Europe is certainly in a different car place than the US is. Though we are starting to see the SUV thing gain some popularity, there's just no chance it will catch on like the way it has stateside for several reasons. Fuel being 2-3X more expensive being one of them. Much higher road taxes, often based on vehicle or engine size, or emissions(our Volvo V50 was €636/yr road tax - the 1.5L Diesel Renault is €280/yr). Insurance being another. And the roads being the most likely reason.
These are typical city center parking places(Amsterdam in this instance):
That Renault there is half the size of our Laguna. It prolly gets insane mileage, but mroe importantly, it fits everywhere. Europeans simply do not travel the distances Americans do. There's really no need for a cruiser for most folks; though some countryfiles from France, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Germany would definitely disagree - but they buy a different car.
SOme in the country, like a friend of mine here in Tipperary, will buy things like Defenders etc:
That thing is still smaller than most SUV's in the states, definitely larger than the SUV across the road from it, and as you can see, it looms large on the relatively small streets of the town of Clonmel there. Also - wow, a public telephone!
And again - this is one of the main roads in to the center of KIllkenny to give you an idea of how tight it is:
Yer not gonna squeeze a Suburban into that space, at least not and allow other traffic to pass.
Here's some cars you guys might be familiar with - the smallest series Audi and BMW here(1 series beemer, and A3 Audi) to give you an idea what one lane roads look like in Killkenny:
Here's a little B-series Benz with that ubiquotous 1.5L turbo diesel:
Here I am out in the Deise of Waterford, in the mountains, with my old VW Polo. It's about 85% the size of a Golf, and they tend to be mroe stripped down, so weigh a lot less. This thing had a 1L petro engine. 1,000cc's! It was a bit of fun and got great mileage, but it struggled up there in the mountains.
Here's the Bray seafront not far from my wife's pad. Tat's a 3 or 4 series Beemer up front, a Peugeot 205 behind it, yet another Qashqai behind that, and that looks like a Renault Laguna in the back there in red.
Here's an older A-series Benz in Howth:
Yup - 1.5L diesel.
A gorgeous Defender just a bit further up the hill from the last pic:
The car that barely fits in the road there passing by(and this is a two way lane) is a Nissan Qashqai - they are ubiquitous, like every where in EUrope, and most will have that 1.5L Diesel(as they would - Nissan developed it in conjuction with Renault).
How ubiquitous are they?
I assumed when I saw this tiny thumbnail on my server that it was most likely a Qashqai - and of course it was:
Here it is opposite a VW Golf in an alley in Dublin:
They are crossovers. But since there are relatively few true SUV's here in Europe, most don't know what they are crossing over to, so most just call them SUV's.
A family member's old Peugeot 205 GTI turbo. He was in a life changing accident in it, so it' sat here since as a reminder:
A tiny Citroen C2:
A FIAT Punto that's seen better days in Lagos, Portugal:
ANd a Rat in Madeira, POrtugal:
