It's official - the Toyota Prius is for posers

I have always been suspicious of people who drive the Toyota Prius. Not because it's far too expensive, very ugly and therefore obviously a bad choice, but because I've always suspected that it had a lot more to do with self-conscious smugness than any desire to save the planet. Years ago, Top Gear demonstrated not only that it struggled to achieve more than 45mpg on a normal motorway journey, but that when pushed hard round a track, it actually acheived worse fuel economy than the BMW M3 (4-litre V8 etc) which was following it at the same speeds.

Now we have the irrefutable proof - Toyota are beefing it up for the Yanks. Yes, despite the fact that Leonardo di Caprio, Cameron Diaz and various other mindless celebs have been parading the things for years, Toyota have decided that what they need to do to sell the Prius in the states is make it bigger, give it a bigger engine, improve the performance and, oh yes, make the fuel economy even less impressive.

The Prius has always been a car for fools and posers: people who are happy to spend far too much money for an uninspiring car which will do nothing to save the planet. The materials required to make its battery have to travel so far and create so much pollution in the manufacturing process that it has been argued that it has a greater environmental impact over its lifetime than a Range Rover. Now Toyota have given in and (indirectly) admitted it - so if you really want to save the planet's resources, or save money on your fuel bills, buy an efficient diesel, and drive it sensibly. Then you might actually achieve upwards of 60mpg; something that really isn't possible in the Prius.