Scania, Volvo, Mercedes vs American trucks. How can you stand them?

When I first saw the ICE ROAD SHOW, I said ,what? in such harsh environment and they are using all those junks, then common sense kicked in and I realized it was TV, if they use good trucks and professional tested drivers there will be no brake downs and no arguments and the viewer will get bored and change the channel, which I did anyways, because I knew how fake it was, then I started thinking, well they, are still using all this crappy truck to haul real loads for the show, and probably what's happening is the Discovery Channel is paying the shippers to allowed then to haul the least important loads just to do the show, you know not exactly in that order but some how closed to it, just to get the average viewer to stay in their channel.

So yeah it is fake.

 

Here in South Africa we have them all.American , European and even Jap with a sprinkling of Chinese or Korean. Only American, European and Jap are worth commenting on.European or Cab over Americans are most practical but we can use conventional set ups with up to 46ft single trailers up to 109000lbs. On the double trailers (123450lbs) only cab overs work due to 72,3FT limit.The American trucks we use are of a heavier construction then the std used in the US.Our neighboring country's import thousands of 2nd hand trucks from the likes of JB Hunt Schneider etc.The reason is simply the price.At most only half of what we pay in SA for a unit of the same age.I have no dog in this fight so I will tell it like it is.I have a mixture of America ,European and some Jap trucks.I must add my Jap trucks are not class 8 but they do do class 8 trucks as well.

Americans build a great motor drive line but the rest is not up to the quality of the
European stuff. So over all the European is better quality.You just have to park the trucks next to each other and have a close look to see what I mean regarding finishing etc.Then on the other hand it must be remembered that trucks are tools that need to pay their way.Although European trucks are better quality they are also
a lot mere expensive and a lot more complex = difficult to repair when they go wrong.So which is really better? American trucks seem to have more break downs with simple things that can be quickly sorted.European trucks don't break as often but when they do , man you wish you were in an American truck that you could fiddle right.In a big fleet over time they are very close and that is why there is no clear winner where they compete head on.

American trucks are based of the premise of yesterdays technology tomorrow (If it aint broke don't fix it).European trucks are based on tomorrows technology yesterday (progress through technology).

My finding is that at lighter weights on good roads the Americans are cheaper in the long run. On rough roads or extra heavy stuff the Europeans are better.

 

Minor repairs happen all the time. And the newest equipment doesn't always give you a peace of mind. Especially in such hard environment. But there must be also a part of the show on TV. Agreed

 

Yes....We have a lot more room over here to move around in consequently we don't need to regulate length as much as they do in Europe. My KW is 265" wheel base and I pull a 48' trailer most of the time.
I've been to Europe a few times and there are so many places there that I see trucks that I would never be able to get my truck into without the trailer much less with the trailer.

As far as "How do we put up with the trucks" goes...If I had to drive a euro style truck, I'd just retire!

A cabover is a cabover and I have no interest in driving one ever again.

 

A lot of the drama is fake, but a lot of down and out truckers do go up to the ice roads in hopes to make it big on a few runs. The problem is an old busted Freightliner from georgia just isn't going to cut it.

You got to see a big difference when they started following Carlile Transportation who runs all Kenworths that were set up for cold-weather running at the factory. They also maintain their equipment well since they have a real business outside of TV.

That being said I've heard of Carlile doing some crazy ####, years before the TV show came about.

 

very interesting my father had a truck 6x4 with a 2800mm wheelbase (110inch)


Can you please explain why you did not driving cab over ever again ?


as i noticed older european conventionals has no cab suspension

for example scania introduced cab suspension on T cab trucks in april 1991



so that the cabover trucks are actually a lot more comfortable before 1991

 

Uncomfortable, No room in it, UGLY!

The best looking cabovers european or american are just ugly when compared to a classic american conventional such as a Kenworth W900A, W900L or a Peterbilt 359,379,389 or even a Western Star.

My truck has air ride, So does my trailer and my cab has air suspension underneath...Even on a rough road the truck rides just about as smooth as a car...That's the other reason why I would never even consider driving a cabover again.










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I have driven an import semi. It was made in Korea. It had sychronized gears. The pedals were too close together for my big feet to shift correctly. It was a real piece of you know what. I would really like to drive a Scania truck. I have driven every current production manufacture truck and to tell the truth I like Paccar trucks (Peterbilt and Kenworth) the best.