Driving in Europe vs. US: Observations from a car-lover

Our 1500km driving trip to the Loire Valley had me (J here) thinking about the many differences between driving in the Midwest United States and Europe. Here is a quick post about some observations and differences from a car-lover’s perspective:

• We went from having 3 cars for 2 people, at one point, to now having 1 car for 3 people
• I get super excited when fuel is less than the equivalent of $7.50/gallon
• Whenever I see someone driving a sedan, I wonder why they didn’t choose the wagon version
• Similarly when I see someone driving a car that takes gasoline, I wonder why they didn’t pick the diesel version … in most of Europe diesel is actually less expensive than gasoline!
• In French, diesel is called “gazole” and gasoline is called “essence” … I’m glad I figured this out rather quickly.
• I love seeing cars that aren’t sold in the U.S. i.e. Peugot, Citroen, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Skoda, etc.
• Except during ski season, I only need to buy fuel once every other month vs. ~3 times per month in the Midwest
• I have driven a total of 10 cars in Europe during our time living in Switzerland and only 1 had an automatic transmission
• Normally anything that would take over 5 hrs by car is not within driving distance … that’s train or flying distance
• We have taken several vacations without ever setting foot in a car … in the Midwest, I can’t even go to the post office without driving
• The passing lane in Europe is actually just used for passing
• I can’t turn right on red here
• However, I do prefer a round-about to sitting at a traffic light
• Stop and go traffic in Switzerland is still annoying even with views like this: