Re: [DML] British Motoring versus American Motoring

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1) Average age of cars in USA: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/03/average-age-of-vehicles-in-the-us-highest-in-15-years/1
Average age of cars in UK: http://www.motor-trade-insider.com/index.php/2010/07/average-age-of-cars-on-uk-roads-increases/
I was off by one year.

2) British gallon versus US gallon: http://www.asknumbers.com/GallonsToOuncesConversion.aspx
MPG reduction due to ethanol: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml

3)British petrol is currently running about 1.35 pounds per liter, exchange rate is ~$1.70 per pound sterling: 1.35*1.7*3.79=8.698

4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeGGbaEJGHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJhO8W3rgm8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDNPuHjDp0w
Etc...

5) http://www.rsma.co.uk/index.php/news/press-releases/3-driving-without-a-clue.html

6) My British relatives confirmed not only that there are no credit card pumps, but also that there are no latching pump handles either. I certainly did not encounter either. Both are standard over here (how do Brits buy gas in the middle of the night?)

7) See #4

8) http://ask.metafilter.com/202150/American-Roads-are-more-dangerous-that-British-Roads (discussion following original post)

9) I saw less than a dozen Navara's (Frontiers) and Rangers, but that's it. Certainly nothing comparable to a 1/2 ton pickup, which is ubiquitous over here (the F-150 has been the best selling American vehicle of any type, including passenger cars, for more than a quarter century: http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=31720)

Bill Robertson
#5939

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Kevin Abato <delorean@...> wrote:
>
> This is bias and inaccurate on so many levels, i won't even bother to
> document it.
> 
> Kevin Abato
> vin# 16680
> On Jan 13, 2012 10:43 PM, "content22207" <brobertson@...> wrote:
> 
> > I've just returned from a 1,600 mile whirlwind driving tour of Great
> > Britain, during which I observed several differences that account for much
> > of the online confusion between American DML users and British DML users:
> >e
> > 1) Whereas Americans hold on to cars for an average of more than 10 years
> > now, British automobiles more than 5 or 6 years old are quite rare (cars
> > with visible body damage, especially rust damage, are even rarer). British
> > cars also accumulate fewer miles than American cars. It is basically a
> > country of recently manufactured low mileage automobiles.
> >
> > 2) British MPG calculations need to be reduced 20% to yield comparable
> > American equivalents (the British gallon is 160 oz). The Brits also don't
> > adulterate their gas with grain alcohol, which reduces MPG at least 5%
> > further.
> >
> > 3) British gas currently costs about $8.70 per US gallon.
> >
> > 4) The curviness (and hilliness) of British roads is indescribable. They
> > are 10 times worse than West Virginian roads. No joke -- plan on averaging
> > 35 MPH (you are continually accelerating and braking at intervals often
> > measured in fractions of a second). Their Motorways are more or less
> > comparable to Interstate highways, but they only cover a small fraction of
> > an already small country.
> >
> > 5) British road signage is less than inadequate.
> >
> > 6) Brits have yet to discover pay at the pump.
> >
> > 7) Run flat tires must have been developed for British use, because their
> > roads have no shoulders whatsoever (9 times out of 10 the pavement is
> > bordered by a stone wall, or it just drops off the side of a cliff (or into
> > a lake/loch).
> >
> > 8) A sign on the A5092 advertises 740 deaths in the past 5 years, which is
> > pretty phenomenal for a 10 mile stretch of pavement, so I looked up British
> > road fatalities per 1,000 square miles (20.5) versus US road fatalities per
> > 1,000 miles (8.64). Given the comparatively shorter distances Brits drive,
> > they are slaughtering themselves on their roads at a frightening pace.
> >
> > 9) Brits do not drive pickup trucks.
> >
> > I'm sure I could think of more, but jet lag is kicking my butt, so I am
> > going to bed. Bottom line: until British DML users come over here and
> > experience American motoring first hand, of course everything we do on this
> > side of the pond is going to seem weird and inexplicable.
> >
> > Bill Robertson
> > #5939
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
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> >
> > For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see
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> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>




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