Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Thank you!

 

Although some American drivers feel good that OZ prefers NA trucks over Euro, the thread is "why do so many AMERICAN drivers hate European trucks?"
I think that I am staying on topic. Most American drivers will not drive anything with a GCRVW of more than 80,000 lbs. We have to compare apples to apples, and that is a standard OTR truck.
Your trucks are ugly, ours are sexy, always have been, always will be. Even drivers who don't drive them aspire to one day.

 

Actually, Aussie drivers have got a lot in common with American drivers, we even use almost the same log book.
Euro trucks look like washing machines with the charisma of a refrigerator. At a recent Aussie trade show, would you rather drive this KW T909 with good size sleeper, or the weird looking Volvo FH, or if you had to have a cabover, the KW K200 with flat floor, or the T909 at the bottom.

 

Don't want to go off topic too much.
If we are talking small trucks we have Fuso , Hino , UD(Nissan) ,Isuzu and then the EU Mercedes , MAN , Volvo and only Freightliner and International from NA.
The Jap trucks dominate here by sales numbers on the bottom end.
At about 55 000lbs gross MAN , Scania and Volvo have a good presents.
At the "class 8" segment we get UD , Isuzu , Fuso and Hino.
UD have good presents , Hino some , Fuso a few and I have never seen an Isuzu except on trade shows.
The UD and we only have 5 of them (6x4 , 440hp) is In my experience the most reliable trucks we have ever had.
The later ones http://www.udtrucks.com/en-ZA/news-...014/new-450hp-quon-added-to-ud-trucks-line-up have Volvo drive line but all ours are Nissan front to back except one 4x2 has a Fuller gearbox.

They just never give any hassles.
Drivers say they like driving them but cab is small for living in and it really is by any standard.
They do well on fuel and our service records show they just use filters , belts and an occasional clutch.
No compressors , radiators , electrical ,suspension parts or anything with only one service call on the road in 4 years with these 5 trucks and that was a battery issue.
Our DAF , Volvo, MAN , Mercedes and Freightliner all have way, way more issues and require way more preventative maintenance during regular servicing.
Just our experience.
One of the larger operators around here bought 300 of these units a few years back to pull "B doubles" (56000kgs/123400lbs) gross taking chrome ore to the harbor on a 1300km (812 mile) round trip everyday.They usually replace the trucks after 2 years but decided to keep the UD for 3 because they held up so well compared to the other makes.
The owner told me if it was not for the lease options and financial options offered by the other makes that is all he would use.
If I was planning to stay in this business and I didn't need to meet other requirements with my trucks I would seriously conciser standardizing on these.

 

Back when we could openly import these I had 13 of these, were box bodies instead of dumps. Had 2 of these. Again box trucks. Made one of these , ours was about 18 inches shorter. I do not hate EU trucks . Just don't insist on that's what everyone must use.

 

Who insisted that everyone must use EU trucks? I did not if that is what you are implying. If you read back I stated that there are places in NA where EU semi's would do better then NA versions, think of inner city traffic, winding country and mountain roads. The reason is simple, EU trucks are designed for those conditions, NA trucks are designed for long straight highways.

The trucks you showed here are the Mercedes "kurzhauber" (short hood) that was designed in 1957, and the orange tractor is a Mercedes NG (New Generation) that was designed in 1973.

These trucks are antiques, and absolutely not comparable with any EU truck that is on the market today.

 

It's all a matter of taste, but that T909 at the bottom looks absolutely preposterous to me, it is the ultimate kitsch in truck design.

 

Logbooks are legal in Ukraine, but not in Europe. They switched to tachographs in end of 80s.

Tachograph is really electronic logbook that saves speed data on paper card ore on driver's chip

 

I don't know if the paper disks are still legal, today you have an electronic logging system. It not only records speed, but driving time as well.

 

It is a bit over the top but it is a show special. I, and most Americans and Australians like 1970s American muscle cars with monster V8s but you probably wouldn't.