A couple of weeks ago in France I paid $9.97 for a gallon of gas. Yesterday, in London, I spent $10.14 for a gallon of diesel. Filling the tank of the Mercedes-Benz C220 CDI I'm driving at the moment cost me more than $156. Good thing it's a diesel, and a full tank will take me at least 500 miles around town, and more than 600 miles on the freeway.
After more than a month in Europe, living with stratospheric gas prices, my automotive brain has been recalibrated: Suddenly, small is beautiful and frugal is fabulous. And I've discovered you don't need 500 hp, a rumbling V-8, or extravagant sheetmetal to make an impression. Small cars don't have to be boring.
We Americans already get the Mini Cooper (though not the 57.4-mpg, 108-hp diesel-powered Cooper D), the BMW 1 Series (but only with six-cylinder gas engines instead of the fours and diesels Europeans are offered) and the Smart. Ford is bringing us the Fiesta, GM the Chevy Cruze (replacing the Cobalt), and Chrysler is working on a joint venture car with Nissan. But we're missing out on some stylish, quirky, and interesting rides that go a long way on little gas.
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