Says you need to log in Bob...

 

Fixed (I think).

 

It seems reasonable to ask: If we need a smaller car, do we need a smaller refrigerator or a smaller washing machine?"

The easy answer to this is "Yes"!

Living alone something like a Bosch Max (which I think takes a bigger-than average load) would be fairly wasteful for me - even though occasionally it would be useful. The average modern singleton who rarely cooks from scratch probably does not need a large fridge either.

As with all things it horses for courses. Admittedly Im slightly hypocritical in this because I would'nt drive anything smaller than, say, an R3. I just feel to vulnerable in a small car.

 

nah i'd need one of the maxx jobbies, because we already have one here, and because usually my whole wardrobe has to end up on the floor before i think about washing it :lol:

i personally cant see why americans dont want to take smaller cars into their population in greater numbers, they're not all fat asses so why drive around in fat ass trucks, suv's etc that do 5-10mpg then ***** about the "gas" prices over there?

logic will eventually be drilled into their minds.

 

Usually people like a small car in the family which they can nip down to the shops in. A small car allows for better parking. Perhaps parking isn't a problem in the US???? Having said that 40 000 MINI's a year actually sounds high to me. Perhaps they are starting to creap in slowly..

 

Try getting the corn-fed lard butts of the average US family into a Yaris and its hardly surprising that they'll go for the pickup.

 

hell, I can't fit in a Yaris! (my sisters got one, and getting into the front seat is a challenge, I haven't even bothered to try and fit in the back)

From my experience of the states, most people don't drive pickups/SUV's, and the cars in the built up areas look just like the uk. People in more remote places have bigger cars as a friend of mine had a house at the end of about 3 miles of dirt track, so he needed a truck to get home if it rained...

the US don't want small cars for the reasons most of the UK don't want small cars: if they are for more than just 1/2 occupants the vast majority of them are utterly useless

 

The best selling vehicle in the world is (or at least was until very recently) the Ford F150: its the slump in its sales which have put Ford in a tailspin. The US love affair with SUVs maybe over but the American Dream is a monster car/truck/suv whatever in the front lawn.

I totally disagree that nobody wants small cars in the UK. Private as opposed to company bought/funded sales invariably buy small cars. It was the demise of the Rover 100 which cut off Rover from almost its historic market which helped bring about its collapse.

 

America- big country. petrol 30p litre (yes 30p average! http://www.gasbuddy.com/)
England- tiny overcrowded country. petrol 90p litre

Not rocket science is it... if you lived in a big country with cheap petrol you'd get something big with a nice burbling V8, not a diesel 206

 

I don't drive a large car (ZS) but % of the time I would be happy with a smaller car. It's the other 20% that drives my reasoning when choosing a new car.



P

 

Originally Posted by StreetBoy: petrol 30p litre (yes 30p average! http://www.gasbuddy.com/)

Closer to 26p/liter where I live, only costs about $46 to fill the tank from empty. I like to think I'd still be driving the same thing if I lived in the UK, but at your prices, who knows? But, I suppose LPG conversions are the great equalizer. Depending on where you go, parking can sometimes be a small challenge here, and there's some side steets in Philadelphia that I can't really fit down, but at least I can just drive another block and be fine thanks to the grid pattern streets. Don't know how well that would work in London.

 

I recently went to the US visiting Boston and New York, and I can partly understand why some Americans like big cars, the quality of their roads can be described as rough. I did see a large number of Minis and the saloon version of the Yaris (I also saw an Echo, which was the US name for the previous generation Yaris), but most of the cars were large saloons that would definitely not sell in Europe, as we now prefer either expensive saloons or hatchbacks.

Apparently Toyota have recently announced that they plan to launch a restyled version of the Aygo (that looks more like a Yaris) in the US as a two seater coupe in 2008 to compete with the Smart. Maybe removing the rear seats will allow them to fit a bigger fuel tank, as the car will have a more powerful 100BHP engine (as opposed to 67 BHP in Europe).

 

Let's face it ,if the roads here were as wide as American ones and petrol was a third the price most of us would be driving big V8's too.

I remember seeing (I think it was pube head) test driving a hummer in America.Parked the thing up in a supermarket car park and could open the door of the hummer fully open without even being near the car parked next to it ( and the car next door was one of those GMC pick up things).

Compare that to here where you've got to squeeze out of a Fiesta 'cos the spaces are that miniscule.

We drive smaller cars because it's practical ,the Americans don't need to worry about that.

 

In keeping with this thread SMMT reported that supermini sales in October were 8.4% higher than Oct 2005, equating to a 1.8% rise for the year to date.

It all depends on pricing, legislation etc. Our so called superminis are now planned so much they are too big to adorn that name, for safety and equipment reasons. The comfort and feature levels are so much higher than they used to be so why pay more unless its absolutely necessary?

 

Our so called superminis are now planned so much they are too big to adorn that name

You can say that again. I saw my first 207 in the flesh a few days ago and couldn't believe the size of it-easily looks as big as a 306.

 

my grandad told me once that in his day when petrol was dirt cheap, people who wanted a small car got a small car, and vise versa. regardless of price.

so i think it stands to reason that consumer preference is not all price as we would logically assume. well not when people have NCB's that is.

 

I suppose driving a Rover bubble is an advantage if you want to drive a small car that makes you think your in a slightly larger car!

 

Theres only one thing better than a big car with a big engine..... and thats a small car with a HUGE engine!!!

 

Is there really a place called Pube Head? Surely not!

From Principle Skinner:

remember seeing (I think it was pube head) test driving a hummer in America.

 

I think that's a derogatory reference to Jeremy Clarkson, though from his on-air comments, I'd be very suprised if he ever set foot out of the European Union let alone visited the United States.

 

It was JC I was talking about. I know what your saying about his comments but unbelievably I'm sure he has been in the US.

Actually the reason I call him that is because I think his name is mentioned quite enough on here already ,considering the guy single handedly brought down MGR