Cars, nice cars...are the norm here with French manufacturers Citroen, Renault, Peugeot 90% of what we see on the road. Large SUV types are rarer but not unseen during a typical drive. What IS rare are the scenes of smoking, steaming cars with hoods up that seem to infect every French story or article. This is an exageration of the facts as these cars are now modern, safe, well engineered and entirely driveable anywhere in this huge country. Many of the cars are deisels, the attraction once was that deisel fuel was cheaper and maintenance was less frequent as well. Nowadays the price of deisel fuel is equal, or in certain stations, HIGHER than gasoline.
The day before yesterday we bought another tank, it is a memorable occassion as once completed your wallet is much lighter than it was before you started pumping. With prices at 1.45 Euros per liter that is 3.784 X 1.45 = 5.49 Euros per gallon and with our dandy USD to Euro exchange rate of 1.55USD to ONE Euro it is currently $8.50 per gallon. A fill up of our Toyota Avensis is 12 gallons or $102.05. Enough to keep you home! Most cars here are what we in the US would call SMALL, and several are smallER than anything you can buy in the US. There are many models of each major manufacturer's cars. The prices are about the same taking into account the exchange rate. Used cars can be found in most towns with the major new car dealers having the larger lots. Used prices here appear to me to be quite a bit cheaper than we would experience in California. I would say most French people here are quite loyal to their own car industry in that they buy French cars by the droves and they buy them OFTEN. The prepoderance of autos seen are new or only a few years old, no smoking olde rusted hulks here!
Most cars seem to get 35-45 mpg as a matter of course seemingly without size restriction.
The system of auto inspection keeps the junkers and ill-repaired cars off the roads as a car that cannot be fixed MUST be scrapped. Annual, Bi-Annual inspections are mandantory for all motor vehicles. The cost of the inspection is about 65 Euros. The inspection is done at a special facility marked as Control Technique. They inspect using a series of very modern test equipment and are fastidious as only the French can be. Brakes, engine, tires, transmission, lights, turnsignals etc are tested and reported. If there is a problem it is documented and you are given a short period of time to repair the offending item and then the car is reinspected. Once passing the inspection you are issued a sticker which goes on the windshield for examination by whomever is interested, and they WILL look. The Toyata is scheduled to be inspected by the 8th of June, so tomorrow (the 7th) we'll take her to St. Amand to the Control Technique for her bi-annual. She has new front shoes (tires), fine Michelin speed rated jobbies that hit us to the tune of 222Euros for a pair...they had died in about 18,000 miles! Why? Hell if I know, except the roads hereabouts are twisty lanes and she's a front wheel drive beast. Anyhow we got a pair and with the exchange rate (1.55 to 1) that was a mere 344 USD for a PAIR of tires!
Yes we do see olde cars, at fairs and exhibitions which are very popular and some of the cars are truely rare, some are merely odd. Simca's, Renault dauphines, old Pougeots, military trucks and jeeps from WW2 all make up a melange of wonderful voitures (cars).
The day before yesterday we bought another tank, it is a memorable occassion as once completed your wallet is much lighter than it was before you started pumping. With prices at 1.45 Euros per liter that is 3.784 X 1.45 = 5.49 Euros per gallon and with our dandy USD to Euro exchange rate of 1.55USD to ONE Euro it is currently $8.50 per gallon. A fill up of our Toyota Avensis is 12 gallons or $102.05. Enough to keep you home! Most cars here are what we in the US would call SMALL, and several are smallER than anything you can buy in the US. There are many models of each major manufacturer's cars. The prices are about the same taking into account the exchange rate. Used cars can be found in most towns with the major new car dealers having the larger lots. Used prices here appear to me to be quite a bit cheaper than we would experience in California. I would say most French people here are quite loyal to their own car industry in that they buy French cars by the droves and they buy them OFTEN. The prepoderance of autos seen are new or only a few years old, no smoking olde rusted hulks here!
Most cars seem to get 35-45 mpg as a matter of course seemingly without size restriction.
The system of auto inspection keeps the junkers and ill-repaired cars off the roads as a car that cannot be fixed MUST be scrapped. Annual, Bi-Annual inspections are mandantory for all motor vehicles. The cost of the inspection is about 65 Euros. The inspection is done at a special facility marked as Control Technique. They inspect using a series of very modern test equipment and are fastidious as only the French can be. Brakes, engine, tires, transmission, lights, turnsignals etc are tested and reported. If there is a problem it is documented and you are given a short period of time to repair the offending item and then the car is reinspected. Once passing the inspection you are issued a sticker which goes on the windshield for examination by whomever is interested, and they WILL look. The Toyata is scheduled to be inspected by the 8th of June, so tomorrow (the 7th) we'll take her to St. Amand to the Control Technique for her bi-annual. She has new front shoes (tires), fine Michelin speed rated jobbies that hit us to the tune of 222Euros for a pair...they had died in about 18,000 miles! Why? Hell if I know, except the roads hereabouts are twisty lanes and she's a front wheel drive beast. Anyhow we got a pair and with the exchange rate (1.55 to 1) that was a mere 344 USD for a PAIR of tires!
Yes we do see olde cars, at fairs and exhibitions which are very popular and some of the cars are truely rare, some are merely odd. Simca's, Renault dauphines, old Pougeots, military trucks and jeeps from WW2 all make up a melange of wonderful voitures (cars).
It is surprising how many old cars one sees at these meets, all driveable, all well maintained by outward appearances. Many cars need remourques (trailers) it seems, to haul off yard waste, downed building materials, rocks, stones and of course lawn mowers and garden tractors, but THAT's another subject for another blog entry.
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