Not entirely true - I have driven a hire car 1600 Mazda hatch on the
Peak to Peak route in Colorado.
It was underpowered at those kinds of altitude, and I would rather have
had a small turbo diesel. But it did the trip without any problems, in
the early spring with temperatures at -10c and over a metre of snow.

The disbelief from all the behemoth drivers was worth it.

SO - you can find European specification cars, they just appear to be
unpopular. (I had to ask very nicely before they would give me the
"little car")

Bruce

On 2012/10/08 12:31 PM, wrote:
I've been towing for many years trailer between 1 and 1.5 tons across the Alps with max 2 liter engines. Currently, my car (Saab 9-3 1.9l twin turbo diesel automatic drive) gives me 44 mpg with a 1 ton trailer and develops about 400 Nm torque - plenty enough for any situation. It is rated for 1.6 tons. With my 1 ton trailer, I don't exceed 120 kph because I don't trust the trailor tires above that speed. It's got decent brakes, too :-)
BTW, one of the criterions for trailor mass ratings is that the car must be able to start from a full stop on a 12% slope.

Having driven a lot in the US, the main difference between US and Europe cars are how the suspensions are set. A typical US-built mid-size car would be rated "crap" in Europe, and I would never think of attaching my favorite toy to it. In such a situation, I do understand the thinking of US drivers to go for big mass and big engines - what else can you do if there is no engineering?


--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771