with the price of petrol in the UK,,,it is even more sickening that i see more & more people driving US-sized SUVs in london!!!!

WTF,,,at about £1 a litre,,,that is a pricey acquisition...

i think UK-style prices should be imposed on the US,,,may be it would make people think twice about their choice of car...

although,,it does not seem to deter stupid rich people over here...

yeah, I filled my car up after a Merc 4x4 so it still had the price on the petrol pump. I nearly fainted!

While I would love nothing more (well, maybe this isn't true) than to see people ditch SUVs and buy wagons (or compacts! or hybrids!), you've also got to understand that the US was set up for the automobile. We don't have many options when it comes to traveling intra-city or inter-state, unlike much of Europe. But it doesn't excuse our abuse of gas guzzling SUVs - we could drive much more sensible vehicles. I would love legislation that would require proof of need for anything larger than a station wagon.

greyhound? amtrak?

i know you weren't talking about it but pdx has a pretty sweet light rail/bus system and the buses are bike friendly!

more than i can say about fucking london

We need more pro-active car manufacturers. Cars are now a necessity and not a luxury as they were once viewed. I don't live in the sticks but public transport still takes an age for me to get to work, plus its more expensive than owning a car!

Car programme over here had a one seater car. If they toughened it up, made it more economical and basically marketed it as a commuting car, i'd be the first in the queue.

here's the vid (which is also quite funny)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtro7PnBA8

i can't even imagine what it costs to fill those things...it costs £40 to fill a mini!!

with the rise of SUV culture in london,,legislation is going through to deter people from buying them...instead of the usual £8-a-day fee for most cars to drive in central london...SUVs will need to pay £25-a-day!!!....whereas as electric & smart cars can drive in central london for free....

there have also been HUGE changes for cyclists in london,,,dutch-style bike paths are being built all the time...and there is even rush hour bicycle traffic now,,,which is a good thing!!...7 years ago the only cyclists around were messengers...

true,,the US is more car-centric,,,but it is pretty central in european life as well...

being reliant on cars is no excuse for needing to have huge tanks as vehicles...there are alternatives & options

I want an electric car.

My impression is that the majority of SUVs in the Northeast aren't being used for off-road use or traveling cross country or out to some remote area.

They're being driven by soccer moms and families who view them as status symbols in suburbia or as a safe aggressive car on the highways versus smaller cars.

The news here is that gas prices haven't dipped as they usually do around this time of year and it's effecting people's holiday budgets.

The other news is that Europeans are taking these organized shopping trips to the US. These tours come over from Europe for a couple days of bargain shopping in the Northeast and then return to Europe. Despite the travel and hotel costs, they actually save alot of money coming across the ocean and buying up holiday goods in the US.

yeah,,i think electric cars look cool...

although i would be a bit scared about driving it on the motorway...

i think that they should only allow them in cities,,,would cut down on pollution & parking problems...

about 3 electric cars can fit in the space allotted for one normal-size car...

Been advertised that its still cheaper to do christmas shopping by flying to New York than to do your shopping over here in the UK. Madness.

exactly,,,,all the fools that drive them around these parts are nouveau-riche status seekers....

PDX would like the world to think we have great public transportation. Hell, they've done a damn good job making the world believe it! But it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'd say Seattle has superior public transit - even without the monorail that the public has voted for several times now!
Though we are apparently the bike commuting capital of the country (but those cyclists are damn militant...and this is coming from an ex-messenger!).
You're joking about Greyhound and Amtrak, right? I've taken both on several occasions, but I'd hardly call either of them a reliable way to travel.


That is GREAT!


Me too! There's a dealership not far from where I live:http://eco-motion.com/ The Xebras are sweet! But you can't take those things on the freeway...

I was pretty pleased to see SMART cars making an entrance into the US market. They had a sort of demo week here in San Francisco but I didn't get the chance to try one out.

about 10 months ago the fed had to make a choice: let housing prices collapse or let the dollar keep falling. Crappy decision either way.

The scary thing is there is no reason at all this trend won't continue for the next 18 months or longer.

I was in Seattle a few months back. Really nice public transport, with an extensive series of buses and commuter rail serving feeder cities, and very nice free parking complexes for commuters to park and ride. I was also impressed with how late the buses run. You'll still need a car in the area, but for your Mon-Fri commute, you can do the main haul on public transport.

Same goes for the Boston area - excellent intercity rail network and public transport within Boston. NYC, SF, and Washington DC as well.

So it's not like all of the US is without public transport. It's just that some areas were built up around the idea of people driving everywhere. Still, I think hybrids, fuel cells, and electric cars will develop far more quickly than public transport. In some ways, the US is just too damned big for the car culture to shrink by more than a small percentage.

I drove a Geo metro for 10 years.

I could fill it up in Long Beach, and make it all the way to the Bay bridge before I had to worry about re filling. Very efficient 3 cylinder "loser car".

We were going smaller? Right?

Wrong.

Then suddenly the Bronto mobile SUV's started appearing, and out of safety I had to go bigger and get a pickup.

then there's these idiots at work that need an SUV in order to take their daughter to Ballerina class. Dipshits.

It's all status and ego.

actually it's not as great as it should be. they're increasing the size of the engine by 50% compared to the european models so instead of getting 65mpg their target is to get around 40. still better than most cars, but not even as good as a normal civic (and just as expensive) and much less than a prius.

in various parts of san diego gas is around 3.25-3.60. i've still yet to see premium crack 4 though i have seen 3.999 on several occasions.

electric cars will be big in a few years, but they're not ready for prime time yet. low-end electric conversions cost around $12k plus the cost of the car and will only get around 60 miles per charge. high-end electric cars cost a minimum of $50k. they'll get around 240 miles per charge, which is good for most uses but not good enough to be the only means of transportation for most people in the states.

Yeah it's interesting this has popped up today.

I'm ditching my Toyota 4Runner for a Honda Fit. The other day I went to the gas station and it was $50, and the tank wasn't completely full! i drive back and forth to the city for the most part, so for driving up on friday and home on monday or tuesday there is no reason to have the SUV.

Plus it's a pain to park in the city. Oh and for you europeans, the fit is the equivalent to the Jazz. With the Fit, I'm sold on the fuel economy, and I am not losing the cargo space I like to have.

If I could get one of those smartcars here i would.

Andy, your comment about Boston is true for the most part, but the public transport can be a bit of a pain as it closes down really early. If you live outside of downtown, buses are a must and run infrequently on weekends. I wish it were like NYC. 24 hours, so nice.

It's not too shabby here. Plus, we're finally getting light rail that will connect the downtown/stadium area with the airport, and eventually, with the university district. Took long enough....local gov't seems to be it's own worst enemy. The monorail idea was nice, but just not feasible.

Public transport stops quite early here. I usually have to leave gigs just before the end to make sure I can get a train home. That sucks.

night buses?

don't think he's in london...

night buses are pretty good, but really the tubes should run 24hr

most towns have night buses.....even birmingham where I' grew up

I did alright getting around when I lived in Boston, but I rarely stayed out very late.

The 24 hr NYC Metro system is a godsend, and the only non-stop Metro system I've ever heard of.

The subway is shut from around 12:30 PM - 5:30 AM in Taipei. That's way to early too close, but it keeps the taxi drivers happy...

Fortunately I haven't owned any type of motor vehicle for 15 years. Hopefully I can keep it that way until electric cars or hovercrafts become widespread.

Night bus in Liverpool is an adventure...

and it only goes to Birkenhead, which is still about 10 miles from where I need to get to