Might be good as an exercise in a workshop on requirements gathering, as part of an interview absolutely stupid.

I hear what you’re saying, but really, this is a stupid question and a waste of everyone’s time. Instead you could give a real big report that has insufficient information or that contains a red herring to an improper assumption. The interviewer could then measure if the candidate properly pushed back, exposed an improper assumption and asked relevant clarifying questions. Like one would do at the actual job exhibiting the characteristics the question purports to measure.

The car example is just stupid. Could you image how idiotic you’d sound beginning by asking is it a real car? You’re basically accusing your interlocutor of operating in bad faith (which they were).

> really, this is a stupid question and a waste of everyone’s time

Yeah, I think I agree. I was just responding to (what I saw as) sentiment that it was entirely unrelated to performance, which seems to overstate the case.

> Could you image how idiotic you’d sound beginning by asking is it a real car?

Tbh, "willing to sound like an idiot to double check assumptions" is probably something worth selecting for! I don't think that saves this question, though.

Not just that, but the person said they did ask the interviewer what kind of car it was and what it was used for, at which point any reasonable person would explain it was a toy!

That interview question is basically, "We lied about an imaginary situation and were disappointed you failed to accuse us of lying mid-job interview."