Holy smokes! Suddenly the 11% PST/GST at home doesn't seem so bad. Question: is that 45% tax only for new cars?

Actually, looking up your country on the internet, Finland isn't really all that geographically large (half the size of the Canadian Province, Saskatchewan) but your country has over 5 million people! Saskatchewan is around 960,000 for comparison :o. Thus is sounds like that your country as evolved into not relying on automobiles as much? I would assume the commutes are much smaller and people ride bicycles and such to get around more commonly.

The car tax is only when a car is imported, regardless of if it's new or old. There is no VAT if a sell my car to someone but I'm not sure how it works if it's sold by a dealer.

I've allways considered Finland to be scarcely populated :), and compared to many European countries it is. The overall pouplation density in Finland is 17people/square km while Germany has 232, Belgium 341, The Netherlands 392, France 110, Italy 193, UK 246.

Still that does not tell us very much about how people live as most people live in cities anyway (and the US has a population density of only 31 still most people in the US probably lives in more crowded areas that those in Germany and the Netherlands as those countires don't have many uninhabited areas.

In Finland the southernmost district has a population density of 205 while the nothernmost district only have 2.2 persons / square km

Actually where I live outside Vasa, a city on the west coast with a population of 60.000, people commute up to 100km into the city (by car), as they want to live in the rural area where they where born, or where they have built a house and feel at home. Others commute up to 40km for the benefit of cheeper land to build on and to get out of the crowded area around the city.

People use a lot of bikes in the city areas, a 10km commute can be done by bike in the summer half of the year. When I was younger and went to school inside Vasa (8km) I used the bike also in winter, only when the temperature dropped below -20C/-7F I decided it wasn't worth it at took the bus instead :)

We have separate roads for light traffic (people and bikes) in the urban areas, which makes it easier get through the city by bike. Inside the city it's usually an extended sidewalk while in the suburbs they may be totally separate roads between residental areas.

It's in my opinion a great way to easy traffic congestion by making it easier for people to use the bike and walk.

Simon

well yes around here there are tones of areas like that situation on the video.
i HATE with a passion all these stupid people around here (mostly women) that think i have a H1 so im safe or they haev the huge tahoe's. i still say they should make you fill out a form so you can prove that you accualy need a SUV because in reality noone really does...or these people who think they need 4wd around here in IL (flatter than a board) then thier dumb as rocks and think "well i have 4wd i can go the speed limit on snow and taligate anyone" lol my 2wd manual truck goes just fine. i remember once that i was going up a hill kinda slow spinning the wheels and a 4wd suv whipps around me and guns it to show off ( i guess or hes just retarded), well he gunned it and kinda slid it into a ditch and got royaly stuck. i just went creaping by and lightly honked my horn at him...lol the little pleasures of life...

it used to be my street goes to a 4 lane highway where the speed limit is 50 mph. Before they put the traffic lights up (used to be stopsigns for streets crossing the road) my mom and i were involved in a collision when i was in preschool. My mom pulled out to go but a van at the last second decided to keep going straight when it was signaled to turn and plowed into the rear quarter pannel of our 84 Plymoth reliant. spun us around 4 or 5 times acording to whitnesses. all i remember was looking left and seeign a van front end comming close for us then the last thing i remember was opening my eyes and looking out my window that was totally busted out. and my mom rubbing her head cuz it hit her window...car was still running amazingly... I remember our neighbor was behind us and he drove the car home and we fixed it and kept it for many years...then other bits i remember were the paramedics arrived i rode in the ambulace and they gave me a hotwheels ambulance toy car. (lol i still have it) and beeing in the ER at the hospital and seeing my dad walk in. only problems they found with me was i had a chunk of window glass in my lip but that was about it...my mom just had a bad headache for a while.

but noones had any accidents since then so were glad for that. just ive had a few close calls with people merging wrong... or not stopping to turn right on red so i almost plow into thier door...

Well there certainly is a big requirement for buying an SUV: loads of cash (both for the purchase and the gasoline) :p.

If anyone needs a big offroad vehicle I found this on our local auction site

https://www.huuto.net/fi/showitem.php3?itemid=50119594

It's Russian, with 6 wheel drive, a petrol V8 and plenty of room :)

Simon

More like loads of credit, usually.

Man, that video scares me. I'd say 75% of the cars around my area are SUV's. I don't know why, but little econoboxs are nowhere to be found. I want to put a roll cage in my Saturn...

id love to see the same test but reversed. honda rams the side of the suv... especially todays suv's that are usually unibodys and sheetmetal floors much like a car...

That'd make a great grocery getter! I should buy it.