I think the problem is that in the US, I hear people don’t really consider a car a real car if it doesn’t consume at least 10 l/km… while in Europe people shudder at the idea of a car consuming that much. Also, very few SUVs here. And a consumer Humvee doesn’t even fit most narrow one-way downtown streets (there is an Israeli guy in Budapest who has a Humvee…). Would be quite useless to have a car that is useless in a sizable portion of urban environments. US roads by and large must be wider (I wonder if this is because the cities in Europe are generally older…?)

prezzey - 07 03 07 - 14:10 - Reply to comment?

Given how some people drive (have you ever seen a riced-out 4×4?), unless their vehicle sounds like the Space Shuttle taking off, they don’t want it. More noise equates to more power. More noise also means a less efficient system, because much energy (in the physics sense) is lost through material vibration, and thus noise.

A small but growing number of US citizens feel that way, too. Just because you have a lot of something does not mean that you can or should waste it.

Very large vehicles are too big for many US streets, too. Pickup trucks barely leave any clearance on the roads, and most parking spaces are painted for much smaller vehicles (say, on the order of a Neon or Toyota). At least in DC (where I live), it is not uncommon for gigantic trucks and minivans to take up one-and-a-fraction parking spaces, not because they park like idiots (though some people do), but because their vehicles are too large to fit neatly into the parking spaces.

The Doctor (URL) - 08 03 07 - 12:29 - Reply to comment?

The problem I’ve had with European cars is that I can’t drive them – I’m too tall and too broad (neither of which are ever going to change appreciably) to drive comfortably. In a pinch I could drive them, yes, but for a 1 1/2 hour one-way commute every weekday they are impractical. For that matter, many American makes fall into that category as well – particularly those with unadjustable steering columns. However, I will grant that I haven’t looked into European makes in any great detail (mostly attributable to the fact that I couldn’t afford one even if I wanted one).

Adept - 08 03 07 - 18:48 - Reply to comment?

I’ve run into that problem with Corvettes, in particular – they’re tiny inside. Just having long legs makes them painful to sit in for long periods. As much as I love my Camry, it still wasn’t built for people built like craneflies.

Same here… I still wonder how Emmanuel Goldstein got his car into the country, given the import duties.

The Doctor (URL) - 13 03 07 - 12:42 - Reply to comment?