@taunusand: Every second year isn't that bad. My car is registered in New York, which requires an inspection every year (at the vehicle owner's expense, of course), and if you don't pass you can't legally use the car until it is repaired.
As far as a trunk goes, well, if you need one, you need one. Personally, I can do without it, and would be more than happy to lose the extra weight it adds to the rear end of the car, both for efficiency, and performance.
@Kronos: if a car costs twice as much to buy, and half as much to go a mile or kilometer, it's only a matter of time before it pays for itself. I drove 30,000 miles this last year (granted, I did move across the US in it, but that's only a tenth of the driving I did)... hmm, at $3.50 a gallon on average (probably a low estimate), those miles cost me about $3500. Now, my car cost me $5500 (used). so total cost, neglecting maintenance that any car would need, was $9000. If I was getting 75 mpg instead of ~30, the gas cost would drop to $1400. So I could have spent $7600 on a more efficient car, and broken even after the first year. If I own my car 5 years, and gas averages $5 over that time period (which it will, I expect), then assuming I put 150,000 miles on it I will have spent $25000 on gas alone. If I had that 75mpg car, the gas would be $10000. I'd much rather have spent $20000 on the car, and $10000 on gas, than $5000 on the car, and $25000 on gas! Unfortunately, I could not buy a vehicle that efficient here in the US, because the only one sold here that was that good was the Honda Insight, which was taken out of production about a week before I called the dealership to order one. That car was, IIRC, about $18000-20000 new, so I would have broken even, dumped far fewer carbon compounds into the water and air, and been able to drive around town even when temporarily broke, as happens from time to time.
(sorry for the continued off-topic posting, but the lack of efficient cars here is driving me up the wall...)
