"Thomas Schäfer" > wrote in message
...
> Our "hippie car" is the even smaller Citroen 2CV, we call it "Ente"
(duck).
> But today, we prefer useful cars like hatchbacks, station wagons,
> small vans...
> The Beetle is too small (inside) and expensive, the bigger and
> cheaper Golf (with the same technology) is #1 in Europe.

The Golf's availability in the US is not great. Sure, you can order one
from the factory, but dealers don't keep alot of them on their lots. I
wanted to get a Golf, but I also needed a car quickly, so I got the small
diesel station wagon. Hatchbacks in the US are harder to find, just the
opposite of Europe.

> And with gas prives about 1.50 $ / liter there are more 3-cylinder
> engines on the street as 8 cylinders. Common is 4 cylinders with
> about 1.5 liter displacement.

Most small car engines in the US are around 2.3 liters; Chevy Cobalt,
Ford Focus, etc. That's alot bigger.
There are some cars like the Scion or the Toyota Echo with small engines;
they are using a totally different marketting strategy than a "traditional"
car. The Toyota and Honda engines also are alot more efficient than the
engines American automakers are putting into their compact cars; the most
fuel efficient cars in the US are either Japanese or German.