I would say about 75% or more of cars are diesel! WOW. Every model of everything you can think of... and tons more models than we have. Lots of cool little A series Benz's and smaller VW's that we don't have around here. Also all sorts of cool looking light trucks. Saw a CJ Jeep with a diesel. a 4x4 Sprinter van. 1 of my favorites is the TDI 4 motion (awd) Golf. Can't remember what else at the moment.

I also like the VW Polo (read recently this can get 73 MPG ? with the TDI). Of course many more brands than we have... Renault, Citroen, Peugot. We rented some tiny Peugot 106 that unfortunately had a gasser. I didn't hand calculate the mileage but it went 200 km's before the fuel gauge moved.

Also noticed 99% of big trucks are cab overs and many have triple axles with single wheels. Noticed circle stickers on the back that say... 60 80 90 was curious as to what those mean? And curious as to why they all run cab overs?

Also EVERYONEs got a Motor scooter around there. Pretty cool. Almost makes me want to get one of those little Honda toys to run errands.

 

The circle with the 60 80 or 90 in is the max vehicle speed (km/hr) allowed for certain roads- leftmost is rural road, center is premium grade road and right is highway speed.

We run cabovers for two reasons- max length of the turuck with trailer is limited and on ferries you pay per load meter. So it's more economical to use the length of the hood for cargo space. The only non-cabovers you see are for goods that are so heavy that they don't require full length.

HTH

AlpineRAM

 

Did you notice that diesel prices are rock bottom as compared to gasoline? Also, they offer Biodiesel about 20% less than standard diesel. Wonder what political dynamics we have to indure for our leaders to ignore the benefit that such a policy would have on our economy.

 

Probably has something to do with their wallets and bank accounts???

 

Rock bottom prices? I thought a gallon of diesel in France is about $5 US dollars??

MikeyB

 

Did you notice the French smell, are rude, full of themselves, and their women don't shave?

 

Add obese and sweaty to that and you have your typical midwestern women. I think French women are hot, in better shape, friendlier and far less self righteous than women here in the states. Not including mine.

That $5 a gallon pays for thier excellent public transportation that reduces their depency on foreign oil. While in Washington DC twice in the past two weeks via Amtrak, we found that we could go just about anywhere we needed to go by using their metro rail and a short walk. What a concept! Good exercise and no car to park or fight the traffic with. On our next trip to Washington DC, we plan to take the Acela to NYC and use their subways and never ending bus service to get around. The average hairy legged French gal actually spends less on fuel even though it's $2 more a gallon than the average obese babe here. And she gets more needed exercise than our women here with their big ol' fat lilly white with purple veins shaved legs. I kinda like the concept myself and wish we had more of it here instead of just empty lip service about our addiction to oil.

 

Howd we go from diesel cars and cab overs to French women so early in a thread?

Rich.

 

I would also think that the narrow streets in some towns would make the shorter cab-over easier to manipulate.

 

Uhh, that would be Geico's fault. I'm not sure anymore who is being influenced by the other one more.... Begle or Geico

That would be my take also. Europe is much more condensed than we are and manueverability is key for big trucks in tiny places. I recall reading somewhere that certain COE (C.ab O.ver E.ngine) designs afford about a 6' tighter turning radius.

 

Politcal discussions are not permitted on this site. Keep it up and the thread gets locked. This is your first and last warning.

 

I drive what you guys call a cabover.The maximum lenght of a standard articulated truck is 16.5 metres with a maximum trailer lenght of 13.5 metres.My trailer has three axles rated at 8 tonnes,the tractor units drive axle is rated at 11tonnes and the front axle is 7.1tonnes and I can go to a maximum 40 tonnes gross.This do`sent leave a lot of tolerance on axle weights and the UK is probaly one of the stictest countries on weights enforcement in the EU.You will see lots of small diesel cars over here because of the high fuel costs, diesel is about 6.5 dollars a gallon in the UK.

 

Well the total length limit was imposed so that street planning has some base for turning radius etc. The freight carriers want to have as much volume as posible on the length so they prefer to eliminate the cowl. (Won't pay even though it's driven around)
The turning radius of some of our big trucks still amazes me- some drivers d really jackknife them to turn in tight spots- and untangle that mess without any problem

Well, before I was married I was quite partial to French women-- oh well at least one of them.. and she had shaved legs etc. Really nice but too much of a long distance relationship.

About fuel consumption and walking etc- My observation when being in the US was that everything is much further apart- eg at home in the village where I live now I can get all my groceries within 10-20 minutes by foot. Going to my favourite cafe takes me about 3 minutes of walking- the list goes on. In many cases in the bigger towns it's probable that if you go by car the parking space is going to be further away from your destination than the walking distance to the bus stop and then from the bus stop to the destination- combine this with attractive prices for public transport (compared to fuel prices over here) and you have very good reasons for a little walk and bus

AlpineRAM

 

That's the biggest problem with mass transit in the US. Some of you guys in the mid-west have driveways so long it takes a hour to walk down to the mailbox!

If you haven't noticed though, a lot of the new construction in the citie and suburbs are going to a more New York approach to planning, with living quarters being built above commercial and retail space. Los Angeles is doing a lot of this and I saw some going on in downtown San Diego. They are even doing this here in Rancho Cucamonga.

 

hey wanna.please dont lock it.it gave me a good laugh.personally i think beauty is in the eyes of the beerholder