he wrote nice things to me about my kid's during our pbem. So, yes, he does say "positive" things about Americans ;)

Saabs are also really safe and they sell those in there ;)
Oh yes you are [mischief]


50$/month?
It's 25€ for me [:P]

I grew up in a factory town of Hutchinson MN. There are 2 factories there, each of which employs 2,000+ people. In winter time the temperature gets a wee bit nippily, (weeks where it doesn't get above 0 F) and as soon as it would get below -10 F, all the japanese cars wouldn't start. When it was below -5 F, all the non-Northland edition American vehichles wouldn't start. I never saw it get so cold that the Northland package American made cars wouldn't start. (And it got to -40 a few times a year).
With pickup trucks, once you drive a good one you are hooked. The sightlines, hauling power, and the offroad capability just rule.
I am 1.8 meters tall, and 95-100 kilo's, but only the stupid would dare call me fat. One thing that Americans do routinely is drive around the country. On business, I drive the equivalent of Paris to Budapest, and do that once a month. For sports/vacation, we drive distances similar to Paris to Kiev and back, and on trips of that magnitude, roomier is better. I admit I kind of set myself up with some of this stuff, but I don't mind the razzing, it is one of the cool things about CDZ.
Renault and Saab are Euro cars, not Asian, and are more expensive by about 15% than American cars in South Dakota. In fact, I have not seen a renault on the road in Rapid City.
Killer asked what modern car I would like so here goes.
I would prefer a late 90's model full size Chevy Silverado Half-ton pickup truck. Gas, not diesel, normal 3 seat bench cab, v8 engine, trailer hitch, custom cattle guard, off road package. However, this truck only makes sense as long as I continue to live away from civilization.
I encourage others to list their ideal means of transportation that is reasonably within their price range. (DOn't need a bunch of Enzo's showing up here. :D)

Some French cars don't start here in the winters... Saab 96 is made for Nordic winters and they start even when there's minus something inside the car. (tested... my dad forgot to put on the heater once...brr...) Downside is that it's damn small...

I've seen Japanese cars start in Kingston ON as well as in Thunder Bay. I believe that as long as you plug in the crankcase heater when you park overnight, it should start fine. No reason that any car can't be equipped with this, other than a mfr not offering it. However, I never lived in those places so I'm not 100% sure which cars offer it, I just observed co-workers using it on a wide variaty of autos.

Owning a 11 year old toyota, I never had problem in the winter, and that is on a car without a block heater. In my opinion, cars is a community issue and many people will get what the others buy. Also I perfectly understand buying homeland, I there where a Canadian car company, this is what I would choose before any other beter, more efficient car.

Well, there are "car" people, "sports car" people, "truck" people, "SUV" people, "station wagon" people, and bikers. If you are a "truck" person, Japanese trucks are somewhat smaller and way more expensive. They are also not that powerful and buying Ford, Chevy, or Dodge instead is a reasonable choice here despite they eat up lots of gas. I'm an intermediate "car"-"sports car" person and would never like to drive a truck or SUV. And I've owned an old Toyota Celica. It was very expensive to fix when it was broken. And it broke on me a multiple times. So, now I drive little Ford Focus and am very happy with that. A full tank ($25) is enough for me for about a month just going to and from work. Focus is a very spacious car and I have moved or helped move 4 people already with it. Can't fit a sofa or a matress in it though but dinner table or a small couch is OK.

OK here it goes. I don't drive anymore. I walk six blocks to work, take cabs, ride the elevated train, take commuter trains and have access to both Midway and O'Hare airports with any of those means of transport.

Romeo and I have very different American lives. City mouse vs. country mouse. Romeo needs a truck. Where he lives it's almost required to haul shit around. It comes in mighty handy when someone is moving or building a deck, haul some gravel, moving some dirt etc. and you can throw all of it in the back of a pickup. We don't do that in cities so a pickup truck ain't so handy, you can't find parking so you just don't see them.

I don't need a car which is one of the great benefits of living where I do. With that said I have helped my girlfriend with buying hers. She likes German cars and with her new job she bought the "teachers edition" X3. Germans make great cars. Pretty simple.

However, I was initially dead set against her buying a SUV but her job requires her to haul heavy boxes of materials to inner city schools for their after school programs. A car would not have the capacity to handle it. That's the story. I think my neighbors who drive humvees and Range Rovers are idiots. They don't need them and they sit in the garage most of the time.

Ok, so forget the brand of cars and their origin. I assumed all other manufacturers than american corporations made fuel efficient cars, and japanese cars are considered fuel efficient. Some french cars are considered safer than other cars.
There you have it.

And all because oil, and then necessarily petrol is scarce.

Oil is not particulary scare Paal. There are some mammoth deposits, larger than the persian gulf, up in Northern Siberia, the Yukon, and Northern Alaska. Due to peoples unwillingness to go get it, it remains untapped.
America has the capacity to bring up much more oil than we currently are. The limiting factor here is refinery space. Refineries are by necessity dirty, and some of the older ones pollute like crazy. Because of this, the U.S. government has made opening new refineries difficult, with the process usually taking north of 7 years. Back in the day when I was a student, I found out that the U.S. refinery Capability had increased at a rate much lower than the rate of oil fuels consumption.
A larger percentage of the U.S. refinery capability has found itself in the path of 2 cat 5 hurricanes, thus really hosing us here.
For consumption, my wife drives a 2000 Cavalier, and it gets north of 30 mpg. The newer "midget" cars as I like to call them (2 person coupes) get around 35-40 mpg.
I guess when it is cold out, I really don't like plugging cars in, because that costs ~$4 a day in electricity, I would rather buy the cheaper American cars that are winterized already and made for the snow and icy conditions.
Plus God only knows how much I love full sized pickup trucks. Guess I must be a redneck. [:p] MORE ON THIS LATE BREAKING STORY TO COME TOMORROW [:p]