My first grand tour of Europe was with a Eurail pass. My second was in a rented Citroen out of CDG. I learned that the world looks different when you have a great train system and gas costs $6/gallon.
62
When I was in Italy about ten years ago, I saw quite a few Tata pickup trucks on the roads there. Those are big trucks, and maybe they were more common in Italy than Fords or Chevys because they could be driven overland? Who knows. But they looked like honking huge American landhogs. What's that great line from Michael Herr's "Dispatches," a sample of typical (stoned) barracks banter: "It's been proven! You take and put a Ford in a Chevy and a Chevy in a Ford and they both go faster! It's been scientifically proven!"
5
We need to find a way to encourage most or all cars sold in the U.S. to be manual transmission. It is one way to ensure that people put away their dang phones, stop texting while driving, and pay attention to the road. Maybe then, we could have fewer crashes and fewer deaths (human and animal).
79
In many European towns the streets are so narrow an SUV would be either a roadblock or demolition equipment. Throw in the cost of petrol at $7 per gallon as a second argument against, and the dreadful handling of US SUVs as a third, and they become a very stupid choice.
39
Better research, please. The Isetta had four wheels, not three.
33
The BMW Isetta never had three wheels as your footnote wrongly states it. Morgans, however did.
20
That picture is of a 4 wheeled Isetta.
20
Come south! You can buy models by Seat, Peugeot and Citroen off the showroom floor in Mexico. Even the Dacia Stepway is rebadged and sold by Nissan Mexico.
20
Renault, Peugeot, Citroen...nobody wants a Lada, Skoda or Trabi...
4
Nary a word about the impact on the environment that Americans' obscenely over-sized cars have. Why not? There's really nothing more important to say about this story, and yet Tom Voelk bizarrely leaves it out.
60
re: the photo "The Ford F-150 at a plant in Michigan" I think I could just make out one person in the photo. So glad we're great again (not).
17
Americans only say they care for the environment. In reality, they are the biggest polluters per capita on Earth.
48
This was very funny: "You’re more likely to see Bigfoot sipping espresso there than a thirsty Chevrolet Tahoe".
Enjoyed the article.
14
I've never purchased an American car. They are too big, the designs are gauche, and they are poorly made. I'll go European or Asian every time.
43
I like small cars and am sick of these huge ugly gas hogs that take up too much space and from which their drivers can't see bicyclists or smaller cars in the next lane below them because of the ugly bulbous fenders and hoods on these behemoths.
We get small cars such as the Prius and the Cooper, and what happens? They start getting bigger, too.
We don't all want huge cars!
53
The popularity of SUVs, whether big or small, Australia or Europe or the US is also due to the fact you don't need to bend down to do anything in the backseat . . like . . attach children to their child seats . . .
For someone doing the school run with a couple of kids, loading in shopping too . . in an SUV everything is up higher . . less bending down. It really makes a difference.
Car sales are crashing here in Australia. Small and mid size SUVs are up and up. Altho, new vehicle sales of any kind are down.
11
@abtheaker Oh believe us... we've heard all the excuses why massive SUVs are 'better' for their owners. But they are not better for other drivers (of smaller vehicles), they are not better for the planet and they are certainly not better (but rather, are more deadly) to pedestrians and cyclists.
As a sometimes passenger in SUV taxis, I find SUVs harder to get in and out of (too high). Plus I just hate them, as they represent everything wrong with the world.
69
If you check on the link provided in the article, you'll find that the Isetta has in fact four wheels.
10
Many divers in the US prefer large , heavy, high HP vehicles.......and why not ?
.....after all , fuel is dirt cheap compared to Europe.
3
@Ron B
Why not??
Because it is wasteful, destructive, selfish, and shortsighted.
But after all, that is how we live in the USA.
Advertising and our egos tell us to do as much.
60
Not sure I totally agree about American tastes. BMW, Audi and Mercedes set the standard for luxury sedans and they are all much more popular here than any of the ho hum domestic counterparts. Proof: have you seen the new Lincoln Continental?
5
@Bello ...but even the Germans now sell more SUVs than sedans.
7
Does the F150 even figure into the fleet average fuel economy numbers? The whole regulatory regime in the US is flawed... the only reason to sell small efficient cars here is to get the average to an acceptable level so as to sell more of the bigger ones. I wonder why they don't start simply bundling them. Must buy a Cruze + Escalade package. Of course the Cruze can just sit in the driveway because they don't consider miles driven. Would be much better to tax gas to achieve efficiency and then the European cars would have relevance. (And there would be less spending on the military to "stabilize" the mideast, but of course some people would see that as a job 'killer').
14
The BMW Isetta was a four-wheeled car that seated two, not a three-wheeled car. Messerschmidt made a three-wheel car after Woreld War II
9
@Stephen Quite correct, Stephen.
The Isetta had a motorcycle engine and was amusing to drive. A neighbor had one in the small rural town where I lived and drove it in the non-snow months.
3
@Stephen ... but it was always out-turned by the Spitfire.
4
What? No mention of the Mini Cooper? It's seems to be extremely popular here.
6
Some European and Asian models come to the US with different names. Some Nissans are doppelgängers to their Renault cousins. Plus many American cars are built overseas. The Jeep Renegade is from Italy, for example.
3
I'm a little surprised the article didn't mention the elephant in the room: we (the buyers) aren't the OEM's consumers; dealers are. Unlike much of the world, we mostly buy from existing, or allocated, dealer inventory.
For a carnmaker, that makes it very hard to address a niche market, whether it is a brand or sub-brand in its portfolio (e.g. Fiat), a category (e.g. manuals, compact hatchbacks, etc.), or even colors beyond silver, black and white. Also, leasing is much more popular in America, which increases the focus on car configurations that can be easily resold after the term.
This isn't the dealer's "fault" per se. This comment isn't the place to get into the frightening economics of dealership floorplan financing. But sufficient to say, the stakes are high for a dealer to get its inventory mix exactly right to move product easily and quickly, and the penalty for that lone brown stick-shift diesel wagon sitting around waiting for one of "us" is higher than we probably think.
20
It would have been nice to see some photos of these cars mentioned.
17
European cars are built for small cities and narrow streets. Have you ever driven in Seville? I kind of like that. Most places in the world are like that. US, is whole different ball game. That is why I was hoping that someone in Europe/Japan comes up with a lower priced smaller EV. Toyota/Honda/Mazda where art thou? I can't wait for someone to have the guts to make the "Electric Motel T" for the common man. I am waiting here!
6
@TheniD These cars do exist. The Honda e is coming out soon in Europe, they already have other small hatchbacks like the Volkswagen E-Up and the Renault Zoe. But it appears that there is no chance of them ever being released in the United States.
4
Americans rule these out because there is no infrastructure for these cars in the U.S. Once they break, where do you think you're going to find parts for a Peugeot or a Seat?
And it's not just because these cars are rolling piles of junk. I have been to European countries where quality brands like Honda don't exist. Why? No parts.
9
Parking. Does no one consider this? The day-to-day inconvenience of maneuvering in small spaces and then having to extract yourself from the vehicle?
4
@thomas woodruff
What are you asking? Does no one consider the inconvienence of parking ego-bloated living rooms on wheels?
18
No CD player, no sale! Aw, shoot, I suppose I won't be buying a new car anytime soon...
10
@Stefan In a place where I can legitimately say "OK Boomer!"
3
VW has been making a colossal mistake not selling their camper vans here - especially over the last 5-10 years.
12
Come to Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, OK, Iowa, or any agricultural state and work for a farmer/rancher for a year. Then you will understand why we don’t drive a beer can on wheels. Farmers/Ranchers are working on anywhere from 1,000 acres to 20,000 acres, not a single farm. Plus this isn’t Europe, we divorced them in 1776. Considering the state of the UN with their economy, trade, and immigration crisis I’m glad we aren’t like them. They are the perfect example of globalist policies gone bad.
9
@JOSEPH The problem isn't that ranchers and farmers aren't using BMW Isetta's instead of pickup trucks and tractors to do their work. The problem is that even the pencil pushers in Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa fancy themselves ranchers and farmers. Anyway, thanks for the lecture.
41
@JOSEPH
"Beer can on wheels"
That's exactly the type immature mentality fueled by propagandists like Limbaugh and other conservative fossil fuel abuse supporters.
It's time to grow up and realize that a small portion of our population's work requirements shouldnt be reflected in the overwhelming majority of vehicle owners who dont haul or tow or even commute with anything but their self in the vehicle.
32
@Mike B ... and even in a dense city like NYC, drivers now consider themselves 'farmers'...I'm sure in Boston too... We refer to these preposterous drivers of massive vehicles in NYC as 'NYC Farmers' or 'Corn Growers of New York City'.
The Car-Owner Virus is alive and well.
27
I pay $6.36 per gallon to fill up my car in the Netherlands.
This was a quaint little article for me. Of course we drive small cars over here; we're not stupid. But there's the trade offs that Americans don't understand or see. Our roads are great, stellar. The roads in the Seattle area look like a banana republic to me. (Hey, Amazon, how about paying some taxes to pay for those roads you use?) We have guaranteed 3 weeks vacation per year--even as a cashier at any store-- and it's your right to take in all at once if you want to. We have universal health insurance which is a hybrid-private public system. You as an individual pick your insurance carrier, but the gov't decides what's in the basic insurance plan. Not the insurance company. There are no weird problems with in-service and out-of-service doctors in the same hospital. No one stresses about health care bills or the cost of college tuition. Americans rip themselves off with choices they make at the ballot box. You want your big car but refuse to pay for good roads, health care, reasonably priced university education. It's a choice, not a fate. Enjoy the ride.
146
@Carolyn if you understand how our government works, you then understand it’s not a choice the average citizen gets to make. Most are so full of misinformation they couldn’t make an informed decision anyways. Americans grow up with the myth that they are the luckiest and best. There actually are things the USA has been the best at, but not in healthcare or education or a myriad of other things Europeans enjoy now. We in the USA live in an oligarchy, ruled by the few, and branded a democracy. But just remember, Europe got the party started here with religious extremists and convicts and the millions more who emigrated because the European powers wouldn’t or couldn’t provide for their own. And your life as you know it was given to you by mainly Americans, Brits, and Russians over 80 years ago (yes a wide diaspora of nationalities participated but 3 main powers defeated the Nazis). BTW, American voting districts are jerryrigged. The Republicans purposely alter the districts to come out on top with winners take all schemes. For most of us who cannot find a way to Canada or to Ireland or the UK, it’s fate.
23
The BMW Isetta has four wheels, not three. Many were imported to the US.
5
You can expand that narrative to many consumer goods.
American products are ugly, inefficient and wasteful.
Obviously, there are notable exceptions like Apple but these are global products for an international audience.
The article misses a bit that Skoda and Seat are basically Volkswagens with a different outer shell. Opels and Vauxhalls are now basically Peugeots.
The diversity of European cultures and tastes makes such approach commercially interesting.
Many Europeans find the lack of diversity in the US initially shocking. You drive enormous distances and end up in basically the same place.
