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@fatbloke
@ dr.o - batteries are good for the life of the car and are recyclable when you scrap it, but will be much smaller, lighter and more powerful once lithium-ion becomes affordable enough to replace nickel metal-hydride in cars.
@mouse - dust-to-dust is the best measure, you're right. But there are huge differences in methodology for measuring it - one recent study allotted the majority of a car's total environmental impact to its contruction and recycling and only a small fraction to 20 years and 150,000 miles of burning petrol, which is plainly nonsense.
You're also right that there are some additional environmental costs in building and eventually recycling more complex cars (such as hybrids) but these are comprehensively outweighed by their environmental advantages while in use. Your example of a Defender is a good one - like Porsche 911s, the majority are still on the road. But on some measures, (mainly particulates and oxides of nitrogen) an old Defender will be more polluting than my car by two orders of magnitude - I know which you'd rather be sat behind in traffic!
Hybrids are imperfect - they're heavy, complex, expensive, only deliver real fuel/emissions benefits in traffic and aren't particularly satisfying from an engineering perspective. You're also right that by making ordinary cars simpler, lighter, more aerodynamic and including low-cost green-tech like stop-start systems, we can make small emissions gains that add up to a lot when applied to millions of affordable cars. The VW Polo Bluemotion is a good example.
BUT - this approach doesn't break the bond between cars and petrol/diesel. Hybrids will help us get there - by 2010 GM will have a plug-in hybrid (which you partly charge overnight from the mains) on sale at an affordable price that will do 40 miles purely on electricity, enough for the daily needs of 75 per cent of drivers and meaning all their trips will be free of tailpipe emissions and carbon-fuel use. If you want to go further there's a small petrol engine and a total range of 600+ miles, but you might never need to use it - does that sound like a nonsense?