Why do Americans buy oversized cars?

But Kennedy also believes Americans buy larger cars because the nation’s roads and highway system have grown large enough to accommodate them, which isn’t always the case overseas. “In Europe and other areas there are very old infrastructure and small streets in five- to seven-hundred-year-old cities,” said Kennedy.

Why do American cars have low power?

1. American pushrod engines generally have lower redlines than overhead cam engines. Horsepower is proportional to torque multiplied by rpm, so if you can rev your engine higher and still maintain torque, you can produce more power. The limiting factor to how fast an engine can rev is usually the valvetrain.

Why are European cars smaller than American cars?

The price of gasoline and diesel is much higher in Europe. This means that people seek to buy highly fuel-efficient vehicles – which of course tend to be much smaller. In fact, with fuel efficiency, the smaller, the better.

Why are American engines so big?

Decades ago, it decided on a policy of taxing motor fuel heavily. The consequence was that only a handful of rich people could afford cars with high fuel consumption. Those are big and heavy which means they need huge engines to provide reasonable performance.

Is a 1 Litre car any good?

1.0-1.2 litres You’ll get a good fuel economy out of them, as the smaller capacity means less fuel is used. This is great if you mainly do a lot of stop/start driving, such as in a city where there are lots of traffic lights, or if you usually make short journeys.

Why are SUVs not used in urban settings?

The simple truth is a majority of SUVs in the USA are used in urban settings. Because SUVs have barn door aero dynamics, less responsive handling and larger parking footprints, they seem like the wrong type of vehicle for daily urban use.

Is vehicle design more important than sheer mass?

It should be noted that there is a wide disparity among small cars like the front-of-the-pack Jetta and Civic and the relatively risky Ford Escort and Dodge Neon, the bottom line is good vehicle design is more important that sheer mass in terms of occupant safety. The full report can be found at: http://www.aceee.org/pubs/t021full.pdf

Are SUVs really that bad to drive?

Lots of people drive SUVs in urban areas, but it seems most are in denial that SUVs are boxy inefficient vehicles, which are expensive to operate and insure and are potential accidents waiting to happen.

Are more SUVs being used as daily commuters?

As more SUV and light trucks are being purchased, more SUVs are used as daily commuters and driven solo. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is something from Sweatybutcher.com which depicts an xssive suv, stuck in urban traffic.