24
I enjoy the fact that even people who earn higher salaries in Europe don't NEED to drive big, expensive, fuel-guzzling cars. It's funny, most of my friends in California drive SUVs, trucks, or luxury cars- except for a French friend of mine who lives there and drives a very ordinary, smaller, 10+ year old car...and she probably earns a higher salary than many of them.
A few drive big SUVs in Europe but it is more rare. Even in the surf town where I live in, where people need space to haul their boards to the beach, you don't see a ton of big cars. Maybe vans that people use to go camping in also. My husband is able to fit any of his surfboards in his Mini Countryman which is a "compact SUV" I suppose- still it's a lot smaller than the American cars I am used to.
I never thought I would drive stick or drive a small car (a Fiat 500) before moving to Europe, but I am happy with both. Having a small car is especially good when you need to park in the city center. I also drive A LOT LESS than I did in California, of course, thanks to public transportation and just living closer in general to everything that I need to do.
27
SUV's are the bain of my existence. As a gear head now a days my choices have dwindled. not increased. How I wish SUV'S would just go away.
16
The VW Atlas is not just rebranded for foreign markets - the only european country where it is sold is Russia.
I'd never heard of Seat Leon - until we rented one from Frankfurt Train Station for 4 weeks.
Once out on the autobahnen, that thing was a rocket - I took great pleasure in out-accelerating surprised Mercedes' when we came out of roadworks sections and hit unlimited speed sections.
And I liked the stop-start cruise control - I could set the cruise control to 220kph (137mph) and just let it adapt automatically to traffic - cars in front - it would slow down, keep a nice distance, even stop in roadworks jams, then automatically start off again when the car in front moved, keeping a nice distance - sweet as, bro'
now as for the car rental company that ripped me off $1500 for fake ‘damage’ that never happened – that took me 4 months of fighting and dozens of emails before they finally refunded my money – lucky I had photos of the undamaged return state !
7
@Frank There's an American car which does all that stuff and a bit more. They call it TESLA.
4
Europeans are also a lot more energy conscious. Their governments have all these policies because voters strongly support them. Many see Americans as determined to destroy the planet. Whole cities, like Berlin, would like to entirely ban SUVs, and simply driving one limits one circle's of friends.
20
The big problem for Amuricans..including moi, is that we barelyfknow how to drive with Stick shift. I n Europe, plenty of places where only manual drive cars are for rent. I am not going to learn about shift, going on an expressway in Europe.
7
I believe the Isetta is a four-wheeler, not 3. The rear wheels are close together, but there are two of them.
4
@Ross Richardson Originally it had three wheels - with a single rear driving wheel (it was based on a motorcycle), but it was prone to roll-over so they redesigned it with a 4th wheel. They were build under license in several other countries beyond Germany including the UK - there were other similar bible-cars - the Heinkel Kabine. The key issue is that in many countries they were not taxed as cars, but as motorcycles or in a special low tax category (L in Europe) and less onerous to secure driving license (Japan has a similar system even today - hence Japanese microcars and vans.)
6
The Fiat Multipla? It hasn't been sold in Europe for 10 years. (We loved ours, but there were three seats in the front, and it was deemed unsafe because there was no airbag in the middle.)
I'm no car expert, so I don't know what else in this article is out of date.
1
A lot of talk about stick shift here. Keep those in Europe. As cars incorporate elements of autonomous driving, stick shift is really a step back. Plus so inconvenient when you sip your coffee.
5
@Wolf Bein Aww sunshine you are missing the fun and can keep the autonomous driving. You can't drop the hammer like Tom Cruise without a stick. A shift also keeps you engaged in your driving, looking ahead and anticipating. Lastly, it takes skilz to downshift, turn right and balance your open topped coffee mug as I do every morning. Proud owner of a Tank Green 2015 2D Wrangler with manual windows.
11
@Wolf Bein Manual Transmission, AKA "Stick shift" has the benefit of being random access - like a CD vs. a cassette tape. Actually much better in slippery conditions where you can keep it in a higher gear than an automatic would. And accelerating onto a freeway? Boot it in 3rd up to highway speed then straight into 6th to cruise - who needs the tedious churning gear by gear? Same thing at the exit - brake and straight into low gear for the off ramp.
12
Despite environmental and pollution concerns far too many people in Switzerland are buying SUVs. Rich people are not put off by higher taxes. Perhaps they need punitive taxes? Or outright bans?
9
I split my time between the US and Europe.
US drivers simply spend a lot more time in their cars, when European models are re-engineered for the US market (pretty uniformly you get a worse car) certain features that are rarely used in Europe need to be added - the best known example being cup-holders. Not only do most Americans, except those living in city centers, drive to work, spending around an hour each way (and many spending 1-2 hours) but need to drive to do all sorts of errands - shopping, taking kids to school, day-care, activities - going to the gym! They need to eat in the car, or at least drink, hence the cup-holders. Even living well inside say Washington DC, it's hard to do grocery shopping without a car. Employers, retailers, gyms facilitate this by providing parking. One aspect of the need to use a car in the US is the multiyear household and parents' desperation to get 17-18 year olds into a car ASAP, so the parent can cease being a family chauffeur.
Europe is largely different. More people use public transport to go to work - children are frequently self-propelled, fridges are smaller, so are grocery quantities purchased more frequently and many households get by with a single car used from time to time, while parking can be difficult. This changes the design - small hatchbacks with, by US standards, vestigial back seats make sense. People eat less in the car, so cup-holders are not de riguer - European car journalists joke about the added cup-holders.
12
It's not just vehicles that are bigger in the U.S.- our houses (and apartments) are way bigger, our hotel rooms (and especially elevators) are way bigger, our stores are usually much bigger, and our food portions in restaurants are way bigger (and probably account for our obesity rates being way bigger). So America is a rich country, a gallon of gasoline is cheaper than a gallon of milk (which is far more renewable...). On the other hand, the high European taxes give them much better mass transit resources than we have here.
13
@Larry White Yup. Massive SUVs all fit in with the typical American way. We rule the world. We are bullies. We are loud, brash, ignorant, overweight. Walmart is king. Fast food, junk food, reality TV. We spend more on war than the next 6 or so nations, Combined. More people (as % of overall population) in our For-Profit prisons than any other country. Gun culture. Garbage movie offerings at our massive Cineplexes. Throw-away/disposable culture. McMansions. Who cares about the planet/wildlife?
I will fight to Eradicate SUVs and pickup trucks from NYC streets, or at the very least, to severely limit/penalize the purchase of same, and in which parts/streets of the city they can or cannot operate. They are a complete scourge and do Not belong in dense cities. They are Deadly to pedestrians and cyclists, and often will purposefully 'threaten' us with their vehicles. They do this because, certain such drivers are very angry that some of their precious free parking spots, or a lane of traffic here/there, is being allocated to cyclists. Certain NYC drivers are fuming mad about this, when in fact it should be the other way around. We, the Majority (and who do Not own vehicles), should be fuming mad. We have capitulated our Public Space and health for far too long.
Just as we did with an effective anti-smoking campaign, so too must we do re: private vehicles in cities. The Majority should not suffer for the Minority. The Greater Good dictates No Cars in Cities.
16
The one European trait I wish we had more of in the States is manual transmissions! My wife and I travel to Europe often, and it's fun to rent a car and stick-shift our way across France or Italy.
And it's not like stick-shifts are necessarily foreign to our shores. I grew up in Middle America in the 80s and 90s drag racing 70s-model muscle cars across Wal-Mart parking lots on Friday night. All of them stick-shift!
8
The author mentioned parking as a reason smaller cars are preferred in Europe - here in Germany, standard parking spaces are about (my rough guess) a foot narrower and two-three feet shorter than in the US, so driving a Tahoe over here would be like driving a dump truck in the US. Older parking garages can also present a challenge because they were built for cars not much bigger than the original Beetle, so even something like a Porsche Panamera can be too big to maneuver in one of them. Big cars are a pain in the rear over here, you could hardly even *give* them away.
10
I drive a Fiat Panda. It seats 4 and has a small trunk big enough to squeeze in two medium sized rolling suitcases. When American friends come to visit they always remark on how cute it is but I can see their minds thinking, Cute=too small. But on the narrow Italian village roads or in cramped parking spaces having a small car (powered by methane costing the equivalent of $12 for a full tank) becomes very appealing.
8
Isn't it about time that the romance of the car came to an end? It's not about individualism but conformity. Let cars be as small and as non-pollutant as possible but move to replace them by ebikes and normal bikes, or public transport. Want to tackle the obesity/diabetes epidemic - and global heating - start there!
11
I own a small motor BMW 3 series car. It has a 62 liter fuel tank or about 16 gallons. It uses regular grade fuel which the local gas station sells for 1.58 euro a liter. This is one of the cheapest prices around, I have seen it as much as 1.76 in certain stations. To fill up the tank it costs 97 euro or about $109.00.
To encourage people to buy EV cars there are charging stations all over the city. You can subscribe to use them for 110 euro a year, unlimited use. The price of one tank of gas. Gasoline and diesel powered vehicles will all be gone in 10 years here.
3
@Lawrence You are lucky you live in France. My favorite car. The Peugeot diesel wagon.
3
Missing from this discussion is car seats. I have three kids in car seats; so I drive a large SUV(Kia Sorento). I previously drove a sedan(Mazda 6), but I could barely fit two car seats in it, and certainly not three.
US car seat sizes force many families, like mine, to seek out large SUVs.
6
@Ben The excuses are endless. So is this to say that when your kids are out of car seats, you will ditch the SUV? Yeah, didn't think so.
And what about all the other folks with SUVs and who do not have infants? Oh, well they too 'need' an SUV... for safety...for their kids sporting equipment...for their family's big food shopping trips... because the driver is disabled or elderly and has trouble getting in/out of a basic sedan, etc.
The majority of people I see riding around in SUVs/Jeeps/4x4s are Not driving multiple infants around. That I can assure you. No, it's just all about being the biggest bully on the road.
18
In Geneva, where I live and work, SUVs (albeit not usually the largest ones) are immensely popular.
4
“The European buyer drives narrower roads, pays a lot more for fuel and has to find a place to store the car in more crowded cities. Smaller works better there.”
SURPRISE! We have the same type of highways as the U.S, here in Europe, and in most cases they are in better condition and have excellent rest stops with coffee in real cups! As to the cites, the parking is the same no matter where the city is, Europe or the U.S., but having driven and lived extensively in both places, I would say that the cities here are LESS crowded because they have excellent affordable public transport that everyone uses. Smaller works better EVERYWHERE.
11
SUVs got their start when the US government brought in new higher gas mileage requirements for passenger vehicles. "Trucks" were seen as commercial vehicles used for business and did not have to meet the same standards.
The SUV (essentially a glorified pickup truck) was a way to get what was in practice a passenger vehicle around the gas mileage standards. It became really popular with automakers because the profit margin was larger than for a passenger car. The rest is marketing.
