PRIUS wins Drive People's Choice Award 2009

Indeed he did.

It sure is.

-- Regards, Noddy.

In my best Maxwell Smart voice. So THAT'S why nobody responds when I say, begone infidel.

Al

correction: The VW Polo Blue Motion uses a Three cylinder Turbo Injected variable timed diesel powerplant.

btw: The VW Polo Blue Motion is priced at about 80% the cost of a 2010 Prius II. One of the reasons this diesel gas sipper and other like it in europe are not sold in the USA is because they lack exhaust emission devices that are required by the USA environmental regulations.

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@nothing.attdns.com...

You forgot to add another insult!

This is a silly discussion. Small or big depends on your frame of reference.

My Prius is just the right size for me.

It depends largely on what you're comparing against, and with things like cars it's not hard to do.

Glad to hear it.

-- Regards, Noddy.

So you would think, but if A is longer than B, but B is the taller than A, which one is bigger..? If one car has a big boot and little rear seat space, is it bigger than a car with ample rear seat space and a small boot..?

You may consider the Prius to be a small car, but it certainly has a lot more room inside than the new Mercedes E-class Coupe than I recently sampled.

It's somewhat easier than that.

If you look at *all* the cars in a particular class and find that they fall within a range of size short of some minor variations, yet you have one that is clearly significantly smaller than all the rest you don't need to be Einstein to figgure out that the odd one doesn't belong in that pack.

Thank you. I do, and largely because it is......

It's got more room than a few cars in the "small" class, but that doesn't automatically qualify it as a "mid sized vehicle".

-- Regards, Noddy.

Yet, compared to what most italians drive, it's quite large. The comparison that make you consider it small, is not relevant to most people on the internet.

Compared to what most Albanians drive it's powered by an engine and not a donkey. How is either of those two examples relevant?

Did you conduct a genuine arms length survey to find that out, or have you just decided to assume that what works for you works for everyone else?

Size is relative. Compared to an original Fiat Bambino the Prius is enormous and compared to a Camry it's small. Compared to a Corolla there's such an insignificant difference between them you could be forgiven for thinking they were both built on the same platform. However, to label the Prius "mid sized" makes every other genuine mid sized car look like a 1972 Cadillac by comparison.

If it works for you that's fine, but please don't assume that the rest of the world thinks like you do.

-- Regards, Noddy.

It's perfectly relevant to what Italians would consider small.

Not really. Let's look at the wheelbase (inches) of Toyotas entire range of cars:

iQ: 78.0 Aygo: 91.3 Yaris: 96.9 Corolla: 102.4 Prius & Avensis: 106.3 Camry: 109.3 Avalon: 111.0

The Prius wheelbase is actually closer to that of the Camry than to that of the Corolla.

Presumably, the Camry is what you consider mid-sized, but take a look at what Toyota sells in Europe: Neither the Avalon nor the Camry are sold here. The Prius and the Avensis are the largest.

Looking at Toyotas range of cars, it would be reasonable to label iQ, Aygo and Yaris small, Corolla, Prius and Avensis mid-sized and Camry and Avalon large.

I don't assume anything. I'm merely pointing out that what you consider mid-sized, would be considered large in most countries. The US and Australian markets are not typical in a global perspective.

You don't get it, Paul. Noddy is an Aussie jingoist who hates the USA and doesn't give a s*it about the rest of the world.

Oh, I had pretty much figured that out; I just didn't know the proper term was jingoist. Now I know, thank you.

De nada.

By jingo, we didn't know that! We thought it were da Ruskies. ;-)

Uh-huh :)

You do that, and when you've finished go back and look at the rest of the physical specs of the cars, and in particular the interior dimensions.

I'm not in Europe, and couldn't care less what they sell over there.

Just because the Prius is one of the largest cars Toyota offers in your particular part of the world doesn't mean it's a *large* car. Here the Prius is considerably smaller than the Camry, and so much so that no one but a complete idiot could consider them to be in the same size class.

Maybe in your world mate.

I think the Camry is considered mid sized in just about every market it's sold in.

-- Regards, Noddy.

I don't hate the USA. I just hate f****it Americans like you :)

-- Regards, Noddy.

I really don't think you do, but you just keep playing along with your f****it American friend there. Between the two of you you should be able to rustle up enough brains to open a packet of Wizz Fizz and work out what to do with the contents.

-- Regards, Noddy.

AFAIK, there is just one World. But since it's round, it naturally limits your perspective.

I never said it was large. Only that calling it small would be correct only in a very limited perspective, such as yours.

Uh-huh....

That's why you have to limit your comparisons to what the Italians drive, right?

Australia's, America's, Japans, New Zealands, South America's, the UK. Yeah, you're right. It's pretty limited.

-- Regards, Noddy.