Gas is about 8,60 US dollars per gallon in Germany.

[Smith_3]

And no one complains.

edit: ok, they do complain. But not like its the end of the world.

[dsc]

1. because gas isn't 8.60 us in germany

gas and taxes are 8.60 us and those taxes, among other things provide free cradle to grave health care.

[Bonobo]

4. Damn, that shut up the OP but fast.

[CatWoman]

34. and rightfully so

I get so sick of these half-assed, half-baked, ignornant comparisons.

[Smith_3]

5. True.

Although that it is on decline, unfortunately.

[Township75]

21. And part of what we pay goes to roads and such too.

I don't see the point.

[Bonobo]

25. Ha ha, roads vs. health care from cradle to grave! AND our roads suck.

[Fumesucker]

2. "And no one complains"

Hmm .. I always assumed that Germans were human..

Guess I was wrong about that.

[Beetwasher]

3. So move to Germany

if the "complaints" bother you so much.

[newfie11]

16. thank you i would love too

[CatWoman]

35. oooooooo

*SNAP*

:rofl:

:hi:

God, I love you!!! :)

[YDogg]

6. that does suck, but I cannot imagine nobody complains.

sure wish we had better mass transit options.

[gratuitous]

9. "Mass transit"?

What is this phrase you use? Is that some program for taking Catholics to Sunday service? We are unfamiliar with that term in America, where it's every citizen's right, nay duty, to drive to work every day no matter how near or how far one's place of employment is from one's residence. Riding with other people is creeping socialism, I tells ya!

[Karenina]

31. In my town, we have a long night of the museum.

They stay open till 3am and there are special busses that pick you up in your neighborhood and shuttle you around to ALL the hot spots. Fabulous exhibits EVERYWHERE!

I emigrated from "car central" and have NEVER regretted that decision. A 1 to 3 minute walk from my front door will grant me access to MASS TANSIT that will take me anywhere I want to go. My CA DL expired in 2000 and I don't miss it. Travels to the hinterland are "socialist" :evilgrin: affairs. We cooperate with each other! Mitfahr u.s.w.

[pitohui]

7. ever been to germany?

they have an incredible social safety net including health care, pensions, child care, education is valued...also an incredible level of public transportation and efficient train network

we have essentially no social safety net until age 65 and public transport doesn't exist in most of the usa

apples to oranges

if i never needed to own and operate a car, i wouldn't care what the price of gas was either

[newfie11]

18. yes I have 8 months ago. I was VERY impressed

[LiberalFighter]

29. I wonder how many mpg they get with their vehicles...

How much traveling they do on average with their vehicles. How many gallons they use on average per month.

Besides an efficient train system are bicycles used more than in the US?

[Clovis Sangrail]

8. questions:

how much do the average German and US citizens drive each year?
how much of that driving in necessary (ie: to get to work, no public transport, etc. etc.)
how much of their income goes to pay for transportation?

Makes a big difference.
That's not to say Americans shouldn't drive less, but we live in a large country with an (overall) abysmal public transport system.

[Diclotican]

17. Clovis Sangrail

Clovis Sangrail

Yes US IS a big country, with big petrol gazing cars.. I would bet that the average US made care, use twice the average of what german made care use, on a regular basis.. If you would mind, build less expensive, less fuel gausling cars. Then the US auto manufactures even come into the european car industry again - One of the thing that almost killed the US car in Europe, was the high petrol prize, and the fact that even a medium sized american made car, use .80 or one liter pr mil. (1000m) When you can get a german made car, who using .43 - .34 pr Mil (again 1000m) (Volkswagen Polo) And you even have the lot of comfort you except from bigger cars.... Even Mercedes are using less petrol than the average US made car. And Mercedes have never been blamed for being inexpensive.. My father who love the Mercedes and have had it for many decades can testify for that.. And yes he have also had american made car...

Germany is one of the biggest country's in Western Europe. I guess France is just a tod bigger than Germany in zise.

And for the record. I'm living in a small country, and if you live outside the big cities the collective transport can be far from hopefully wanted. And there you _need_ a car. And you pay true you nose in different taxes, and then on top of that, you pay for one of the most expensive petrol in Europe, if not in the world.. And we are producing the stuff that is made to petrol...

We all complain about the expensive petrol. And we should do it also. But we can't exactly do something about it... Well we can drive less.. But what is the fun about that?