28
I am so tired of hearing about what "Americans" want. I'm an American and see little in the auto market that interests me. I'd prefer not to have to own a car and count myself very lucky that I have been reasonably successful in getting being able to bike and use light rail fairly often when my job takes me outside my home office. We've been driving the same Honda Element since 2006 and plan to keep it until it won't run anymore. It was the perfect size for hauling large dogs, skis and a kayak when we lived in the mountains, and it's okay for trips to the nursery now that we are urban dwellers. If I had to buy something tomorrow, I'd look for something small, inexpensive, and very fuel efficient, but I'd much prefer better bus service and a rapid expansion of light rail.
50
@Karen good for you! And I fully agree. But statistically speaking, most "Americans" do not agree with us, hence the generalization in this and other articles.
6
The Isetta was an Italian designed microcar, licensed to various manufacturers. The BMW version had two relatively wide-spaced front wheels and two rear wheels that were separated by 18" or so to avoid the need for a differential. Versions for other markets were sometimes 3-wheeled.
7
@Joe I had an Heinkel 200cc 3 wheel bubble car. The BMW was a racing car in comparison.
1
@Joe Going back even further, the Isetta was designed and first built by the firm "Isothermos SpA", a company whose principal products were refrigeration cases. "Iso", is derived from the Italian word "isolamento" meaning insulation so Isothermos means "thermal insulation". The "tta" is an Italian suffix meaning "diminutive" and is used in words like "pizzetta" which are small pizzas, villetta (small house), etc. which are other examples of the suffix "tta".
2
@Joe There was also a Messerschmidt Bubble car, made allegedly with spare parts from WW2
2
Worth noting, I think , that despite the "Americans are in love with their vehicles "meme, most of the technical improvements came from Formula 1 via Europe. E. g. Independent suspension, disk brakes. The engineering advance that make cars safer as well as more rewarding to drive. Americans really like to have instant mobility in a cushy extension of their living room and there is not a lot of driving skill to be seen on American roads. Remember when Mercedes reluctantly added cup holders to their interiors because Americans demanded them. Thinking you can drink coffee while guiding a ton or more of metal around at high speed sums it up.
31
I drive a stick shift, and love the extra control it gives me, especially in the snow. It's a rare option these days, even on European models. When I bought my Mazda3 in 2012, the company offered a manual transmission on many models and trim levels. The 2020 lineup has far fewer.
27
Living in the Northeast, I never could understand why people gladly shell out a $10,000 price premium (plus fuel and maintenance costs) for an all wheel drive SUV when a $400 set of snow tires is just as effective.
38
That reminds me: is the Honda Fit the same car as the Honda Jazz? The Jazz (JAZZ!) isn’t available in the U. S. is it?
1
@Present Occupant Yes, it's the same car.
3
Would have been interesting to point out that China buyers much prefer the American formula of space and comfort over the European formula, which has driven EU-based global OEMs such as VW/Audi, BMW, and Mercedes to design SUVs and Sedans such as the Jetta (vs. Hatchbacks like the Golf) around US & China preferences first, then try selling them in smaller volumes at home. BMW and Mercedes SUVs are built exclusively in the US and China. And like the U.S., China's passenger vehicles are nearly all gasoline vs. diesel, with no need to go 155 mph.
With much higher taxes and regulation costs in Europe, as well as unique performance requirements for speed, profit margins in the EU are much worse than China and the US. GM was smart to finally abandon the EU market--it has become a niche not worth servicing now that China has voted.
5
@Rick-e GM failed to make any money on its Opel and Vauxhall brands for decades, and finally threw in the towel a couple of years ago and sold the name, manufacturing facilities and distribution. The new owners, the French company PSA, brought in some astute managers and turned it into a money making enterprise, generating about a billion Euros of profit in 2018.
6
After renting some European built cars unique to Europe in Europe - many of them mentioned in this article - I did see the benefits of small, silky smooth manual transmission cars for narrow, hilly, cobbled roads in some parts of Europe. It is not lost on me that much of the roadworks in Europe (likely near all) were designed for horses and carriages (or have you never tried to go from here to there in London).
But what bothers me is this. American firms selling American brand cars have better designed and styled hatchbacks for the European market, and not for the American market. What explains this?
13
@Kalidan Exactly. I'm reminded of the Ford Transit Connect van, which was zooming around European streets since the early 2000s, while Americans were stuck with these old-model vans with the bulky front-ends. The Transit finally came here in the past decade, along with other more Euro-styled vans, but that change took a long time.
I've seen the same thing traveling in Latin America: The Ford Fiesta is a very stylish little car that's all over the streets of Mexico but which aren't available just across the border.
7
When visiting the US as an Australian, I find the cars extraordinary to look at. Massive pick-up trucks and Cadillac Escalade style SUV's. I was excited to finally get a drive in an Escalade a couple of years back, but found the experience underwhelming - floaty where you don't want it floaty, and harsh where it shouldn't be. A very agricultural experience. I get a sense that many of these behemoths are like fast food versus a proper restaurant; quantity + size over quality.
I like that we get some of the european cars referenced in this article in Australia, though I think we're gradually going the way of the US, with more and more SUV's on the road each year.
18
@fenn_paddler
Unfortunately there are too many unnecessarily large vehicles clogging metropolitan roads. Why anyone would fork out $60k on a poorly constructed Jeep over a smaller, well-made European car is beyond me.
5
My car in Europe is a luxury car. In fact my car has 3 models a basic, mid, and high model. I checked you can only buy the mid and high in Europe. The lower priced model is not available. I drive a Toyota.
2
Two years ago I spent three weeks in Spain. During my visit, I saw three (3) American-made cars. But one of them doesn't count because it was a 1949 Packard.
5
I grew up in Seattle in the 1960s - over the years our large family had two Morris Minors, two Ford Cortinas (one was 'mine'), original Mini Coopers, a Fiat Spyder, a Saab, an Austin-Healey, and also the battleship - a Ford Fairlane. All were manual transmission, except the last. What a bunch of great, interesting cars! Luckily my dad was a machinist and could keep them all running.
As an adult I've had a new Mini Cooper with manual transmission since 2004, and still love it. Too bad the new Minis are so big and loaded with electronic nonsense, I will have to keep mine going as long as possible. We drove an SUV on vacation in the Scottish islands and it was a nightmare on twisty single-track roads, I just don't get why anyone would want to drive that...
13
"Many European countries tax vehicles on size, weight, engine size and fuel consumption at a far higher rate than our states."
Western Europe is not US. We are taxed enough already, and our open land mass is much larger, thus we can accommodate larger vehicles. Plus, we pay taxes on vehicle weight and size, called registration fees, together with all the tolls and congestion fees in some localities, we are not far behind Europe.
Frankly, I don't want to sit in a vehicle with my chin resting on my knees. I have families in England who have SUVs but they live and work outside of London. I'd rather prefer our SUVs in our open space here. Comfort matters, even while on the road.
3
The trucks and cars that my children in America drive would not be able to enter our garage. They would also have a terrible time trying to fit into parking garages in and around Paris. The exterior parking just barely fits our Renault Grand Scenic. Big American car are attractive to Europeans until they can't find a place to park them or have to filled them with fuel. There is a person that owns a Ford F-150 that he brought back from his stay in the USA. I saw it quite a bit the first couple of months. It hasn't moved from the 2 parking spaces it inhabits currently and hasn't moved for 6 months as far I can tell. It is sitting on two slashed tires. There are people who do not appreciate a car that is depriving them of a parking space in front of their house or apartment I suppose.
22
@Susannah Allanic
We have a 1927 house with an attached garage below the dining room. Our Prius C (the smallest one) fits in it with a little space left over. Our old Toyota Corolla from the 90s fit also, but I think GM makes them too big now.
1
I vividly recall seeing the BMW Isetta in a Waterloo, IA, dealer's showroom in 1957 when I was in the first year of my double digits. The door was the entire front end of the car. The steering wheel swung out when the door was opened and came back to you when you pulled the front end back into place. Amazing! Selling in those times for about $1,000, give or take a few Washingtons, restored or pristine survivors command prices north of $30-50K nowadays. And they still put about 50 miles in the rear-view mirror with a gallon of gas. In '57, that worked out to about 1/2 of a penny per mile of travel. You could go 2 miles for the price of one piece of Dubble Bubble chewing gum. Of course, you were limited to one adult-sized traveling companion and enough storage for a grocery sack or two. I knew Dad with Mom and two more kids besides me, wouldn't buy one; he had his eye on a Saab, that had a 2-cycle engine that, as an engineer, he admired for it's simplicity and great power-to-weight ratio. But he didn't buy that one, either. It was too expensive. We wound up with a used DeSoto (also a long-gone nameplate) propelled a huge Hemi engine with a mighty thirst for fire water that he kept for only a couple of months before he decided that 6 miles/gallon was not a good long term investment.
Five years later Dad bought a 21-window VW bus, trading a '57 Chevy for it. Those buses today, in the condition ours was when Dad bought it, today go for well into six figures.
7
Like many preferences Americans have, when the reality of environmental and operating costs outweigh the supposed benefits of big vehicles, their popularity will diminish. A society that consumes more than it produces, relies on investments of foreigners (read Chinese) to sustain its lifestyle, and denies that this cannot continue forever, will sooner-or-later have to face the fact that it cannot continue forever. This when vehicles, and modes of transport, will more closely resemble those now prevalent in Europe.
12
@James K Griffin
If we ever start paying the true cost of gasoline, then people will want fuel efficient vehicles and/or start taking public transportation. So long as the federal government subsidizes the gas/oil/petroleum industry, this won't happen.
8
Besides fuel cost I remember that, at least in Germany, car insurance is partially based on engine size. Yes, you lovers of V8 6.7L engines, engine size! Meaning that even if you drive an old car that has a huge engine, you will pay way more insurance than a driving a new car with a 1.5L engine. This, and the fuel cost that can easily be triple the US going rate, kills any enthusiasm that potential buyers have. I have German friends that love big trucks but they would never buy them because of the operating costs.
9
@Brian Will, it's not just insurance (which is using risk classes which, amongst other factors, considers horse power), it's the annual vehicle tax which uses engine volume (independent of output power) and emission class as determinators. Which makes everyting over say 3ltr and EURO5 horribly expensive.
1
Part of this comes down to a different view of what a car is for. When a car is just a part of your overall transportation strategy, it's not a space you inhabit like a second house, and it doesn't have to do all things. In Switzerland we use the train or bicycles for most things - certainly for anything in the city - but for hauling something large or exploring remote areas, it's nice to have a car.
Importantly, given this twice a month or so use pattern, even a euro 'SUV' (wagon) with 300hp has a very small carbon footprint compared to a Prius used as a daily driver.
9
We do lack choice in the USA. As a frequent traveler to the UK I’m always envious of the large number of sporty hatchbacks available in Europe. So much more practical than a sedan. And why don’t we have the VW camper van?
8
I still drive older European cars. A VW Bus...extremely practical, and a Citroen Mehari...fun but impractical. Neither is something that would have been built here. The first was made to do most things well, and the second, well it's cute.
1
In 1998, I had the opportunity to sit in on a workshop at MNDOT - Transportation Planning for MPOs (Metropolitan Planning Organizations). The instructors, from an east coast university, began the workshop by explaining that "For all practical purposes, transportation planning in this country is just about maximizing vehicle miles traveled." I would argue that, for all practical purposes, they were right. Any meaningful increase in gas taxes would reduce driving which goes against our goal.
