Got back from Europe

[d.delano]

Amsterdam specifically, and you know that statistic stating 50% of the vehicles on the road in Europe are diesels? Well it's more like 85% in the Netherlands. More clackin' going on there than everybody thinks. And there are lovely choices too, not just VWs and MBs. NONE of the MBs I saw were gas. All of them- E and C class diesels. 300Cs were diesels. BMW 5 series, all diesel. Little Peugeot subcompact diesel cars, Fiats, SEATs, Citroens; all oil burners.
Funny thing though I saw a Dodge RAM extended crew cab right outside Amsterdam Centraal. HEMI. Wouldn't want to be trying to drive that along the canal streets. What a joke.

[R Leo]

I saw a Dodge RAM extended crew cab right outside Amsterdam Centraal

A couple of years ago we went to Australia and New Zealand.

We were traveling by long-haul bus up the west coast of the south island and stopped for a dinner break at a farming community (Murchison, I think). It was just after we'd traversed some of the narrowest highways and bridges I've ever seen (all on the wrong side of the road too!!!). We're unloading from the bus and, after three weeks of seeing and hearing nothing but small diesel delivery vans and trades utes, I hear the distinct rattle of a Ford Power Stroke Diesel enter the carpark from the opposite direction.

OMG! It was an F350...dualie! And, a RHD no less!!!

[michael cole]

did you notice how quiet the diesels there run?amsterdam is certainly a wonderful city.my wife and i visited there last year

[vox_incognita]

http://www.acea.be/ASB20/axidownloads20s.nsf/LookupFilesForLatestUpdates/D3D0E3E056E803B2C125702F004A7D11/$File/DIESEL-PC-90-05.pdf



http://www.acea.be/ASB20/axidownloads20s.nsf/Category0ACEA/F37D077DA54E80D3C125702F003ACFD7/$File/20040212PublicationsWhyDiesel.pdf

[Jorn]

It's funny that you shaw a Dodge pick-up truck in Adam, to own a truck like that is so expensive. You are taxed by weight and the size of the engine not to mention paying 6 dollars a gallon...

For a Hummer 1 you need a commercial drivers license in Holland, I know of one in Adam.

[d.delano]

Originally Posted by Jorn

It's funny that you shaw a Dodge pick-up truck in Adam, to own a truck like that is so expensive. You are taxed by weight and the size of the engine not to mention paying 6 dollars a gallon...

Perhaps the people were rich and that's their way of showing their wealth. That RAM looked so large compared to all the other vehicles in the scene, including the delivery trucks. I also saw a gold '79 Cadillac Eldorado convertible and the guy driving it was blasting country music. Saw a '83 Jeep Wagoneer and everyone knows what great mpg that vehicle gets.
Saw a few 123 diesels, but not many. Most I saw were VW Polos, an entirely appropriate car for the size of the streets there. Still I got the impression that most people prefer to drive vehicles that are too large for the streets. With the kind of congestion in Amsterdam even riding a bicycle scares me, and I commute via bike in DC every day.
Jorn I love your country, women on bicycles, all very tall with flowing hair and hot hot hot. Dutch men never seem to turn their heads, but I was delirious.

[Austin85]

Great place.. I will be there next month or 2.
First time I was there we were driven around in a nice passenger van, company owned, and it was alot bigger than the tiny compacts, but it was nice to have a chouffeur...

I would like to move there for summers and get a diesel scooter to run on Pommes Frites oil....!

[t walgamuth]

in 73, we were in a campground in italy and a winnebago drove in. it was just so huge (and by todays standards just a baby). it looked like a house on wheels.

we have stuff way too big here.

tom w

[Jorn]

Originally Posted by d.delano

Jorn I love your country, women on bicycles, all very tall with flowing hair and hot hot hot. Dutch men never seem to turn their heads, but I was delirious.

Even that the girls in California are pretty good looking, I do miss the Dutch girls, beautiful, tall, independent and most of them have a good head on there shoulders.

All cars older then 25 years are considerate classics and are tax exempt.

[greasybenz]

Originally Posted by d.delano

And there are lovely choices too, not just VWs and MBs. NONE of the MBs I saw were gas. All of them- E and C class diesels. 300Cs were diesels. BMW 5 series, all diesel. Little Peugeot subcompact diesel cars, Fiats, SEATs, Citroens; all oil burners.

Just like guatemala, well minus the high sulfur content Im assuming they had no smoke coming out the pipe?
In guatemala all the diesel's there had black smoke coming out the pipe, a newer toyota D4D van was puffing black smoke the whole way on the freeway when we went to go swimming. And the mercedes and intercraptional buses they blew clouds of black smoke! not puffs, clouds!

[Hirnbeiss]

In Europe, MB prices the diesels at the gasoline engine price despite the multi-thousand dollar cost disadvantage of the diesel.

All European customers know that diesel fuel is cheaper, and the modern engines are often better performers than their gas counterparts. So everybody buys diesel, and MB has a huge unfavorable sales-mix variance.

[Diesel Giant]

I wish the consumer here in the States would get the message.

[CompIgnition]

That Dodge you saw might have been owned by an American GI. I spent numerous years in Europe and you would see many soldiers ship large vehicles in from the US, only to realize too late that the size was a detriment to parking and getting around on narrow streets (as well as owning a pickup would keep you busy every weekend, if you didn't know how to say "No"!) Even though the Europeans pay much more for fuel, the US military members get ration cards that allow them to buy fuel at close to US prices. The new license plates the military issuses in Europe look VERY much like the "regular" plates to reduce the ability of folks intent on terrorism to identify US servicemembers. However, driving a huge American-made SUV tends to defeat ones ability to blend in.

[Jorn]

That's a possibility, but there are not many GI's in Holland anymore.

I would think the Dodge is owned by the Hells Angels. I know they have some large pick-ups and they have a lot of business close to central station: red light district.

[boneheaddoctor]

Italy is the same....most new cars are Diesel, including Jaguar, and BMW. I'm there every year.