The Euros always say that we Americans are a whiney bunch for complaining about our $4 fuel when they pay twice that. Now I see they're starting to whine too. Based purely on price, they have reason to, however they have more alternatives.
Emissions standards are more relaxed there, cars can legally run in lean burn mode, they have plenty of diesel cars (and diesel is cheaper than gasoline there), as well as an LPG infrastructure.
They have all the cars that people wouldn't dream of bringing into the American market because they might take longer than 8 seconds to hit 60mph. Where did the BMW 318 go? BMW wouldn't want to ruin their status symbol image by bringing something efficient to the states, same with Benz. A family car with leather seats and a 1.8L engine? Good luck finding them in the States, they're everywhere in Europe and Japan. Only here do we associate good fuel economy with cheap plastic interiors and no options. Why should the size of the engine dictate what my seats can be made of?
Last edited by JohnnyGrey; 06-01-2008 at 11:11 AM..
|