I once worked with a guy from Ramsey, a rural suburb about 20 miles north of Minneapolis. He explained that in Ramsey your entire status was based simply on the height of the running board on your pickup truck.
It may have been genius or just dumb luck but gutting almost all of our transit systems in the golden decades after WW2 essentially guaranteed low gas taxes. Poor people had to comply with what we call the 'Minnesota Mandatory Motoring Law' as they had no other choice. Raising gas taxes is decried as a hardship for poor people so we can't. I recall a county commissioner arguing against a $10 annual wheelage tax as an undue burden on the drivers of his county.
So, why not buy a huge truck to satisfy your need for status. Parking, even if it takes up two spaces, is almost always free and you can count on gas taxes remaining low.
5
Not mentioned but pertinent is 80% of cars sold in Europe are manual transmission. Europeans like to be involved in the driving experience rather than detached. Manual transmission is also seen as more efficient for fuel - and at those prices every bit counts.
8
@Harold Goatlips, manual transmission is predominant in smaller cars, but most mid-range (C-Class/A4/3-Series) and higher are now automatic unless it's a sports variant like an M3. Luxury cars like A8 or S-Class are pretty much automatic only.
2
What brought down the US/Detroit auto industry was the 'misery of choice'. In the seventies there was no way to get a simple all around good car that lasted longer than a few years. The Japanese produced simple reliable cars that changed only every five years or so and eventually people noticed.
These days with the rapid exchange of info, when something is better, it works and sells.
3
Another relative disadvantage of America's love-affairs for humongous cars & trucks is that they are much less attractive to foreign markets and buyers. If America produced a variety of well engineered small vehicles, American car/truck manufacturers would be able to increase exports and jobs. Out thirst for ever larger vehicles limits our exports to countries that do not want, and cannot operate (too large, too high of taxes due to size and weight) them. Sadly, the countries that make smaller cars have no difficulty in selling them in the U.S.
1
You say the market is saturated. There are options alright. Not many of them are good. The American market has a pretty terrible car selection.
The Volkswagen Caddy is actually one of the few models that makes sense to me. At base value, the Caddy is a modern VW Camper. The van is also convertible into travel, domestic, or commercial purposes depending on the options. That makes perfect sense.
If they had one in an AWD manual with the right gas mileage and range, I would buy it. 50-60 mpg for a camper van? I would definitely buy it. That car is genius.
Instead we Americans are offered an endless litany of pickup trucks and sport crossovers. If you're like me and you actually enjoy driving manuals, the options are budget sedan or performance mid-life crisis. No thank you.
Why do you think I want a computer system in my car? I don't. You're just adding weight and maintenance. Otherwise known as money and bad gas mileage. The cars aren't even fun to drive either.
I'll be honest. Americans love to drive but Americans don't get driving. Just look at the market.
8
Rented a Skoda wagon this summer. The car was roomy, reliable and rock steady at 140 mph on the autobahn.
3
America needs to tax gasoline heavily. Use that money to pay for infrastructure projects from roads, bridges, airports, our aging power grid and renewables. That would get people out of gas guzzlers they don’t need, just want.
18
This will soon be "tempi passati". High transport CO2 emissions are not sustainable anymore, if they ever have been. If the US gets a responsible president on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, which we all hope (yes, the rest of the world as well), he will introduce some kind of price on GHGs together with a broad emissions decrease programme.
My personal favourite is an all-including cap&trade system with partial per-capita-pay-back, the other part of the revenue being used for R&D. But this a different and complex discussion altogether.
5
This year you can get Audi R6 Avant wagon here in the US, the one with 600hp. Also, E63 wagon is available here too. Finally, we have Tesla here.
Another reason that the European car market is so different from the United States is their extensive high speed train network. Our country has fallen behind Europe and Asia in passenger networks.
Europeans on vacation take the train or use budget airlines. Unlike Americans on vacation, they don't drive long distances in a car. Often the car is just used to buy groceries and other small trips.
The roads in California are so crowded and the infrastructure was built in the 1960s before Republicans cut taxes. They only like increased spending on prisons.
16
Having rented Peugot hatchbacks and Skoda wagons in Europe, I've really liked their handling and features but I realized they would likely never make it the U.S. Beyond the reasons mentioned in the article, there's the fact that Americans are simply too large to fit in many of these cars. The obesity epidemic has probably turned people to pickup trucks - ideally with big cup holders and a gun rack on the back window.
17
If our transport were just 1/3 more efficient we would be energy independent using the 12 million we can produce domestically instead of importing an additional 6 million barrels a day. If we were to cut use in half we would be a 2-3 million barrel a day oil exporter.
Our infatuation with big does come with a price tag. We were saved from serious downsizing by fracking. How do we Americans deal with this fracking windfall we burn it in huge SUVs and suburban F150's. What will we do when this fracking windfall declines in the next 10-20 years. Hopefully hybrids, fuel cell and/or electric cars will save us.
6
One more detail: the chicken tax means that any pickup made in Europe is impossible to afford in the states due to the tariff.
2
I think there were few cars a interesting as a SAAB until GM took over and Americanized it. All gone.
7
I wouldn't mind the size difference if it made sense but I would venture to guess that 95% of the trucks I pass (And trucks are 50% of the vehicles on the road here in Florida) are transporting nothing and have absurdly fancy wheels for pick up work. The only things these behemoths are used for is carting around the driver's ego.
21
The US is happy to let the environment subsidise the petrol engine, hence the ridiculously low petrol prices. Europe taxes cars and - especially - petrol in order to both minimise and fix environmental damage.
In the UK petrol is around $6.50 a gallon. Of this, $4.22 is tax - the actual pre-tax price is a little over $2.20 per gallon, which Americans would recognise.
Letting people drive without charging them for roads, bridges, traffic measures, pollution, etc results in an over-reliance on cars, and a crumbling infrastructure network, as well as a decline in innovation within the car industry.
Ultimately, it'll cost the country more than the savings made from cheap petrol.
18
@Dean, I wouldn't shout too loud about the poor American infrastructure because what the UK calls "roads" is barely more than a trail. Especially country roads are often too narrow even for modern compact cars, with putholes big enough to hide people in, and foliage growing into the roads which limit visibility. Compared with say what I've seen when living in California it's a sad joke.
There's also very little real infrstructure spending outside of London. The money spent is barely enough for patching up the potholes.
Also, while Americans are big on CO2 Europe is still pretty big on NOx thanks to desperately clinging to the Diesel engine which causes hundreds of thousands of death through its small particles every year.
6
There are plenty of European vehicles that have supplanted US ones. Look at cargo vans. The Ford Econoline is gone replaced by Euro-spec Transit. The Dodge Ram van has been replaced by a rebadged Fiat Ducato. Only Chevy is still making the US-spec Express, which doesn't seem to be doing well.
2
On a family trip to Europe in 1966 I purchased a copy of the publication "Salon de L'Auto." (I think that was the name.) It was fascinating to see all the cars that we didn't get. For the next three years I imported a copy. I haven't seen the issues in decades. I presume they were tossed out by my father.
2
In Europe and the UK roads are also smaller. Freeways and motorways aside, 'country driving' involves driving on roads or lanes that have existed in some form or other for 100's of years or more. A US size truck would be a major pain to drive and park anywhere in the average country town.
As for cars . . the US doesn't drive big US cars anymore! They seem to be dead. You only make V8s in sports cars now? The last 2 times i was in the US ( Colorado,Alabama and Tenn ) i tried to hire a Chevy Impala but both times was only offered at site a Chevy Tahoe and Jeep Renegade. They were both ok. But they are not 'driving cars'.
I drive a Ford Mondeo, made in Belgium, 2.3ltr Auto sport hatch. Huge luggage space in back. Similar to a Ford Fusion ? I love going on country drives here. It drives so well, really good on mountain roads and the auto is amazingly intuitive.
The cars i did see in the US . . so many Euro, Korean, Japanese and German. I also saw lots of Chevy Cruzes' . . which i would imagine will hasten US customers from US makes. Terrible, small, underpowered and not well built. They sold them here rebadged as Holden, the local GM brand.
Holden is no more as of last month!
Local manufacturing in Australia ended 3 years ago. Im seeing a few Dodge Rams and F150s now, but unless you need to tow something big, they are a bit 'over the top' Locally made 'utes' were extremely popular here. Big family car sedan front, big trays on the back. No one else makes them . .
2
Having returned recently having lived in the UK for for almost four years, I truly miss european cars. Small cars, french cars, diesels, hatchbacks and wagons, manual transmissions, lower end models from luxury manufacturers. In the UK I owned a BMW 116i. A stripped down hatchback with a slow 1.6 liter petrol engine and 6 speed manual. I loved it. When I returned to the US I purchased a VW Golf Alltrack wagon just to keep in touch with europe and go against the big SUV trend. It's amazing that europe does just fine without massive wasteful pickups.
9
Most of the Isetta's made, as the one pictured shows, had four wheels.
1
@Lawrence In the UK the were 3 and 4 wheelers (my mother's had 4). People had 3 because it was taxed as motorbike so was a lot cheaper. Hence the unstable robin reliant and bug.
Škoda translated to English means: Damage or Too bad... depending on how you use the word.
Škodas are mainly slightly bigger Volkswagens (same platform but bigger dimensions) for smaller price.
Also Seats are just rebranded VW models (as are Audis but for a higher price).
It only looks diverse in reality majority of the parts are the same.
The same goes with PSA (Peugeot, Citroen and now Opel).
Also Renault plays with parts for Nissan and Dacia.
Parking spaces are much smaller in Europe. You can't park anywhere with an US size SUV or Truck.
But make no mistake, cars have gotten bigger in Europe too. Nowdays VW Polo (one size smaller the Golf) is bigger then first 3 or 4 versions of Golf.
One more thing: Try to compare Japanese market with EU and USA. There you have to prove first that you have parking big enouh for the intended car and only then they let you buy a car.
With the same laws in place, European cars would get even smaller. Back to normal. Golf would be small again :)
2
Americans have a lot of dots to connect when we talk about environment,big oil, pipelines, and energy. From my observations, they have NO intentions of changing their behaviors in any meaningful way.
The individuals I personally know who hate big oil and especially pipelines all bought huge pickup trucks, knowing they would only get 10MPG. Any parking lot in this town is full of pickup trucks, and it's irksome to see a 7,000 lb truck used to fetch a 1 ounce letter at the post office.
Their driving behaviors are just as bad, 20 minute warm-up periods, peddle to the floor when the light turns green, purchasing huge RVs to use one or two weeks a year.
These are all energy-intensive behaviors which contribute to a degraded environment. The saddest part is that something like a huge pickup or an Escalade is not even about transportation, it's about image. Americans have this problem of being identified by what they drive, which is shallow at the very least.
Unless and until gasoline sells for 6 or 7 bucks a gallon,I would not expect to see any change in purchasing or driving behaviors.
