Wilder: "I couldn't test drive them and they couldn't sell them to me. Never ... They said that there are 13 or 14 other states which got the entire allocation of the hybrids, and none came to Illinois."

And people like state Rep. Karen May, who says the ride was bumpy on the road to getting her hybrid Mercury.

May: "They said no, I couldn't see the color, I couldn't drive the car."

Consumers across the country are venting about the low supply of hybrids and the high price of them. Some dealers are adding thousands extra to the sticker price.

Nothing to test drive, no room to bargain and in some cases, a markup: is this just the law of supply and demand at work, or is there another reason trying to go green on the road is proving so tough for drivers in some states?

On the hunt for hybrids and insight, Target 5 went to 12 dealerships in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Almost everywhere we looked ...

Wisconsin Ford dealer: "We do not have any hybrids."

Indiana Ford dealer: "They're going to be hard to find."

Indiana Chevrolet dealer: "I really can't help you out."

There was no disagreement about the shortage, especially of domestic hybrids.

Wisconsin Ford dealer: "They sell out as soon as we get them!"

But plenty of variety on who to blame, from a shortage of batteries to:

Indiana Chevrolet dealer: "Because of the strike, it doesn't help."

Wisconsin GMC dealer: "What they really want to do? They want to do hydrogen."

The normal car-buying experience was turned upside down. In some cases, salesmen talked Target 5's shopper out of spending money.

Indiana Ford dealer: "They're too expensive and they're really not saving you money."

Target 5: "If we want one, what would we have to do?"

Indiana Chevrolet dealer: "I could never promise you a date when you can get it."

But why so many deterrents? Some blame carmakers' planning, others point to big oil. With no clear answer in sight, some lawmakers believe they have a solution in the form of the Illinois Clean Cars Act.

May: "We would be among those states where the auto dealers would ship the cleaner cars -- cleaner as far as pollution and the global warming gases as well."

Currently passed by California and 13 other states, the legislation proposed in Illinois calls for stricter tailpipe standards in air and global-warming pollution emitted by passenger cars.

The auto industry vigorously opposes it.

Jerry Cizek, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association: "Let the public choose what they want to buy, let the dealers choose what they want to sell, not what they are forced to sell by a state mandate."

But a consortium of environmental, health and religious groups are backing it.

The theory is that dealers in states that have the law get cleaner cars for sale.

Cizek: "That's not necessarily true. It has not brought more fuel efficient vehicles to California; it's merely changed the mix of vehicles available to be sold."

May: "The car dealers will definitely have to ship the clean cars to us, and I do think it will make a difference. We will be known as a clean car state."

With no shortage of reasons to look for an alternative to gas guzzlers and no shortage of obstacles in their way, consumers who are trying to go green might part ways with Kermit on this one:

Kermit: "I guess it is easy being green."

The debate about whether to pass clean cars legislation in Illinois is going on now in Springfield, and a vote could happen soon.

Auto makers say consumer demand and not state law should dictate where cleaner cars are shipped. But already, Nissan says it only ships the Altima hybrid to states that have attached to the California standards.

On The Net:

Groups Supporting Clean Car Legislation:
• Illinois Clean Cars
• Sierra Club On Hybrid Cars
• Union of Concerned Scientists Article: Automakers vs. the People
Groups Against Clean Car Legislation:
• National Automobile Dealer's Association
• Auto Alliance President's statement
On Other Technology Coming Down The Pike:
• Popular Mechanics Looks At New Hybrid Tech