And even then, US are complaining about US 3.80, and maybe 4 dollar a gallon.. When we on this side of the pound, are used to 5-8 dollar a liter.. You have a Long way to really need to complain about how expencive the car is....

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[Clovis Sangrail]

38. the American auto industry has so screwed our market

that the best we get is a handful of cars that can maybe get 50mpg.
Most of the cars on the road get below 30.

The technology to make more efficient cars obviously exists but we don't get it. :grr:

Gas prices in the US are pretty low compared to a lot of the world, but because of the lack of transportation infrastructure, longer distances, etc. etc. I wonder if the percentage of monthly income that the average worker pays out for gas might be the same or higher.
Most Europeans I've known have been shocked at how much and how far people here drive.
For close to 2 years my commute was 750 miles/week (which is uncommonly long)... when it shrank to 200 miles/week (which isn't uncommon) I was thrilled.

More efficient cars, public transportation infrastructure, and intelligent layout of cities would definitely help.
As would people not moving out into the stix and driving so far to work... unfortunately, for many people the only places they can afford to move into require a hefty commute with no public transportation.

[MindPilot]

10. if I was allowed to drive like I had a destination, I'd happily pay 8.60

[nebenaube]

11. yeah, no one complains

That's because every thing they need in their environment (home, work, food, shopping, entertainment) is closer together; they prefer bicycles and use buses, street cars and trains to get around for any major distance. The car is for 'Limo' occasions or emergencies.

[bean fidhleir]

15. "The car is for 'Limo' occasions or emergencies."

I suppose taking Oma and Opa out for their "Sonntagsspaß" could qualify as a "limo occasion", now that I come to think about it. :)

[Squatch]

30. We usually walked with Oma

She just died last month at 98 years old. :( She finally went into assisted living about 3 years ago, and up until that point, she usually walked daily...to buy groceries, etc.

Nothing, my friend, beat going to her flat on weekends for Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmuß. I can still remember the smell of those things cooking in fresh butter. My brother and I would gobble those things up while watching 1. Bundesliga soccer games all day.

Damn, I miss those days. :(

[bean fidhleir]

36. Herzliches Mitgefühl :-(

Wenigstens Deine Oma hat ja eine lange, gesunde Lebensdauer besitzt.

[Squatch]

12. I left Germany when I was 23...

and all that time, I never felt the need to buy a car. Whenever my friends and I wanted to do a road trip, we just rented a car for that short time, and that was it.

It wasn't until I moved to the US that I actually felt compelled to buy a car. There are simply no other options. You actually need a car in this place.

As for the fuel prices in Germany, $8+ is no big deal when you can do 100 mph and still get over 50 mpg.

This is a picture I took while driving a VW Passat 2.0 TDi near Memmingen in southern Germany.

As you can see, I'm doing a little over 100 mph at 3000 RPM and utilizing 4.6 liters/100km. That equates to approximately 50 miles per gallon.

[Deja Q]

14. Quite. While driving is a privilege,

many in the internet misconstrue what defines "privilege". I see "privilege" as:
* do not drive intoxicated
* do not play games like "chicken" against other drivers
* do not run over pedestrians, but they should be cognizant of cars too
* respect the traffic lights
* know what the signs mean and obey them
* Keep the car's external lighting systems operational at all times. I've encountered plenty of cars where the owners "forget" to check the rear brake lights, even the third middle light and the first time I encountered such a babboon, I nearly hit him. It's illegal, to the best of my current knowledge, to run a car without functioning lights.
* use the turn signals

In which case, 90+% of Americans are guilty of deliberately disobeying traffic laws. Accidental issues are another matter, but I've driven enough in the past to make some loud statements about people who should be called "animals".

[Codedonkey]

20. Depends on where ya are in the US though...

One can easily get by without a car in Portland, Oregon area and even in NYC. Well, at least I know I did... Although I guess if I wanted to leave those limited geographical areas then I had some problems....


:D That must be fun to drive on there... Ever get some a-hole who wanted to go slow though? Or is that illegal on there?

[Squatch]

24. Left-lane hogs are much less common over there.

The standard MO is clear, signal, pass, return to right lane. Now, that is not to say that people can choose some very inopportune times to pass, like big trucks (that are limited to 80km/hr top speed) pulling into left lanes on the autobahn while driving uphill. :mad:

But, you've got GREAT stretches of autobahn (especially in the Alps) that are an absolute thrill to drive at ass-on-fire speeds, like in the picture above. That car is a freaking station wagon with a tiny 2.0 liter engine, but it was faaaast and economical.

