[Arragonis]

I have seriously considered settng up a business getting hold of LHD cars from Europe and selling them as imports into the US, not just Diesels but other models too. Mainly cars already sold in the US such as the Aveo, Fiesta, Focus, Astra, Vectra as well as many Nissans, Hondas, Toyotas, Kias, Hyundais and so on. We get so many smaller engined and longer geared models.

Examples ?

How about an Aveo 1.2 with the same manual 5sp as the US 1.6, or maybe a Honda Fit (aka Jazz here) 1.4 manual, or how about a Fiesta 1.4 or 1.6 TDCi Diesel or a 1.25 Petrol manual. Yaris 1.3 or, if you really really want it, a 1.0 3 cylinder manual - 68hp and 60 mpg.

Or maybe something smaller - Ford Ka (smaller than a Fiesta, same platform as a FIAT 500) or perhaps a Toyota Aygo or maybe a Kia Picanto - sort of Sub-Rio sized hatchback - 67MPG (imp) rating, or Hyundai i10 which is a kind of sister to the Picanto - the base one has stop start and makes 65 MPG (imp) urban.

But no, apparently the US, which had the "slower than a lot of base Euro hatchbacks" Geo Metro, cannot handle cars which are so slow.

Hmmm.