Merlin,
I am not an expert on the relationship for US/European cars, but I think what is going on as far as engine design goes is concerned a lot with the differences in the driving environments. Speed limits here do not exceed 70 mph so I think the American car industry thinks that they can get away with using cheaper parts, etc. in their cars. Also, I know my 98 SE Sport cuts itself off after 120... it will shift between 3rd and 4th gear not allowing you to go any faster and that is the way it was built. Over in Europe, where the Mondeo is you can drive the Autobahn and that is a place where a car that doesn't run fast is a dead car, so the engineering goes into building a car that can maintain high speeds for a long period of time. Of course, my theory could be just unloading a bunch of BS but I think that is what is going on, although I think the mentality of the whole situation is crazy.