[B Calm]

33. I just watched on the History channel a show about the autobahn. It's

the law if you're not passing someone, you have to be in the slow lane. Here we have speed laws and I agree left lane hogs can cause road rage. To our advantage, most left lane hogs are breaking the posted speed limit. If you want to break the law too, stay a couple car lengths behind him, but stay in the right lane. 99% of the time a cop will give the speeding ticket to the guy in the left lane. Use the left lane hog as bear bait.

[Ikonoklast]

13. I'll take thirty paid vacation days right off the bat

Even for new hires.
I'll take paid-for health care.
I'll take a government that is going green in such a way as to be the envy of the industrialized world, and is setting the bar for others to follow.

I could go on for a while here, but you gave me nothing to work with, except the 'Europeans Pay High Taxes So Don't Bitch' crap.

Been to Europe....they are laughing at us.

[Diclotican]

19. Ikonoklast

Ikonoklast

More to the point. We are shaking of lafter, when you complain about how much petrol cost - and we look at it. And se it is even today half what the average is in Europe.... And even then, the regular american are almost up in arms in anger about the situation.. I for one are not feeling very sorry about the little problem US have there :evilgrin: Even that I know many, many american are in deep trouble because they are very needing the dam car... For all their needs

The US as a large, is spoiled when it come to cheap petrol, and we are all shocked to se how much american indeed use the car.. In many european country you seldom drive from door to door. And prefer to walk the distance if it is not for long then.. And if it is to long to walk, you can always get the bike, or take the bus... If you are not fancy take the car with all the huddles you get then..

Now, when the petrol prise in US are going up true the roof, you would get a shock. Petrol are not free, it is not cheap. In fact it is expensive to come by. Even regular (95 Octane). And if you own a car, who use 1 liter pr mil (1000m) you would very often experience that it is costly...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[alarimer]

22. It's much worse here because we are so car-dependent.

Unlike most of Europe. And most of our food is trucked in from thousands of mikes away, using copious amounts of gas or diesel, which also raises the price of food astronomically. In Europe things are much closer together. Nothing needs to be trucked in from a continent away. High gas prices hurt our economy far more than they hurt Europe's economy. A large part of the price of gas in Germany is taxes, which go to public services. Hell, I'd gladly pay 8 dollars a gallon if I could work 35 hours a week like in France and have excellent public transportation like just about everywhere in Europe.

We are complaining because most of us cannot afford it AND have no alternative.

[Ikonoklast]

26. My sister and BIL live in Valencia, Spain

When there we were able to walk everywhere, and if too far, had public transportation that could take us very close to where we wanted to go.

We took the train to Madrid, as it was far cheaper than driving.

Very few places in the U.S. where I can say that can happen.

[Fumesucker]

28. But Americans pay a lot more for petrol than you think..

A lot of the price is hidden in the military budget which is more than the rest of the world spends combined.

We pay the high price and get nothing in return.. We still have to pay outrageous medical insurance costs and then when we get sick the insurance company denies your coverage.

Where I live in the US it is too hot and humid to ride a bicycle for about seven months out of the year.. I have a 24 speed mountain bike and by the time I'm 200 meters from my door I'm drenched with sweat.

For the great majority of Americans there is no public transportation whatsoever. There simply is no practical alternative to owning and driving a car, there are no sidewalks, no bike paths and a lot of places not even any shoulders on the road. Riding a bicycle in many places in the US is very close to being a death sentence.

[Ilsa]

32. I live in south Texas. Today will be one of the last days for a

comfortable bike trip to the store. And that is if I'm not getting frozen goods. We just had a cool front blow through to extend the spring like weather. It'll be 90+ degrees in two days.

Our little city is not pedestrian or bicycle-friendly. Drivers have no respect for people on foot or bike, and most areas in town have no sidewalks, let alone biking lanes.

People here are going to have to go broke driving their gas hogs.

[Township75]

23. Because they refused to become slaves to their cars

and worship them, and base their status on them. NO wonder the don't complain.

[MadHound]

27. Yes, and Germany has access to a fine, comprehensive mass transit system,

Not to mention access to cars that get sixty mpg. Oh, and geographically speaking, Germany is about half the size of Texas.

[iamthebandfanman]

37. let see

their country is the size of roughly one of our states....


u cant compare small countries where people can use mass trans and bikes easily for long distance traveling.

we are a large and dispursed country here in the united states, so we drive more than they do.