[dukey]

jpgs
nice average mpg yanks, lol

[yesplease]

nice average mpg yanks, lol

It's actually much worse. Thanks to a halt of CAFE, and auto companies using the farm truck loopholes, since the late eighties auto companies have been selling SUVs and large pickup trucks that can avoid CAFE but are used as passenger vehicles. The actual US average or all passenger vehicles including those that aren't covered by CAFE is something like 17mpg.

We have problems with oil alright, we can't find ways to burn it fast enough.

[bl00k]

What i find more surprising is how much those countries cut oil consumption since 1980! I thought everyone was using more and more but apparently oil use has gone down in Europe.

[Barbara]

What i find more surprising is how much those countries cut oil consumption since 1980! I thought everyone was using more and more but apparently oil use has gone down in Europe.

Illusion. Oil use has gone down ONLY because we in the EU converted oil power plants into gas power plants.
Car use has grown. Maybe last two years stopped a bit, but not much.

[Starvid]

What i find more surprising is how much those countries cut oil consumption since 1980! I thought everyone was using more and more but apparently oil use has gone down in Europe.

Pretty much no one knows this. Oil has left low value applications like heating, industry and power, replaced by nuclear, biomass and gas.

So it's not an illusion but a very concrete reality.

[Twilight]

Comparisons like that are always interesting for what they reveal to non-specialists.

Americans drive longer distances because their country is bigger and their cities more spread out.

Seems logical.

So why do their engines have to be twice as big?

Beats me why they need a four-litre engine in a saloon when we make do with a 1.8.

[mos6507]

So why do their engines have to be twice as big?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphallus

http://bumpernuts.com/

[BigTex]

So why do their engines have to be twice as big?

Beats me why they need a four-litre engine in a saloon when we make do with a 1.8.

You need the extra HP and torque to move the larger American body with its higher body fat percentage and accumulation of fecal plaque on the intestinal walls.

The smaller European engines wouldn't be able to handle the load.

Even the VWs you see here in the U.S. will struggle on the hills if there is a well-marbled yank at the wheel.

[yesplease]

That's more related to the hill than the person. An extra 150lbs of fat only adds ~5% to the smallest cars today, and less to the average ones. Power to weight is influenced similarly.

[BigTex]

That's more related to the hill than the person. An extra 150lbs of fat only adds ~5% to the smallest cars today, and less to the average ones. Power to weight is influenced similarly.

yesplease, as the Black Adder would say:

"You are thicker than a whale omelette."