A car of interest....

[why?]

Originally Posted by jayeh

If I lived in the states I'd probably be driving a pickup truck or a land cruiser.
Here I cringe filling the tank in my Yaris.
In the states everything seems to be a notch up from Canada, the sub-compacts don't count, Compact Cars like the Corolla are the bottom rung, a Camry is a family car.
Europe is the opposite way and a Corolla would be a family car.
The amount of car people think they need is slightly absurd. People who have kid and think they need a minivan or suv when they really just need less stuff.
Power mirrors aren't an option?

Actually, The Yaris is the best selling car in the UK, and one of the best, if not the best selling car throughout europe as well. It is the family car.

As for the amount of car people choose, people like being able to do whatever they want without having to rent a car. That is the reason car based SUV's are so popular. Decent gas mileage, and big enough to do almost anything in.

Now if you look at people that have to commute, you will see a much different story. Commuters by smaller more gas efficient cars.

Originally Posted by jayeh

Hmmm. I disagree. I'd love to see vehicles taxed based on emissions here like they do in Europe.

I'm also not a fan of the current trend of people buying more car because they know they are lacking skill behind the wheel.

Taxes are the downfall of civilization. Europe is about to hit the fan and dissolve, that is the only lesson anyone should take about doing anything "like europe."

Originally Posted by jayeh

I'm fairly certain we have solved most of the mysteries of global climate change.
Realistically taxes for vehicles are extremely low and we don't seem to ever have enough money to maintain our vehicle related infrastructure, let alone expand it to meet our current needs.
Without higher taxes there is no reason to build more efficient cars, no reason to buy them!

Taxes for vehicles are absurd as they are. There should only be one, sales tax when you buy it. The idea of a government taxing something you already own is beyond ludicrous. I honestly don't understand how the person who thought up that idea lived to enact it. Just like income tax is insane. That is one of the reasons why Lincoln should not be touted as much as he was. He did some purely evil things, and got amazingly lucky in winning the civil war.