[lunarhighway]

maybe it's got something to do with the transmissions? it seems automatic transmissions are more popular in america than in europe... automatics tend to waste some energy anyway, have fewer ratios and you can't really think ahead. in a manual car with a modest engine you'll downshift maybe a couple of grears and than put your foot down, to get out of harms way, in an outomatic you just put your foot down and the engine will have to cope before the transmission downshifts... anyway i don't know much about automatics, but my drandfather has one and the engine sound seems to scream "upshift" all the time