I have to say it was a bit of a nonense as I already had a new class 2 and the FAA medical was more or less a pass if you were breathing
Not any more
They are reasonably similar. For some strange reason the FAA one is a lot cheaper though (UK v. UK).
I am suprised US JAA approved schools don't push the FAA PPL option. It would make a lot of sense. They obviously have no clue as to the European IFR situation.