Ex-Christian here, I was in a pretty easy going division of Christianity, main thing was that we didn't believe in hell and were "metaphysical" (hippie way of saying we didn't strictly adhere to the Bible). I would often look after the smaller kids in Sunday school, and one day we put on the veggie tales version of Noah's ark, and I actually watched it while watching the kids, and somewhat considered the idea that if there was a flood, inevitably quite a few children would have been caught up in it and died, which in my mind a kind god would not have even contemplated. The level of cognitive dissonance I experienced kind of made me think about listening to atheistic opinions to double check I wasn't completely off the mark with my beliefs. So I listened to Dawkins, Hitchens, and Carl Sagans arguments then actually sat down and read the Bible. Not gonna say I accepted it overnight, but that is what eventually led me to where I am today as an atheist.
The US both pretty heavily subsidizes gas and we produce the most. It's required to get around in all but a few places in the US after all. A lot of us would actually kinda prefer trains and trams, but most of the US is rural or semi rural, so that isn't often an option.
Lucky. It's $3.20 a gallon (around $0.85 a liter), were I live in the southeast US, drive around 60 miles a day at 25mpg, so a generally around $7-8 day (I drive an older car, and don't live too close to work), or $40-50 a week. Plus around 5-7hrs worth of driving a week.
The only issue is that different cuts and styles can affect those objectively correct measurements. When you ask a guy what size jeans they wear, they most often will also remark what brand they prefer. It's not really that they actually prefer it, but mostly that fits better than maybe another brand in the same size.