>The simple fact is that at its most basic, consciousness means being able to perceive and respond to external stimuli.

if you mean perceive as consciously perceive then yes, you needed subjective experience to have consciousness. It is not just responding to external stimuli.

consciousness is having sentience and subjective experience in general.
a toilet can respond to external stimulus, remove water when you press the lever and add water until it senses it is full, I am pretty confident it is not conscious.

>It's merely because of all the nonsense you add that you can claim supremacy over a simple car.

what part is nonsense? all I said is the basic understanding of consciousness from everyday experience, medical definitions, and philosophical ones too.

I am also not saying a car can't have consciousness, it is just you seem to not know what consciousness is, and mix the concept with some mechanical response to inputs.