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I actually took a hard look at the Prius a couple of times. the first time was 2004 or 2005 when my wife ended up ordering a Civic hybrid, the second was 2009 when added/replaced a car in our fleet. My big compliant about all small 4 doors is they were never designed with tall people in mind (6'3 and above) I'm a big fan of the Toyota Yaris 3 door. Like the smart car it starts with a strong but light weight unibody, at just 524 lbs. with a powertrain weighly less than 150 lbs (5spd MT) They have been very successful in Europe including gas, diesel, and hybrid versions of both. I even like the Yaris Hybrd R which is the racing concept vehicle with 420 HP. Base weight for the 2007-2009 models was at 2200-2300 lbs depending on options. but based of the unibody weight you have lots of excess weight which could be removed without compromising safefy.
I thought the Metro XFI was a great basic transportation back in its day. The only thing it suffered from was the GM bean counters, which put to many plastic parts in critical spots, like door handles and window cranks.
Unfortunately the Metro never really got the aftermarket support or following it should have. Where as Coopers, Fiat 500s, Honda Fit and Civics have gotten that support. Up until recently so did the Yaris which has put me in a bit of a scramble to find key parts to continue upgrading my own.
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