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Listen Up, America: Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Oct 23 2007 by Kristin Varela
10/23/2007
Cars Aren't the Only Things Super-Sized in the U.S.
A trip to Milan had me wondering why everything is so much bigger in America than in Europe. Let's start with the size of the countries; the size of many European nations pales in comparison to U.S. states. Cappuccinos are much larger here, as are soft drinks from the local gas station, desserts (glad to be American for that one) and, most intriguing to me, cars.
I was shocked to see so many itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow-polka-dot little cars in Milan. OK, so I didn't actually see any yellow-polka-dot cars, but I did see plenty with stripes (well, bonnet stripes — with Mini Coopers and Smart Cars leading the trend). Where do these people put their children and car seats?
To get to the bottom of this international mystery of mythic proportions (I don't know what my daughter is thinking when she calls me a drama queen), I decided to interrogate the driver who took me from the airport to my hotel. Luigi — husband, father of three and professional transport driver (read: cabbie) — had this to say about cars in Europe (to give you the full flavor, imagine these words being spoken by a beautiful man with a thick, sexy Italian accent):
"Most-a European-a families have-a one big car that seats-a five to seven-a. They drive this in the country with their families-a. I have a Plymouth Voyager van." OK, that's not so sexy. I'll be dropping the accent now. "I love that American style," Luigi said. "But most Europeans also have one small car to drive to the city for work and park in the little spots."
I asked Luigi if the shrinking size of cars in Europe had anything to do with high gas prices, like we're suffering with in the U.S. And really, if I'm going to be completely transparent, I was also just trying to keep the conversation flowing so I could hear Luigi speak some more.
"Most people drive diesels here, and some drive natural-gas cars," he said. "The price for regular diesel is very similar to green [bio]diesel, so a lot of people use that."
Why don't Americans follow this logic? Do we think the big gas-guzzlers are our only option? Are we just not advanced enough to be using alternative fuels as much as Europeans? And as long as I'm ranting, why do we eat so much? I mean, occasionally, we even eat our cars. Might as well just strap some animal skin onto this Homo sapien and hand me a big hunk of wooly mammoth to roast for dinner. As long as we follow it up with tiramisu — and Luigi — I'm perfectly fine with it.
