Just made a trip to PC World for some urgent supplies that I couldn't wait to get from my usual on-line supplier. As I came out of the store, what turned out to be two American tourists approached me...asking if I knew how to undo the 'petrol cap' on their hire car. They'd just driven down from 'BURR-MING-HAM' and had unsuccessfully tried to fuel up but couldn't get the cap off. I would point out they were elderly but very nice people and the gentleman could clearly handle a 'stick shift''. We walked to the car, a Skoda 1422cc TDI just like mine, even in the same colour. He said "here it is" it was the estate level 2 trim with side rubbing strips, mudflaps and a lovely shine to the paint, again just like mine. It was at that point I thought I should point out, IT WAS MINE! He was shocked at first but then remembered he had parked in the next row. We went to his car, indeed it was the same as mine but without the extras. He showed me the problem and I quickly acquainted him with the proper technique for which he was truly grateful. Anyhoo, at this point he and his wife were telling me about their trip and how much they enjoyed not being shot at by the local thugs in their own neighbourhood in the states (yes, they were being serious). "Great" I said "that can really spoil your day I expect", He said "it's not so bad, you get used to it"!!

So, I thought I should remind him that this hire car was in fact a diesel engine vehicle (a 10 plate and surely the last 3 cyl PD sold!), of which he knew nothing about. To cut a long story short I told him he must fill up with diesel fuel NOT petrol. Don't know who the hire firm was but must have been a small concern I would guess to be hiring a car that was registered in 2010. He then told me there was something wrong with the trip computer as the fuel consumption was showing at 71mpg "which is impossible" he said. "So that must mean I can't rely on the fuel gauge either" he said. I took a look, and sure enough it said something like 71.6mpg for his trip down from Burr-Ming-Ham. So I told him straight, that there was nothing wrong and that is the actual figure he is getting to the gallon, give or take a tiny bit. He was astonished and told me his car in the States had a 3.2litre V6 auto tranny in it and was roughly the same size as the Skoda, maybe just a little bigger, but only managed 22mpg on a trip and 16mpg around town. Yet he said the performance didn't seem much different. He was staggered. He said, "you europeans have made such automotive advances. So these diesels or whatever they are called, can you get them in the States"? "Wait till I tell the guys back home, they won't believe me" he said.

Surely, we owe it to the Americans to educate them about diesels don't we? (and yeah, maybe some other stuff too). It's clear that in many parts of the States diesels don't feature much at all. Indeed I have family over there and they tell me there are simply no diesel cars on sale in the vast entirety of where they live.

PS. I'm in no way poking fun at the Americans. But I have to say I'm surprised the Americans are not leading the way with diesel development in cars. Think how much longer the worlds oil supply would last if they were.

Great story In many ways Americans like to do things their way which I totally respect but in many cases the philosophy that "bigger is better" is not always the answer to everything.

hi estateman, i was in the states a couple of years ago hire car was a buick century comfy as hell had something like a 3 litre v6 petrol auto my little 1.4 tdi would have left it standing,comfy i that i was on a yaght 76p a gallon when i was there

Our gallons are 20% bigger than theirs so that will also go some way to explaining his astonishment

Yeah, the Americans haven't really "got" the idea of diesels and they usually appear only in commercial vehicles and big pick-ups. Even then they prefer a petrol V8. VW/Audi has tried for ages to get a foothold with diesel and it's only just starting to make progress.

When we visited Canada many years back, we loaned a Pontiac Grand Prix, 3.2 litre petrol auto, it was really smooth, a great cruiser, had no handling whatsoever . It didn't seem too bad on fuel, but it was much thirstier than our UK car. I looked it up when we got back and found that it produced only about 170bhp.

Their engines are so strangled with emissions restrictions that they would hardly work at all unless they are big capacity :S

Petrol was cheap though, the Canadians were complaining that fuel had gone up and that it was really expensive now. We explained how much we pay in the UK and they went pale and stopped talking.

Edited 8 September, 201114 yr by Mike Wrightson

If petrol was as cheap here then I think to be honest I would also snub diesel and be driving everywhere in a thumping great V8!!!

I lived in the USA for three years........diesels are for trucks only!!! Cars should have big basic pushrod engines..."there ain't no substitute for cubic inches.....boy" as they say!!! Ohhh ...I nearly forgot......if they in the USA had to abide by our emmissions regs, fuel consumption etc they would throw a hissy fit.........various politicans have tried and failed.....it is like a written amendment "the right to bare arms...the right to use up a much fuel as posiable"..........idiots!!!!

We walked to the car, a Skoda 1422cc TDI just like mine, even in the same colour. He said "here it is" it was the estate level 2 trim with side rubbing strips, mudflaps and a lovely shine to the paint, again just like mine. It was at that point I thought I should point out, IT WAS MINE! He was shocked at first but then remembered he had parked in the next row.

You did make sure he was driving on the left hand side of the road and not the right didn't you....? :|

I lived in the USA for three years........diesels are for trucks only!!! Cars should have big basic pushrod engines..."there ain't no substitute for cubic inches.....boy" as they say!!! Ohhh ...I nearly forgot......if they in the USA had to abide by our emmissions regs, fuel consumption etc they would throw a hissy fit.........various politicans have tried and failed.....it is like a written amendment "the right to bare arms...the right to use up a much fuel as posiable"..........idiots!!!!

Sounds about right. The US has about 5% of the worlds population consuming about 25% of the worlds electricity. Mind you, without A/C some states would be almot uninhabitable.

Don't forget in quite a few states including California and Washington diesel fuel for passenger cars is banned

I'll bet that if they looked at the situation again concerning diesel fuel and the modern car in those states, they'd change their minds.

