Motoring journalist Greg Kable started an article in the Drive section of the Sydney Morning Herald (2 December 2005), in which a diesel car and a hybrid car were driven across America to compare performance, like this. (For the record, the diesel car was considered better, but mainly because the "test" involved mostly smooth rural highway driving over long distances. Both cars will be for sale in Australia in 2006, each priced at around $83,000. A cheap bicycle might outperform either in the right urban conditions). Kable displays the non-scientific habit of using a single interview to make generalisations, but nevertheless illustrates an attitude that must be confronted sooner or later.

We're on a small grass airstrip at the end of a quiet Ohio road. By the parched perimeter sits a Ford F250 heavy duty double-cab pick-up with a National Rifle Association sticker on the tailgate. Its owner ambles over to inspect the Lexus and Mercedes-Benz we've just arrived in.

"Nice vehicles you've got there," says Joe Walker, after introducing himself. "They look new. What you all doing in these parts?"

"We're driving across the country. Coast to coast," I tell him. "Finding which one is best."

"Nice job. You should take my vehicle for a spin," he says, signalling across to his pick-up. "It's got a 7.3 litre V8, you know. Loads of power. She's a beauty."

Americans love big four-wheel-drives, especially in rural areas like this. Around here, 4WDs and pick-ups of varying configurations outnumber conventional sedans. Hulking great Dodge Rams, Ford Excursions and Chevrolet Tahoes abound in great numbers.

"What about the fuel consumption?" I ask. "Is it [the price] an issue for you? It's up 150 per cent in over a year."

"I'm getting around 16 mpg [14.7 litres/100km]," he says. "It's not good but it's a lot better than my old truck. It was doing 12 mpg before I traded it in."

"Geez, it must cost you a bit to fill up."

"Too right. We've got big trouble with energy prices. Everything is getting expensive. There's talk that gas [petrol] is going to end up over $3 a gallon [$1.08 a litre]. It's robbery. All that trouble in the Middle East, you know."

"So what's the solution," I ask. "What about downsizing? What about running a smaller vehicle? Would that help?"

Rubbing his hands together, Walker ponders. "You know, I think we need to get rid of some of the population. We need a war. Yeah, that's what we need ... a war."

With that, we decide to make tracks. Rising energy prices is one thing. But starting a war in the name of cheaper petrol? No thanks. But his remarks are a telling reflection on the way Americans approach the subject of fuel prices.

Having had some of the world's cheapest petrol prices for decades, many find it hard to fathom the recent spate of increases. While the rest of the globe looks towards smaller and more frugal alternatives for their motoring needs, the US is turning to even bigger and thirstier pick-up trucks, almost as though the oil they use comes from a bottomless barrel somewhere in the Middle East.

Back to "Transport Modes" index