Add this that we elected a president who relaxed Obama era fuel standards, which by itself was just vindictive, but also which is a direct reflection of Americans' attitude on energy conservation and environmental impacts of their lifestyle.
Meanwhile, I'll keep my 30 year old, 50 MPG Geo Metro.
13
The only that I can think to solve what I see as a problem is to raise taxes on gas to astronomical levels. I want a small, affordable vehicle with standard transmission and space for a few bags of groceries. A car is not your living room.
3
@Suzanne Wheat Those "astronomical" gas tax levels would be the same as the gas tax rates in:
**Germany
**France
**Spain
**Netherlands
**UK
It they can deal with it.......so can we Americans.
1
I tried to import a Mini Cooper to the US... latest model, and was not able to. Even though all Mini-s are made in the same factory.
1.5l Turbo - much nicer engine than 2 or 2.4l engines that are common in the US.
Don’t get me started on the size of SUVs and trucks in the US, why would a human being need such large vehicles. Americans need $6 / gallon gas to behave like humans.
15
@Al They need a vehicle to match the size of their ego (and waist).
1
We have been frustrated for years to not have the selection available in Europe. Americans do NOT only want their SUVs and trucks... give me an electric station wagon, please. Or even a manual transmission.
Subsidies have created the oversized behemoths that crowd our roads, cause more injuries to pedestrians, and create more emissions. The number of huge vehicles with one person on any given highway is absurd.
This article makes it seem it was what the people demanded. I disagree. It's what the subsidies created.
1
@BostonGail When I personally witness so many people in NYC owning private vehicles, when they don't need to, and when these people are choosing an SUV or Dodge Ram to be that vehicle, then indeed, these large vehicles are in fact what many people now 'want'. It's monkey see monkey do, and literally not wanting to be the 'smallest guy' on the road (i.e., it's all about image, esp. for certain macho men....)
We shouldn't be shaming us Americans for buying SUVs and trucks instead of svelte hatchbacks and wagons to deal with the current, third-world state of our roads and highways. I'm starting to get tired of having to replace all my suspension components every 3-5 years and am considering replacing my Golf with an F-150 next year. Unless, there are dramatic changes in the level of investment in our infrastructure real soon.
4
"Electric" appears one time in this article. The world's automakers are failing us on options of EVs that are both affordable and offer decent range (more than 200 miles). The internal combustion engine is alive and well. We are paying the price dearly.
1
Here are the numbers
CO2 emission per capita, metric tons per year, by country 2018 (latest available)
US 16.1
France 6.4
UK 5.6
Spain 5.8
Transportation is the largest contributor.
The top 3 most sold vehicles in the US, 2019
Ford 150
GM Sierra
Dodge Ram
Passenger car regulations under Obama were laudable, but ineffective as American switched to every larger pick up trucks and SUVs (technically both light tracks)
French and British people do not live worse than American but pollute per person one third of Americans
Yet no administration, Democratic or Republican has done what the EU does: Tax gasoline heavily, tax low mile vehicles heavily
The data PROVE it works reduce global warming
19
@Woof...…………. But France and theUK have high NOX emissions because of diesel.
They are finally limiting/banning diesel passenger cars.
2
Many happy memories of riding and driving a SEAT when living in Spain. They are basic. I wish we could purchase Citroens here! They are beautiful cars!
8
For many of us it comes down to cost. Walking in to the dealership and seeing the automobile of your dreams is not likely to be a cash payment, but credit. Enough credit purchases and you can find yourself over your head in debt. Just saying.
2
@priscus I am 75 years old and have never purchased a car on credit. It is just irresponsible to pay for a car if you don't have the money in your pocket.
2
@priscus correct. This led for decades to bland, poorly built American cars. General Motors genius was to build a bland product simply and cheaply and offer abundant zero down, including sub prime financing to almost anyone.
Here In Europe I am aware of many who pay cash for a vehicle, there only installment loan is on there home after a 20% down payment.
1
@Janet
I'm with you Janet. I have never bought ANYTHING on credit.
My first car was a dented '57 Ford Fairlane which cost me $275 ( over 1/2 of my summer earnings spreading asphalt for the county roads department).
My first apartment was bought for all cash that I accumulated by spending two back-to-back tours in the Vietnam War and not spending money for anything but an occasional bowl of noodles... Every subsequent home: all cash.
If you don't have the cash, don't by it.
2
Gas is too cheap here. Americans drive gas guzzlers and contribute disproportionately to global warming because of the greenhouse gas emissions from these low mileage vehicles.
Our highways are a mess because we won't add a penny to gas taxes to repair the roads. They would be a scandal in Europe that would get a politician thrown out office.
I drive an Audi Allroad. A delightful small wagon (not an SUV) that carries everything I need, gets just over 30mpg overall on regular gas from a turbo 4, and has sprightly performance as well as sportscar handling.
It's expensive, but worth every penny.
3
We stream a lot of European police procedurals on Amazon. What we've noticed is that while the "average" European may not drive a big SUV -- they are often the vehicle of choice for upper ranking European detectives and prosecutors.
Check it out sometime -- they love Jeeps, Range Rovers etc.
When not driving SUVs they go for big sedans except for the more roguish "hip" detectives who have a particular liking for Mustangs (both vintage and current).
I wonder what this says about aspirational auto wants?
2
@George S.
Do bear in mind that those BBC detective shows earn "placement fees" from car companies to show their vehicles.
Lexus pays for Doc Martin to drive a Lexus.
Audi paid for Lionel Hardcastle to drive an Audi.
I don't know if anyone paid for Inspector Morse to drive his lovely vintage Jag.
1
There are some deep competition never mentioned in these article.
Is European way or American way for some class will be survive?
As of today
WE know that
American type workhorse cars lost that competition, You know what I am talking,
Ford Econoline, GM Savana , Dodge Ram van. This segment is in deathbed.
European way won this half century long war.
Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter, Fiat Ducato and analogs.
This class , of European cars once appear American continent, business immediately favored them because American types were couldn't evolve beyond 1990 technology level.
I drive a 10 year old Subaru all wheel drive with snow tires. If you have ever been to my house and drove up and down my driveway that is why. If I need a truck, I rent one.
1
The Isetta had four wheels. The rear two were close together.
Americans drive big SUVs because they are selfish, and because they are scared. They are isolation chambers designed to make the occupants feel protected from bad things out there. The faces of these vehicles project anger rather than joy and delight. Decades ago our roads used to be filled with charming vehicles in pastel colors… a sense of whimsy and optimism. Now we have 50 shades of gray, scowling eye headlights and grimacing grills.
I commute on a motorcycle much more often then I drive a car because usually that’s enough machine to get the job done. It’s also fun to be out there in the world, experiencing it, rather than ensconced in a leather lined armored vehicle.
9
@Russell P I agree 100%. The caravan of vehicles on NYC streets literally look like mini army tanks, and the drivers of these vehicles have started to behave accordingly. As a pedestrian, my apprehension crossing the street has never been so high, and it is directly correlated with the ever-larger vehicles, higher front ends, extra front 'grille' accessories (big steel bars on the grille??)...bigger tires... tinted windows...and drivers now feeling emboldened to 'intimidate' pedestrians who are in the crosswalk, by inching right up to them and beeping at them to 'get out of their way', even as pedestrians have the Walk light.
Pedestrians, esp those in dense cities and where cars have still been allowed to dictate policy, must Revolt now, before far more people are maimed and murdered by these ridiculously large vehicles. Cyclist and pedestrian deaths have Increased as the vehicle sizes have increased.
3
I'm the 000.0001% of American drivers who's allergic to automatic transmissions and in love with Audis. That's why I purchased the last Audi stick shift imported here in 2017 and will drive it into the ground. The thrill is gone for American driving. The Europeans still drive for the pure excitement of it. If only those cars some of us still drool about were EPA compliant. More's the pity.
I drive a Mitsubishi i-MiEV . . . a small, odd-shape electric car that had the dubious distinction of being the poorest selling car in the US during it's 2012 to 2017 tenure. There is only a little over 2000 of them on the North American continent. Mine is used and I paid just about $7000 for it.
It's marvelous: the best car I've ever owned. Virtually nothing goes wrong with it and it's about a third of the cost to drive by the mile when compared to a similarly-sized gasoline car. I never have to go anywhere to "fill it up." I just plug it into the 120V outlet off my front porch. Many would be horrified to lean that a fully charged battery only gets me around 60 miles down the road, but it's perfectly suited to my city driving needs.
It's also very clean, environmentally speaking. Credible studies have shown that, even in the states with the dirtiest electricity, a car like this is considerably cleaner than a gasoline one. I lament that our grid isn't clean enough (another topic for another time,) but I own a car that is only going to get cleaner as we move toward that goal, however incrementally.
I wonder every day why my fellow Americans are so in love with stupidly oversized and wasteful vehicle. People will snicker about my funny-looking little battery car, but it doesn't bother me at all. It's the future.
4
I Started to driving mid 1970's Chevrolets,
Today I do noit understand a bit why anybody in good mind living in city drives Chevy Tahoe, Ford expedition, F150 or ram Rebel for family car.
Any thoughts.
I never forgive GM for killing Caprice classic/Impala line.
The last thing the world needs is the Americanification of the European and Asian auto markets. Europeans have it right. Smaller, more efficient cars; trucks limited to logistics. Sure many of the brands won't survive in a global market. That's fine. But if we're going to save this planet, we need to move more efficient, not to be gas guzzlers.
5
Americans like big trucks and SUVs because Americans are big, and not in a healthy way. My wife and I own a mini cooper base and an Audi A4 Avant (wagon). My inlaws, who are obese, can't fit in the Mini and can barely fit in the Audi. Guess what they all drive...
11
North American consumer demand? Courtesy of auto manufacturers with a strong assist from Madison Avenue...
That consumer demand is as manufactured as the vehicles... how and why, why its the money... profit if you prefer... the average sedan earns the manufacturer about $1,500 profit, an SUV, upwards of $10,000... way up for top end luxury models!
Which do you think they'd rather sell?
They don't advertise "buy this SUV because we make $10k on it", but don't kid yourself, its the reason they've convinced you to buy it for.
Oh, and that sedan profit could easily evaporate in a recall or two....
It's always about the money!
2
Cars here in the states are basically quite boring or as I used to think until I bought my first electric vehicle. Its the best thing since the model T not that I ever rode in one, but I have had plenty of gas burners and there are no comparisons....and if you have solar say adios to those nasty gas stations!
1
Tom, good seeing you again and timely in that I will be renting in France in September and will check out the Clio (I still drive manuals)
I miss your regular reviews in print and video - jargon free and pragmatic.
Not one mention of climate change in the article... One of the reasons why Americans drive big cars, consume so much petrol and pay so little for it is because each one of them pollutes like 2 europeans... And they're fine with that.
2
No F150s.
I sure wouldn't want to drive in Europe. My wife has dragged me there a couple times, but Europe just ain't my kind of town.
Rather be on a lonely American road in an F150.
3
The way Americans behave, you'd think one can't haul so much as a shopping trip's worth of groceries back home without a massive cargo hold and three rows of seats.
I managed to load an entire full-sized bed into my little Mercedes the other day. It wasn't even difficult (back seats fold down). I've since concluded that spending money on a slow, lumbering SUV or pickup is a total waste and Americans just have it flat wrong.
3
I don't think anybody would rather be seen in a Pontiac Aztec.
1
I would give almost anything for a really small plain-Jane pickup truck. Stick-shift four cylinder. Bench front seat. No electronics beyond those mandated by Federal law. Think one of those Datsuns found all over California's central valley decades ago, used by ranchers and gardners and contractors. You could (and did) fix one yourself. Many are still in use.
I no longer need a truck for work, but as a suburban homeowner my needs for a truck seem endless. I now drive a 2007 Nissan Frontier, a Sherman Tank by comparison to an old Datsun, but it's paid for and has limited electronics. And it'll run easily 300K on that big iron engine. My wife will drive it to my funeral. Can't say that for a lot of European vehicles.
I find the American made U.S. vehicle market so boring. All these angry faced hulks that take up too much room, are hard to park and have no reason for being so big. I drive an 11 year old manual Honda Fit Sport and if it ever dies I will probably get a new one. It has more interior cargo space than some of my friends' SUVs and yet is a subcompact and I can park it in tiny spots. I drive friends' monster SUVs as I like to drive so I get the job on road trips. It is true if there are more than 3 of us large adults driving more than 4 hours for a weekend in a distant state we take a big thing. I prefer my little Fit though. It is nimble and gets decent gas mileage. It has well over 200,000 miles on it, still looks good, and costs me extremely little to keep up and run.
I feel guilty about owning a foreign car sometimes. In truth I would happily buy American if any of the American car companies made something that was as good. I want a manual for control, I want a hatch back and big cargo space for my assorted hobbies, but I want a small, human sized car, and good gas mileage for the environment. I want it to last. What is wrong with me fellow Americans? Why all the lumbering monsters? Is it just savvy advertising? Little kids don't need SUVs either. They are little and car seats do fit in cars. What is the appeal? Am I not a real American?
5
As a child in the fifties and sixties in the OC we saw Renault Dauphines, DKWs, Skodas, Citroens, Hillman Minx, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Simcas, NSUs, Borgwards, Triumphs, Cortinas, the occasional Glas, Lancias, Opels, Morris Minors, Austin Minis, Saabs, Humbers, and more. There were always Mercedes and Porsches and Jaguars, of course.
As you point out, most vehicles look the same here. For all our so-called variety the roads are filled with homogeneity. A motor trip through England a couple of years ago in a Vauxhall crossover reminded me of the real spectrum of choice we once had. Almost anything is on sale there. Highway traffic is not boring in the UK if you are interested in cars.
59
@KM I had an Opel 1900 (Ascona) in the late 1970s. No AC, some dodgy hardware here and there, but perhaps the best-handling two-door wagon imaginable. Hands down the most accurate and intuitive steering I've ever experienced. Opel was a GM brand then.
I always felt if they had put a better engine in that model and improved a bit of the fit and finish, it could have gone head-to-head with the emerging Japanese onslaught.
When I was able to lease a first-generation Honda Accord a few years later, I sold it to some friends, who thought it was the best car they'd owned. When they moved on, they traded it back to me in exchange for some labor. I repainted it with Krylon spray cans and put another three years on it. Then I traded it to a friend, and darned if he didn't sell it to one of my nephews, who I didn't know was renting a room from the friend.
We all loved that little blue wagon. Heart of gold. GM was still selling Americans the same clumsy dinosaurs at the time.
3
About 15 years ago I rented a small Mercedes in France; it was probably the best car I've ever driven. It was very compact But not a sports car), but fit a couple of people in the back. And I drove a week before needing to fill the tank. When I described the car to a relative in the US who is a car buff, he new exactly what it was, and that it's never been available in the US.
32
@Bob R We had a very similar experience in Spain ten years ago, with a Mercedes A200. Wonderfully agile, roomy, but quite small by US standards. In the US we haven't figured out how to buy what we really need, versus what we're offered by our auto retailers. And it's always great fun to row through the gears of a modern European manual transmission on those perfectly maintained EU roads!
1
Americans think that cars should be as comfortable as your living room and virtually effortless to drive. Europeans see cars as a form of transportation, hopefully of the economical sort, hence the large number of cars with manual transmissions. Can one even buy a new Toyota Camry with a stick shift anymore? I doubt it.
26
@Mike Gera Two years ago, I managed to find a Subaru Outback with a stick shift. I snapped it up fast. Asked the salesperson why these cars, made in Indiana, are so rare and hard to find here. "They're shipped to Canada, where they like manual transmissions," he said.
1
@Mike Gera
You can still get manual transmission Toyotas and Hondas, but they have to be special-ordered.
1
@Mike Gera I still drive a 1996 Toyota Tercel. When I needed another car to drive in Mexico, I bought a 1992 of the same model. When I bought the first car the salesman wanted to sell me a Corolla and I agreed as long as he would park it for me in San Francisco.
1
I still own a 2010 BMW 5-Series Wagon ("Touring" in Europe). Unfortunately, that turned out to be the last year BMW offered that size wagon in the US. With 165,000 miles on the car, I need to consider a new one. Now I'm looking to Audi, Mercedes and even Porsche for my newest "full-sized" wagon. So much for knowing your US market BMW.
15
@JP One person doesn't make a market. I'm sure BMW would point you to their full line of X-series vehicles as the wagon is very much out of vogue. If you're insistent on getting a wagon, there's always Subaru.
@JP I'm curious, don't you think your car can do more than 165K? I would think it could go for nearly another 100K. Our 2004 toyota minivan has 257K and my old 1983 533i BMW has more than 200K.
1
I have a 2015 3-series wagon and am crushed that I will not be able to buy a new one! It has miles to go, but I thought it would be nice to buy my "forever" car with some of the newest safety and convenience features. sigh. Audi here I come?
In France certainly, and possibly elsewhere in Europe, caddy is a standard term for a supermarket wagon.
16
@Groucho marxist in Portigal we call it "carrinho", literally "little car". Had never heard of the term caddy, escept for the vw vehicle
1
I’ve never understood why the global economy hasn’t resulted in a global auto market. Any differences in mileage standards, crash worthiness and environmental rules could be ironed out. I believe the barriers to this are powerful auto manufacturers, state franchise laws (see: Tesla) and of course the UAW.
9
@From Where I Sit
You're looking at the wrong place to place blame. National vehicle safety standards (in the U.S., Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, FMVSS), emissions, and fuel economy standards are issues. Manufacturers have argued for years for them to be reconciled. 'The rest of you can accept my standards' doesn't get very far.
@From Where I Sit- And also tariffs that keep, for example, European trucks out of the NA market.
1
@From Where I Sit
I am guessing the UAW are mere amateurs and hobbyists compared to some of the European unions.
"And even though VW makes the midsize pickup Amarok, it’s not sold in our truck-loving country."
Foreign made trucks and utility vans incur a 25% tarrif when brought ti the US. This is the "Chicken Tax" imposed in 1964.
Many ways to get around this. Ford Transit Connects were produced with seats and windows and shipped to the US as a passenger vehicle. The seats are removed and windows blanked to convert back to the Utility version. Mercedes Sprinters were taken apart and shipped in separate shipments, to be re-assembled in the US. The passenger version could come in intact.
11
@Ray Muno America isn’t the only country with odd import laws for vehicles. In the 60’s my cousin ran a Volkswagen assembly plant in South Africa because cars apparently could not come into the country pre-assembled. Oddly enough, that plant was owned by Studebaker.
It's important to know that because of high population density, pollution is a major problem in most parts of Europe. Hence the heavy taxes on polluting vehicles.
13
@Marie - Diesel and the manufacturer fraud in promoting it as clean played a big role in their pollution problems.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/science/who-says-europe-trails-us-in-reducing-air-pollution.html
Add up the following US cities or metro areas and you've got the population of a largish European country.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/12/09/the-30-most-polluted-places-in-america/40747999/
I'm looking forward to being able to walk around in a Chicago where most vehicles are electric. Cleaner air and people spending less on their fuel, too.
1
Automotive fuel taxes help subsidize mass transit systems all over Europe. While I love the Tacoma and Highlander that my wife and I own, I sure would love the option of high-speed express trains between major cities in the U.S. as opposed to driving or flying. I would be willing to pay a higher tax for gasoline to further that goal, but politicians don't have the courage to forward that proposal. U.S. taxpayers want less tax not more and apparently find sitting for hours in the airport or on the freeway acceptable. Few Europeans would forgo their train systems for cheaper fuel costs and bigger personal vehicles.
138
@Steve why do you feel compelled to buy vehicles that consume a high level of gasoline? You have options.
3
@Steve - absolutely! The importance of good train travel has to be in the future of America. This is something our government needs to get behind as part of forward thinking infrastructure.
Trains are need to be the near future of our transportation system.
5
@Steve : Yet you own fuel-inefficient vehicles, which politicians interpret as indifference to the common good and to public transportation.
How about buying vehicles that get the best mileage possible?
3
“Americans like large vehicles and S.U.V.s that do 100 percent of everything”
Who decided this for me?
Thanks for the stupid stereotype that keeps the US from getting any diversity in cars or anything else.
I wish demographics was banned from the universe, it is an evil word invented by advertisers that will make us all become numbers , eat a protein pill for breakfast lunch and dinner and make us wear the same clothes, have the same house with 2.1 children and take walking sidewalks to work with announcements coming over the public address system to be on the look out for the deviants.
37
@Steve I honestly read that and understood it to be a reasonable comment and a broad somewhat accurate generalization. I do not think the author wanted ti label every American with that label. People in crowded cities drive small cars but is it an somewhat accurate description US car buying habit. Take a look around you on the highway. F150 and other huge pickups and huge SUV's everywhere most driven by suburban homeowners. Most of the pickup's cargo spaces are empty.
1
"There are many reasons there will be no Dacia Dusters in Delaware driveways."
My family has this car in Romania and I've driven it plenty. Whilst it is a lot of car for not a lot of money... it is very poor overall.
Some things are best left where they were made!
10
@Foodie
Dacia in 1990 is nothing to do with today's Dacia , it is still not high quality but then it was awful.
@Foodie
I rented one once in Slovakia. The alliteration is pleasing, the car less so.
@Foodie It's the cheapest new car available in Europe. It's a poor car compared to the competition, but it's the only way some people can afford to buy brand new.
Personally, I'd invest the money in a used Audi or BMW.
I enjoyed my rental Skoda Octavia a couple of years ago -
in Iceland.
6
@Zetelmo I agree, we drove an Octavia wagon in Germany and on the autobahn it was comfortable, maneuverable, spacious for 4 and good for a continuous stable 155km/hr for hours.
Why would Brexit supporters drive a BMW Isetta? It's an Italian car, license built by a German company - in the 1950s. No matter how many Union Jacks they plant on it, it won't ever be British.
I guess it must be because back in the 1950s they still sort-of had the Empire. (India - the Jewel in the Crown - having become independent in 1948).