Modern diesel cars are less polluting than petrol

The Americans find it hard to believe there are cars that can do more than 30mpg. When I was recently out there I had an economy hire car that was a 3.5ltr Dodge Charger! When I told them the Monte Carlo would do 60+ mpg they all thought I was kidding, most of them asked if it was a hybrid!! They have just started to get the Golf and Audi TDI's there, unfortunately I spoke to a dealer over there and they said due to American regulations they have had to make them only get 40mpg max for some stupid reason. I mean, they have a car that can do way more than that and they have to make it less economical so as to not stand out. Unbelievable! I guess they do it as overnight it would kill the US domestic car brands as most of them struggle to get half that mpg

The Americans find it hard to believe there are cars that can do more than 30mpg. When I was recently out there I had an economy hire car that was a 3.5ltr Dodge Charger! When I told them the Monte Carlo would do 60+ mpg they all thought I was kidding, most of them asked if it was a hybrid!! They have just started to get the Golf and Audi TDI's there, unfortunately I spoke to a dealer over there

and they said due to American regulations they have had to make them only get 40mpg max for some stupid reason. I mean, they have a car that can do way more than that and they have to make it less economical so as to not

stand out. Unbelievable! I guess they do it as overnight it would kill the US domestic car brands as most of them struggle to get half that mpg

Aye would definatly destroy the USA car production over night, but you can tell which ones have come to Europe on vacation( holidays to us ) when they get home to the USNAi ( borat speak) they go buy themselves one of those commi cars they sell on the other side of the pond

Great little story. I travel to the USA 4 times a year normally, hire all sorts of cars from Hertz and what ever i end up with, often get around 25 mpg or less.

I would have thought these days as stated, they would do something to increase the MPG in the USA....

I think the problem is that American society is a very insular one because it's so vast. My relatives in the states know little of what goes on in the rest of the world, news programs consist largely of internal affairs only, newspapers are largely the same too unless you live in New York or Washington. Americans generally really don't know what goes on in the rest of the world and live in the belief that they lead the world in everything. Of course, is some areas they do! But motor vehicles isn't one of them. The American motor industry is not evolving or leading the way, it is lazy and happy to keep supplying outdated motors. They make very big thirsty engined cars in the belief they are better than a smaller engined car. Gotta say the quality of some their cars is quite appalling too compared to European standards and Americans put up with it for some reason.

These days you just don't need those big engines, which incidentally don't last any longer than European ones, particularly when compared to diesels. For example, Mercedes now make a brilliant 4 cylinder 2.1 diesel engine putting out 204bhp with 500nm of torque. It's appearing in some of their road cars now and is getting rave reviews. It goes like a 4 & 5 litre petrol engined car but is limited to 150mph over here in the uk. Acceleration is very quick indeed with instant throttle response and the mpg is fantastic too. There are many other fine diesels on the market that go like very large engined cars but with marvellous fuel economy. As Seb points out above, diesels run as clean or cleaner than many petrol engines and with huge CO2 reductions over petrol. The old saying that "there is no substitute for cubes" isn't quite true anymore and hasn't been for some time. It's all very interesting!

Edit: just to add...look at the marvellous 1.2TSI engine. Who would think it was a 1200cc unit when driving it. It gives similar performance to a 2 litre petrol car (normally aspirated).

Edited 9 September, 201114 yr by Estate Man

A friend in the US has just literally picked up a brand new 1M. It's absolutely amazing, tiny and generates an unbelievable sound. They are extremely pleased as they are getting around 25mpg from a 345bhp rocket. The dodge charger I had there only managed to scrape 24mpg (US gallons), it was literally twice the length of most European cars. Also, WTF is it with all their cars being auto. What a waste of larger cc engines.

Also, WTF is it with all their cars being auto. What a waste of larger cc engines.

Don't know for certain....but I think it was easier to engineer the car as the "Stick" is column mounted leaving the front clear for a 3 seat bench.........also easier for the use of cruse control........as time has moved on they have not and continue to still use the same old even tho the fronts of most new cars have two seperate seats!!!

P.s. Mainly started from the fact that they don't have many bends in their roads....all straight and long and boring!!!!!!......so why require a manual?????

Edit: just to add...look at the marvellous 1.2TSI engine. Who would think it was a 1200cc unit when driving it. It gives similar performance to a 2 litre petrol car (normally aspirated).

Even more astonishing : watch the 1.4 Bi-TSi engine... who would think that it is a 1390 cc unit when you drive that?

Out off the box, it give the similar performance off a 3 liter v6 but with the consumption off a... well, a 1.4 liter 4-banger!

I had a similar problem (in reverse) in fuelling up an Amercan car back in the 70s . Couldn't find the filler flap . An American at the other side of the pump enquired what my problem was - he showed me that the rear number plate was on a hinge and when tilted revealed the hidden gas filler cap !

Had a work collegue in same period that had a flat tyre in the USA and he tried to use the "tyre jack" under the sill . He put 3 large dents in the sill before managing to change the wheel. When he came back to the office and related his problem with the jack we all fell about laughing. When we showed him how the jack fitted into the bumper jacking point he started to laugh as well ! We never did find out what the hire Co. said about the dents !

Edited 10 September, 201114 yr by vwcabriolet1971

I had a similar problem (in reverse) in fuelling up an Amercan car back in the 70s . Couldn't find the filler flap . An American at the other side of the pump enquired what my problem was - he showed me that the rear number plate was on a hinge and when tilted revealed the hidden gas filler cap !

Takes me back to my youth and my old Corsairs!