Reliabability has nothing to do with it.
A huge lazy American 4litre sedan is going to use loads more fuel than a European 2litre making approx the same amount of power...

No, their just crap, cheaply made and handle like a bouncy castle....

This is the wrong thread to be telling us how bad your xx4 is Ian..:p

At least the americans get a choice of engine size to use, they could easily buy a honda or something similar and save on fuel. We dont get that option.:(

Sorry, thought you were American, where mileage means fuel consumption - mpg - not distance. What I meant was that European cars do almost twice as many miles per gallon as US cars, so even though we pay almost twice as much for fuel, the same journey costs the same amount of money.

What? I can buy cars of the same type with engines from 1.2 litre to 2.something litre. In the US, it's usually 3.something to 4.something - where's my lack of choice?

They could buy a Honda, or something similar. Apparently, the biggest reason for not doing so is that they think smaller cars are unsafe when others are running around in pick-up trucks, etc. Almost half the US car market is pick-ups; the biggest selling car by model in the World is the Ford F150 pick-up truck, not any Honda, Toyota, VW, etc.

At least, it used to be. With these fuel prices, no wonder Ford, GM and Chrysler are in the poo, and Honda, Toyota and Nissan are laughing all the way to the bank... ;)

I agree we do have a choice but we still have high fuel bills regardless of what we run compared to the US. If they wanted too they could have very cheap fuel bills but like you say they choose to have the big pick ups etc.

My car does approx 50mpg but i still spend a lot on fuel, if i ran the same car in the US i would be a lot better off. :)

For someone of my age, this does have some amusement value. From 1970 to 1973, the price of oil went up four times, from $3 to $12 a barrel. OPEC countries embargoed deliveries to countries that supported Israel, we had rationing coupons issued and many of us simply couldn't get to work as there was no fuel at all. We survived.

The same thing happened in 1979, when oil went to $80 a barrel, and then dropped back to about $40 a barrel within a few years. We survived.

Now the price has doubled, and all of a sudden we are complaining about the tax we pay on the fuel. If we had been in America, we would be paying almost five times what we did three years ago, and not less than double. We'll survive.

The era of cheap money borrowed on the back of ever-rising asset (house) prices is coming to an end. If you have been prudent and kept things in check, you'll be fine. If you've been stupid, borrowed to the hilt, and have no assets to back that up, you'll be screwed. However, it is here, so there's no use complaining.

What amuses me is the attitude of the press and some posters on forums that seems to think this is the worst thing that has ever happened (not) and we are all doomed! Think of it this way - the price of a barrel of oil in 2007 money has only just gone above what is was in the 1860s, and they survived, too!