And the Isetta in the picture looks like it has four wheels. BMW made a three-wheeler version, but only in England and exclusively for the British market.
17
@TD
1961 Isetta 300 (British)
Isettas were also made under license England. The British-built cars were promoted by Ronnie Ashley, an ex-pilot who had turned to motor manufacture, and were sold to British Commonwealth countries.
1
@TD There was a zillion of these scooting around Los Angeles in the '50s, and they were fun cars to drive and own. As you correctly recall, they were 4-wheelers.
@TD Why would Brexit supporters do anything? Trying to figure them out is a lost cause!!
2
You wouldn't want to see or drive a Skoda anywhere if you could help it. Had one in Europe for 2 weeks as a Hertz rental; it broke down once, a piece of rubber on the door came off; the trunk didn't want to open and the thing couldn't get out of its own way when you entered a motorway. Wherever the Skodas are, please let them stay there.
4
@0rangeCat Before VW bought Skoda in 1994, Skoda's were renowned as Eastern European trash, albeit cheap Eastern European trash.
However, those days are long gone, and Skoda's are now basically VW's with a Skoda badge.
1
@0rangeCat Skodas use the exact same mechanical parts as any other VW group car
@0rangeCat Skodas generally rate top or near top of reliability surveys in europe. My skoda has the 245 hp engine from the Golf GTI, and as it's not a bloated overweight SUV, has no issues entering motorways. For fuel economy reasons some models in europe are sold with small capacity engines - better suited for use as city cars versus motorway touring. Perhaps you hired the wrong vehicle for the intended driving.
1
I live in an affluent suburb of Boston & travel regularly to Paris for work. The vehicles you routinely see elementary school children driven around in, in my town are reserved almost exclusively for high ranking diplomats in France!
19
“In the States, consumers are confused with all of the choices; it can be overwhelming.”
Absolutely, positively and most definitely not true. There is virtually no new car offered in the U.S. today that we would buy. The fingers of one hand are more than enough to count our possible choices: perhaps a BMW with a real manual transmission (if they are still sold here, not sure), a Subaru WRX STi, or if push came to shove a Mazda MX-5.
My wife and I are both 67 and we have 3 cars that we will drive until we die: 2004 Honda S2000, 2006 BMW 330, 2008 Subaru Outback Turbo, all manual transmissions, none of them with any electronic garbage such as "infotainment", rear-view cameras, adaptive cruise control, etc. etc. I am sure that we are far from the only US drivers who could not care less about any of that junk. We just want cars that, by demanding the attention of the driver in order to actually do the driving, are both fun to drive and much safer than the "motor cars" on offer in 2020 showrooms.
83
@Ajax
My 2010 Toyota has manual transmission and no power windows or car alarm. At 10 years old, it has only 43,000 miles. I hope it is my last car.
On another note, a local gang of car jackers was eventually caught because they attempted to carjack a manual transmission car. While they were telling the driver to show them how to drive it, she had time to call the police!
6
@Ajax Here here!! The level of distraction that comes from the center screens is deadly for pedestrian and bicyclists.
The level of computerized gadgets, that need constant repair, is certainly not our decision, nor our preference. The author needs to get information from actual American car purchasers, not manufacturers.
5
@Ajax
Absolutely agree! I will rebuild as necessary, my beloved 1992 full size Blazer. No air bags, perimeter warning bells, navigation screen or digital displays. Basic interior, plenty of cargo space for the dogs, hay bales and chicken feed.
The new Blazer Chevy announced this year is an insult to the legacy of the Blazer name.
3
It's interesting that the Southern Indian city of Chennai has many of the same characteristics as European cities: higher gas prices, narrow roads, difficult navigation in the city, limited parking. Yet, they are consuming the largest SUVs like we do in the U.S. Cultural differences in why people buy what they buy are fascinating.
But due to the size of the Indian market, the potential to contribute to climate change, and the waste of their financial resources, I do wish that market valued the smaller vehicles as the European market does.
5
@D in Indian even more so than the IS the road conditions are very poor with unpaved roads still existing in some places. That explains it
@D Until you are charged $7 a gallon for gas, have to park in very small spaces and drive along narrow roads, large cars tend to look a better bet than smaller engined vehicles.
1
@D: It has to do with insecurity. The more insecure people feel, the more they feel a need for status symbols like the SUV.
As an european frech guy who traveled over the america in a rental car, I didnt enjoy the feeling of our small europeans cars with manual transmission. Americans cars are just boring... Too bad because your country and landscapes are beautiful.
27
@Xavier well, everyone has widely differing tastes. I lived in Japan for two years and learned how to drive a stick shift while driving on the opposite side of the road in a beat of Toyota Corolla, then I moved to Greece for another two years and rode in some jalopies.
You may find American cars boring, but I find foreign made vehicles to be not as comfortable as American made ones. I don't find our AMerican cars boring at all, I don't need an exotic vehicle (whatever that is), I need something with comfort, reliability. I have found that in Ford products and my least vehicle I had for 17 years.
To each his own.
2
@Mary You shouldn't take it personally. I just wanted to mention the same thing as you : taste and culture are differents (while it's merging with mondialisation). I prefer a car with manual transmission and small cars for some reasons and probably because I grew up in this. I have an american friend who lives in France and he miss the huge american cars even if it would not fit in small roads.
Anyway I apologize if I hurt someone... Americans cars are not bad at all but I just prefer what I know.
@Xavier Had to downsize my Tesla S70 in Lisbon as it would not fit in many carparks and driving in the hilly, one lane ancient streets of Chiado was like playing a bad auto video game, but with very real consequences. A few dents in a Tesla can set you back 5k euro.
1
This hasn’t anything to do with what Americans want....it’s what the car companies want...they want to continue to force Americans to pay premium prices to subsidize their worldwide growth. Everyone knows these larger vehicles are more profitable for the car manufacturers, so it is convenient that we don’t have any other choice because “Americans like large vehicles and S.U.V.s that do 100 percent of everything”....yeah right...when have Americans ever agreed on anything....
36
@Steve Actually, there are choices between massive SUVs and basic 4-door sedans. Sure, car manufacturers are pushing the SUVs (vs sedans) due to the higher profit margins, but Americans didn't have to fall for the sales pitch or buy into it, hook line and sinker. There are still sedans for sale. It's just that fewer auto manufacturers are offering them now, once they saw that Americans are gladly snatching up the larger than ever SUV models (and now, Jeeps, 4x4s, Hummers etc.) No one is 'forcing' Americans to buy those ridiculous things...
1
@Steve eight, you have no choices such as Corolla or Civic. Sure, blame the car companies which are forcing you. As if.
Our obsession with enormous trucks and SUVs is an embarrassment. My 2017 VW Golf (gas, not diesel) has plenty of room for 4, or a massive cargo capacity with the rear seats down. I average 35 mpg per tank, low 40's if I'm road tripping. It's as fast as a car needs to be and super fun to drive. It's all the car 95% of us need, 95% of the time.
144
@Midwest Josh It's all part and parcel of the 'American way'. Bigger, brasher, louder than everybody else. Jumbo TV screens. Supersized sodas and junk food. Garbage Hollywood 'action films'. Gun culture. Doctors prescribing opioids like candy. The majority of TV commercials being for yet another new Big Pharma drug to remedy yet another new invented 'ailment'. Highest prison rate (as % of the overall population) in the entire world. Police state. Crumbling infrastructure. Everyone over the age of 16 feeling the need for their own private 2-ton gas-guzzling Yukon/Escalade/Navigator/ 4x4/Hummer/Jeep/Denali/Sequoia/Ram/F150/Suburban/RangeRover. We spend more on war than the next seven or so nations, Combined.
Indeed, we have lost our way...
7
Tom Voelk! Haven't seen the byline in the NYT in a long time. Review some more cars in these pages.
15
The Isetta actually was a four wheeled car. But the rear wheels were only about one foot apart.
20
"The Isetta was a popular three-wheel vehicle in the 1950s and ’60s."
Actually, the Isetta was only a three-wheeled car in the UK, where there was a cost advantage in registering three-wheeled vehicles.
In essentially every other market, it was a more-stable four-wheeled vehicle, with its rear wheels spaced closer together than its front wheels.
19
@Eric
The advantages of owning and driving a three wheeled car in the UK included driving on a motor cycle licence which was cheaper and also meant you could drive a year earlier at 16 rather than 17 years of age. The costs of running the vehicle were of course also much less. I don't think anyone builds three wheeler now.
1
American legacy carmakers have been addicted to larger vehicles for a couple of decades now - somehow they managed to sell us on the concept of paying more for larger vehicles, even when they were not more costly to build.
As a result there are not many compelling cars from GM or Chrysler, and Ford has decided that cars are not a core product any longer (aside from Mustang).
Tesla is the only US-based manufacturer of a class-leading car. And I worry that the slow-to-change big 3 are quite late to the EV market.
21
Polls about why Americans prefer SUVs over sedans routinely point out that people make the choice to buy a heavier vehicle based on perceived safety (of the occupants), comfort, and utility.
Given the abysmal driving standards in the US, the poor condition of the infrastructure, and handouts given to wealthy oilmen, it's no wonder why Americans would make this choice.
We didn't choose SUVs at the dealerships. We made our choice at the ballot box.
118
That could be... but the power of the purse should be more powerful than the ballot or at least equal.
We put all our eggs into one basket by relying on “the vote” to solve everything...
that’s the BIGGEST scam. The vote is supposed to affect the government, it shouldn’t have that much affect on what cars we buy.
We have given up our rights and power and freedom by thinking the government can solve everything. It’s irresponsible.
The vote is meant to keep us placated so we don’t stop buying things and boycotting and protesting and striking.
Which is really what we should be doing, only there are a lot of people that don’t care and they just drag everybody down with them.
5
@Max
It's an example of American selfishness. Not only are they deciding to ruin the planet by choosing gas guzzling SUVs, they are prioritizing their own safety over that of others. "I'll be safe in my giant tank but everyone I plow into will surely die. Oh well, not my problem - when does the mall open?"
109
@Max
Every time I see a parking lot filled with SUVs, I say to myself "there is no hope."
4
My brother had an Isetta bubble car back in the day - he owned the version that had no reverse gear which qualified it as a motorcycle that could be driven a year before a car.
He took it to a function where there was valet parking and, half an hour into the function, a valet team person came and asked him if he knew where the guy who'd parked his car had gone - he didn't. They went out to the parking lot and the poor valet driver had nosed up to a wall to park but, because the door opens forwards and there was no reverse, he was trapped in the car!
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@Ted Morton
Winning story~!
20
Maybe I’m giving away how sad my life is at the moment, but this gave me the best laugh I’ve had in a good few weeks!
8
Europeans do not seem to buy any sedans- nearly every car you see in the big cities is a hatchback and they all look pretty much the same- essentially a VW Golf, only a tad smaller.
1
@Richard Katz in Sweden station wagons outnumber sedans and crossovers 2 to one.
1
I visited northern Italy at the end of 2019 and was surprised by the number of large SUVs being driven (e.g., Range Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota Land Cruiser). These folk obviously don’t live in the old city centers where the streets are narrow. I wondered at the time what was driving the increase in large vehicles.
