JUN 22

I'm in the Navy stationed in Okinawa, and the selection of tiny fuel efficient cars is staggering.

Small cars like this are all over Japan: Toyota, Honda "Life", Honda "That's", Daihatsu "Mira", Nissan "Moco" and the Toyota "IQ". Granted, their 55 HP motors don't accelerate like a Hemi Challenger, but they are great around town and on the country roads. They even cruise fine on the tollways, too, once up to speed.

The Detroit lobbyists got arcane laws passed decades ago, preventing these small cars getting into America, and now Detroit is paying the piper.
What Washington needs to do is pass laws allowing combined EU/Japanese/USA safety and import standards to allow a REAL free market, not a facade of free market.
It should also allow an American to import their own car from overseas with a minimum of hassle at the port and conversion. It's all under the guise of "safety", but it's a sham... modern 21st century EU and Japanese cars *are* safe. If they're good enough for the EU and Japan, they *are* good enough for here, and a portion of the American market wants them.

Choice and free markets... that is truly American... not the force fed protectionist rules in place now.

@Doc Rings

I once read that someone in the US wanted a fuel efficient car, but when she got children, she didn't dare get anything but an SUV. Why? Since so many others have them she didn't dare drive her children in a smaller car that would be crushed by an SUV in the event of a crash. SUVs are the most pointless vehicle constructed. I mean, it's a gas guzzling off road vehicle, marketed for city folk...

FIAT 500 has 4 seats.

If we get those Hummers off the road, then we would all be safer in small cars. We need to tax cars based on fuel efficiency.

The first Tata Nano offering 56mpg will be followed by even more fuel efficient ones. These will be followed by diesel, natural gas, hybrid and compressed air versions. Tatas are introducing the first mass produced all electric vehicle in Europe later this year. Looks like they got their plans right.

It should be noticed that if one were to go for the manual version rather than the automatic, as most UK buyers will, the fuel economy is actually just over 65 MPG(UK), and just shy of 55 MPG (US). The manual version is quicker and lighter too.

I'll feel like I'm in a clown car, driving down the road in that one!

iQ3 is no smaller than the iQ is it? And it's not the predecessor (the one before) since it came out after the iQ.

iQ blog says -

"But from July, the iQ range is to get a second choice of power plant: a 1.33-litre dual VVTi petrol engine.

The new engine is exclusive to a new grade of iQ - the iQ3."

These tiny cars always don't fail to remind me of the Smart car and how mini cars used to be looked down on.