2010 New York Auto Show: Volkswagen Polo named World Car of the Year - Posted Driving You have to laugh. Oh, their choice is a car not yet sold in the USA. <snicker> Bob Wilson
It was actually the BlueMotion branding of the Polo, Golf and Passat models that won, but you can't get even the larger cars in BlueMotion form in North America yet. As I commented on Autoblog, the comparable model to the Prius in size is the 1.6L (diesel) BlueMotion Passat Saloon. The Polo is close to a Yaris or Ford Fiesta in size. In the UK the base-model Prius is cheaper than this model of Passat, lighter, it uses less volume of fuel (not even allowing for diesel's higher energy density), emits less CO2 and far less NOx (higher CO though) - and accelerates faster. The Passat's 0-62mph (0-100km/h) time is 12.4 seconds according to VW's UK website. We're told that the Prius time of 10.4 seconds (toyota.co.uk) is too slow for the US market. I hate to think what you'd make of the Polo BlueMotion's 13.9 seconds. All BlueMotion models have manual gearboxes which would also not go down well on your side of the pond. The 7-speed Auto-DSG seems to increase urban fuel consumption and slightly reduce extra-urban fuel consumption for a slight increase when combined, leading to increased CO2 emissions. Acceleration times are about the same.
That's ok because the diesel guys here will tell you it has gobs of torque so it will accelerate fast completely ignoring the figures which they used against the Prius previously (that it's slow).
So what? It is the automotive equivalent of the Nobel Prize. "We think this could be good, so let's give it an award!"
They really need to define "geen" and weight each type of emission, interior volume, price, acceleration, safety, etc... Without quantitative values, the award is as good as he said she said.
Stop it! Stop it! My sides are hurting!!!! Wait, they awarded this on April 1st??? Now it makes sense. Bob Wilson
Thanks for the information. Many of us would like a manual gearbox or the dsg above the eCVT. But it really is those slow acceleration times, that stop many of the clean diesels from coming over here. I never liked the reliability of VW either, and they don't seem to have that extra something that their german rivals have. I picked the prius because nothing came close to the fe without some major compromises. I wonder if those picking this car actually drove it very far.
Can we find out who voted for which vehicle? The reason is the Prius voters are likely to write for publications I would be interested in reading. Knowing the others, who to avoid. Bob Wilson
Obviously, these folks did NOT consider all cars. After all there are LOTS of better cars if you consider cars that are NOT yet available. That means we can look WAY into the future, right? So certainly the number ONE future car choice that EVERYONE can agree one would be this one: I elect the flying car as #1 ... you know ... available sometime in the future. .
Avoid Car and Driver and this sketchy summary of the 2010 Prius - Toyota Prius Car Buying Guide- Get a Quote on the Toyota Prius at CARandDRIVER.com- Car Buying Out of line with what I've experienced in 500 miles driving a 2010 Pri. p1 of 2009 Car and Driver Buyer's guide - Ford ad p2 - Suzuki ad p5 Hyundai ad p13 Buick ad p21-24 Lincoln ad p31 Saturn ad p39 Nissan ad p67 Honda ad p71 BMW ad p83 cadillac ad p101 - 102 Acura ad p157 Viagra ad among others p161 Inifinit ad and finally p162.. Chevrolet ad
Well now it is clear, this is an European car magazine effort: Car of the Year Well, good to know. Yet curiously they awarded the 2005 Prius Car of the Year. Bob Wilson
