I moved to the US from the UK a few weeks ago and arrived to hear a nation collectively moaning about the price of fuel. Filling up yesterday, unleaded was $3.96 a gallon (about £2).

Now the maths gets a little complicated as a UK gallon is slightly different from a US gallon (it's equal to roughly 1.2). But after converting from litres (petrol is currently around £1.18 a litre), Brits are paying about £4.47 for a US gallon across the pond. That's about $8.78.

So I started wondering what all the fuss was about. Surely it's us Brits who should be moaning. I am in unleaded gas heaven in Texas. I could buy a gas-guzzling Chevy Tahoe in North Dakota if I wanted and burn down the freeway to my new home in Austin without a care in the world (except, ahem, about my disgraceful carbon footprint).

It just didn't make any sense. And yet the front page of my local paper at the weekend said gas prices were even affecting touring musicians. On the TV, an ad for a Toyota Corolla began "with all this talk of gas prices" before jubilantly trumpeting the fact that it gets a respectable 35 miles to the gallon.

Apparently the average price of gas nationwide in the US is about $4.07 per gallon, but even though it's cheaper in the Lone Star State, Texans are still complaining. So much so that a friend of mine who works for the local branch of Carmax (a used car superstore) said people are getting rid of their gas guzzlers by, er, the truckload. There are ridiculous deals on offer too – Honda is offering 0.9% APR on its Ridgeline truck for 36 months. Probably because, like a lot of trucks and big SUVs, it only does about 17 miles to the gallon.

In Texas the truck is a status symbol. For years, students at the University of Texas have driven huge Ford F150s, and by the end of their degrees the beds at the back haven't a scratch on them. But these people who bought them for pleasure rather than for work just aren't buying them any more. People are downsizing, and now you can't get a Prius here for love or money. And this in a state that doesn't even believe in climate change.

Then, two weeks into living here, it dawned on me. In Texas (as in a lot of places in this vast country) people are reliant on their vehicles for everything. My nearest coffee shop is about a mile and a half away, but I drive there because it's 100 degrees outside. If I want to see my friend (the one who works for Carmax) it's a 60-mile round trip – and he only lives just south of Austin. There is a bus that goes downtown, but it only comes once an hour, the journey takes 45 minutes, and the last bus home is at 10.40pm. By car it takes 10 minutes, and I can leave when I want.

So despite dreaming of a Chevy Tahoe, I've ended up with a Mazda Tribute. It's still an SUV (I have a dog so need the space) but I get far more miles to the gallon out of it. Having said this, I've filled my tank up twice in three days – at about $60 a time – and now I've joined the legion of gas price complainers. And unless those prices go down, public transport improves or they make cars that run on water, we'll keep on moaning thank you very much.