American trucks are so much better than European trucks

Sounds nice, our cabs ain't big enough to worry about showers, lucky to get a bed in there, Alot of euro engines bein sold over there now, unfortunately it's the really bad ones, so stay away from them at all costs , one of my pacaar engines only lasted 230,000 kms before a full overhaul, yes that's kilometres !

 

Darn thats only 140,000 miles

 

Yup, didnt blow up or anything, just completely wore out, second one 540,000 kms which is about average for them here, that's not much either, I've never seen one make the million kms mark,

 

That is pretty weak,at my old job we had a cummings 5.9 equipped dodge ram 2500 as powertrain endurance test vehicle (testing transmissions and diffs) that ran well past 1 million miles with only fluid and filter changes.

 

Just today I reminded myself why I had not bought an American truck in many years.
Today I collected a FLB Freightliner that I bought mainly because it came as a package with another straight/rigid truck that I wanted.
I know it is an old truck but it was well maintained and still looks pretty good.
The problem is that it took me back to the old Mack F series I drove for 8 years.
Only not as good in many ways.
The clutch , the sloppy gear leaver, the noise,the ride,the smell,the poor visibility,the touchy brake pedal,the non existent ergonomics,the air powered everything , the rats nest of air pipes behind the dash, the poor (compared to retarder) Jake brake,the mountaineering needed to get in to the sleeper from the drivers seat.
At least its simple and cheap.

 

Yes , the new American way..... Very sad. At least you have a choice , wish we could compare the euro trucks to US ones. And buy what we wanted.

 

I feel safer behind the motor in north American long nose trucks, less noise, vibrations ,heat,fumes can reach the cab; the sleepers are larger, more comfortable ; look at the size of the sleeper in European trucks, narrow not enough privacy to fill up a trucker bomb.

 

A euro truck is actually safer, more comfortable, quieter, better insulated, better equipped , better built, more powerful , more economical ,more reliable, smoother on the road, easier to drive. On top of all that its much easier move around inside the cab than a classic cab here with more useable room, bunks are generally 800-900 mm wide ( 3 ft same as the Pete or kw I drive ) cabs are much wider and higher than a US machine albeit our laws keep them shorter keeping the bunk right behind the seats

 

This I understand because it seems safer but the test reports say otherwise.

Here you are so wrong.The European trucks are light years ahead.Cant even begin to compare , even the Japanese trucks have the Americans beaten here and they are leagues behind the Europeans.I'm not looking to argue the issue but there is no comparison to be made.

Larger sleepers yes but the beds in the Euro sleepers are as good and they do make better use of space then the American trucks do.The FLB I bought has the high sleeper yet when driving I battle to find a place for my cell phone , wallet and logbook with in reach.What I really cant believe and I hope I'm wrong is the single speed wind shield wipers.

 

really EU trucks are different. Some models better, some not

Ok, advantages of US trucks - lower price, cheaper parts, simple, really simple (if not Volvo) and easy to access under hood for maintanance and repare.

EU trucks are all of COE design and old US drivers compare them with old US cabovers. It is complitelly wrong.
EU cabs are silent, no vibrations and smooth ride, much better any US truck. Bad news - four point cab suspention goes bad on rought roads in a year.

Well, things used by europeans like EBS, ECAS and other modern toys are available on US trucks as option, In EU it is standard. But... to many $$$ to keep all this stuff working