Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 01/29/07 12:39 pm:
tropo. you know little, cars are much the same size the world over, cars are made here and sold in the US, cars are made in Korea and Japan and sold both here and the US, Ford and GM have models they sell the world over with different badging. In Europe gas costs a lot so european models are more economical and better engineered, we all have small cars, medium cars and large cars but why I have to put up with SUV which afterall are trucks

Clarification/Follow-up by tropicalstorm on 01/29/07 1:49 pm:
Well you seem to have medium size cars that only the rich people here seem to be able to afford because they cost more than the SUV and the government seems to have people believing that most of them are even less fuel effecient than the SUV's.

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 01/29/07 9:28 pm:
tropo, are you saying we have a better standard of living than you do and can afford better cars? That's nonsense, Gas is half the price in your market

look, the average family car here does 30mph, I don't know what the equivalents are in your market, but the top end of the range have names like Caprice (GM) and Fairlane (Ford), not names which are related to this country. cars designed for the US MARKET like Camry have lower milage. An SUV is not fuel efficient, even the every day Berlina and Calais(GM) and Falcon (Ford) are large vehicles because they are world cars with equivalents in every market. price Tag $40,-50,000. These vehicles compete with BMW and AUDI
We don't like buzz boxes either, but there are many alternatives without resorting to 4x4 vehicles, even the humble utilities have taken on the appearance of massive vehicles because they are principally intended for your market. Fuel efficiency isn't related so much to vehicle size as it is to engine efficiency. The car makers cling to older designs until they are forced to change

Clarification/Follow-up by tropicalstorm on 01/29/07 9:56 pm:
Whatever, people are going to drive what they want to drive. I never said the SUV's where fuel efficient. I said that some people's excuses for driving them is because they have large families that otherwise they would have to go in two cars when they would rather go in one. A father, a mother and three kids up to 7 years old in car three bulky car seats is crowded even in a mid sized car, especially with the size of many American people nowadays.

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 01/30/07 12:48 am:
have they ever thought of being sensible and having less kids, look I know the problem, kids fighting in the back seat is a problem and it seems to be solved by vehicles with a third row of seats, but it's really an unwillingness to discipline and an inability to exercise self control, which is endemic to the society. What child seats exist for is anybodies guess, probally a busybodies solution to a problem which needed a different solution, like having the vehicle fitted with appropriate seat belts which kept them in the seats

Clarification/Follow-up by tropicalstorm on 01/30/07 2:09 am:
yeah parac
You are right. It is a bunch of 'do gooders' that make claims to get laws passed. They are passing so many laws 'for our own good' it is unreal! Within the next six years America is going to be like a socialist police state.