where I am from - Turkey - gas sells for $11.30/gallon And the minimum wage is $1.50 how do they survive? They take the bus or train, they use the car occasionally and all cars are stick shift and average size of engine is like 1400ccc and you have alot of cars sold with 1.0 or 1.1 engine So it can be done, America will size down but there will be no panic. It is just a gradual adjustment.
Have you seen how fat we are, family of four here is hard on the shocks of a suv. How many cc engine to carry two fat good ole boys, pull a bass boat, 2 cases a beer and bait?