2
@Greg W Blame it on the Disgusting American Car-Owner-Virus, which is sadly infecting much of the rest of the world. Everyone likes to imitate the Americans in many respects, and driving a ridiculously huge intimidating vehicle is one way to look like an American.
1
One of the main differences behind the tastes of the West Europeans and Americans is that there is much more open space and less crowdedness in the US. One sees it almost everywhere, in cars, house or apartment sizes, and restaurant eating areas.
9
@Tuvw Xyz I had the very same thought too. The continent of Europe in general, relative to the US, feels more crowded, constrained, with oftentimes narrower road and streets.
5
@Tuvw Xyz
Really why I do not have this impression, have you ever drive in NY, LA .
In Europe if you live city you do not see in your neighborhood 18 wheeler .
Here they park in ordinary streets for the demise of residents. You can park your car may be under it.
Another beauty in western Europe many city has decent parking places in neighborhoods and city center.
In NY 15 minutes park in midtown east 30 dollar or your life.
1
@Tuvw Xyz
Except in NYC...old size streets, new ENORMOUS SUVs vans. trucks... you really have to drive defensively because they don't see you! And if your a pedestrian, you can't see over the parked cars to cross the street!
I guess fat heads need a lot of head room.
1
It's a shame that more European cars can't gain traction in the United States. For me, a highlight of vacation is the opportunity to drive a road-hugging, diesel-powered, manual transmission Renault or Skoda on winding mountain roads. I guess my sport wagon will have to wait until I retire full-time to Croatia.
45
@AC Chicago I loved driving our 2010 VW Jetta TDI in the mountains here in Virginia. The torque was amazing, the handling secure and the mileage impressive. Unfortunately, it was part of Dieselgate and I sold it back.
3
Anyone who has driven UK or EU roads will note that, once you get off the big motorways, driving a beastly large American style SUV would be a handicap. Even the smaller cars can be tough to navigate down winding lanes with rock walls hemming in the narrow roads. Check out the side mirrors of any rental car there: they are not pristine appendages.
I wish we had more smaller and fuel efficient or electric options in the US but we seemed to be heading in the wrong direction. I learned Toyota will cease production of the Prius C, which is plenty large for my needs and I can park in any tight space. I don't want a truck or an SUV, but sedan options are dwindling, alas.
51
When we last returned to France, we much regretted having rented an SUV: the winding roads, whose narrowness we were no longer accustomed to, made us gasp every time a car came the other way, and the car didn't fit the garage which came with our rental. To be fair, the roads in France are in much better condition generally than in Michigan, so an SUV is less necessary.
22
@Cailin Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Maybe auto manufacturers are cutting down or halting sedan production, because they saw how easily the American car-owner was duped. Most Americans 'love' their massive vehicles. I rarely hear any SUV/4x4 etc. owners 'complaining' that 'if only they had more sedan choices'. No, most Americans love their SUVs because they've bought into the notion that they are 'safer, more comfortable, roomier, provide a better view of the road', etc. It's the monkey-see-monkey-do attitude. 'Everyone' has an SUV now, so I suppose I should buy one as well.
The streets of NYC are now filled with literal caravans of mini assault vehicles plowing through our densely populated streets.
NYC is a 'walking city'?? Could have fooled me.
5
An interesting thing about the rebadged Opel Insignia is that while it is built in Germany, Opel is now a PSA (Peugeot) entity, in order to make these cars 'serviceable' here, they send US made turbo 4s, Mexican made 6 cylinder engines, Chinese made transmissions and other parts (interior) over to Germany to be assembled. The distinct Opelness is distilled out. Also many dealers don't bother to carry even ONE of these cars. They won't sell enough to cover the 'freight' of having it assembled. The fact the US market ignores cars now is another thing.
Back in the late 90s when the Honda Insight made its debut, the US was well on its way down the 'truck as a primary vehicle' road, however the Insight showed the way forward. The Prius also became reasonably popular. Fast forward to 2020 and Jaguar has an SUV (truck). As it becomes abundantly clear that climate change is a function of human hydrocarbon use, we in the US, double down on the cause and homes now have 3 trucks in the (circular) driveway. It actually makes me sick to my stomach when I see a mother driving her one child to school in an Infiniti QX80. I ride my bike as much as I can and I often get sprayed directly in the face with unnecessary diesel fumes from a tuba sized wheezing tail pipe of a 8000+lb pickup truck that should have been in Mad Max, driven by a single (male) person.
Since we're accelerating to the end, why not 'mash' the pedal to the floor ? Why can't people see how ludicrous this is ?
36
@ob2s eloquent, and full of that Pac NW righteous anger.
9
@ob2s
I wouldn't ride a bike on any road here in the NoVa suburbs of DC. No way, no how. I prefer staying alive.
2
@ob2s never understood why Americans park their cars on the driveway and not the garage. Why is the garage there for then?
2
I drove a Skoda Yeti Mont Blanc for a couple of years, in Europe, and it was a fantastic automobile. I wanted to bring it back to the US, but sadly had to sell it. Now, I wish Audi would bring the Avant wagon back to the USA. I see they'll be selling the Avant RS 6 in the States this year, but that's a little rich for my blood.
7
@JB The A6 Avant Allroad has been back on sale here since the first of the year. The A4 Avant never left.
1
"Many European countries tax vehicles on size, weight, engine size and fuel consumption at a far higher rate than our states."
When the guy in front of you is 'rolling coal' out the tailpipe of his massively oversized, embarrassingly underused truck or SUV,
it's because he's not paying directly for all that waste and planet-frying emissions. This is America, where our kids and grandkids pay for our failures.
353
@C. Whiting We Americans seem to believe that it's our birthright to be wasteful.
20
this past December for 2 days in northern Spain we had a 6-speed MT Peugeot 5009. Loved it. Great to be able to rent a car with manual transmission.
18
Oh, how I wish that Citroens and Peugeots were available over here. Car choices in the US are not terrifically exciting.
35
Isetta, 4 wheels. Tiny wheels, and close together, but 4 of them....
10
@ARM Not so. BMW Isetta had 3 wheels, while very similar Heinkel had 4 wheels, the back pair very close together.
1
@Fredkrute No, ARM is right. The rear wheels are spaced very close together, but there are two of them.
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@Fredkrute no, the Isetta also had 4 wheels, except in the UK
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My dream car is a Volkswagen California. I’ve been gazing wistfully across the pond since the 2003 the last year of the Volkswagen campervan.
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@TW Wait until 2028, buy one in Europe and bring it home as an "antique" or "collector" car.
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A BMW Isetta has FOUR wheels. Not a confidence inspiringly mistake
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You cannot "circle a cup-de-sac" because a cul-de-sac is a dead end. You can, however, circle a roundabout or a circus, which we in the US call a circle - as in, Columbus Circle.
@Hooman
I beg to differ...twice.
1. You can indeed "circle a cul-de-sac". At least many of the cul-de-sacs found in Suburban America, and specifically the one a friend of mine lives on. I know because i've done it. They are essentially large, round, paved areas, not simple dead ends.
2. Where I live in Massachusetts, they are not called circles or roundabouts or circuses. They are called rotaries.
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@Hooman Actually, many cul-de-sacs (at least in suburbs, I don't know about Brooklyn) have a rounded end to help drivers exit so you can - sort of - circle a cul-de-sac.
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@Hooman I lived on a cul-de-sac for years and it ended in a big round circle on concrete (where my home was), so you physically circled your car to get back out if you did not pull into a driveway.
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“Many European countries tax vehicles on size, weight, engine size and fuel consumption at a far higher rate than our states.”
Adopting this philosophy would go a long way towards curing Americans of their idiotic addiction to the over-sized, inefficient and unsafe behemoths they drive. You’re worried about climate change? A large part of the problem is parked in your driveway.
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@Larry "...You’re worried about climate change? A large part of the problem is parked in your driveway..."
And in some instances, the problem is parked directly on the sidewalk. That's right... I said On the Sidewalk. In my not-to-be-uttered Queens neighborhood, car culture has become so insidious, that 'car people' don't have enough spots for their multiple vehicles. So typically one SUV is parked in their driveway (sometimes with a second SUV/pickup truck parked right next to it...), another vehicle is parked in the Free Public Parking Spot in front of their home, and a third is parked Across the Sidewalk. You see, these folks know they can get away with this because 1) there are so many other 'car people' in their midst, that they know 99% of people in the neighborhood will see nothing wrong with it and not complain and 2) the local NYPD have made it patently clear that, as fellow 'car people', they're not going to do anything about it either...
The homes in my neighborhood Do come with garages, but unfortunately none of those are every available to house vehicles, as they are typically full of 'stuff' from floor to ceiling.
Gross consumption. The American way.
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The plague of mostly unnecessary, mostly oversized American pickup trucks that you see (and dodge on the highways:many have drivers who think they are in Ferraris) these days is a puzzlement to me. They are clumsy, unwieldy, hard to park (I imagine) and many are so beefed up in their suspensions that it would seem difficult to use the truck's bed for its intended purpose without having to carry a ladder around. The you see a Ford Ranger (sort of what used to be a normal sized pickup) and realize that there are relatively so few of this size out there, probably because they are not macho and imposing enough. I just don't understand it, and especially when you consider how much more dangerous these things are to normal sized cars and to pedestrians in accidents. We seem to have our priorities wrong.
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@Peter O'Malley
I couldn't agree more. And here's another complaint about pick ups. So many of them these days have a rear seat in the cabin and are so long that, when diagonally parked they actually protrude into the driving lane and obstruct traffic. If you are a farmer, rancher or contractor fine. But when you're not, owning one is wasteful.
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@Peter O'Malley
Yep, these days almost all of the pickup trucks I see are totally unnecessary, chrome-encrusted monstrosities whose primary purpose is to drive across medians to escape traffic jams on the freeway. I call them man-bling.
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@R.F. It seems that 1 in 3 of my neighbors owns a gigantic double-cab pickup truck, and NONE of them use them for anything except transportation. They're menaces in parking garages, are extremely wasteful, expensive to purchase and to drive, and offer the opposite of an engaging driving experience. I cannot imagine how they came to be so popular.
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The Fiat Abarth was the most fun car I ever owned. The entire introduction (including their webpage) was a Fiasco. The dealers were clueless and the home office could care less. They did everything in their power and did it wrong.
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@RonRich which abarth? The 124? That one's a great car
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Interesting article. One correction, though... ISO’s Isetta, marketed by a number of European manufacturers, including BMW, had four wheels, not three. The two 10” rear wheels were closely spaced on a single axle, with a chain final drive between them.
We briefly had one of these bizarre little cars in the family. My mother worked at Westinghouse’s atomic energy labs at Bettina Field, in Pittsburgh. Her boss owned the Isetta, and she often rode with him to work in it. When he was transferred to another lab, he gifted her the car. She kept it for maybe a year, until my father, who couldn’t stand the thing, replaced it with a much larger and infinitely safer ‘60 Plymouth
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I don't see one word in this story (except for the brands) that wasn't equally true 60 years ago.
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