Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

about eastern guys:

here is story i think 3year ago , and this is unfortunately what exists on european roads

i was in ironworks nord ferriere in osoppo near udine in italy to take 10 wire coils for windfarm fundations, and rule of them is to open trailer before you enter inside of ironworks , so you do that, than get papers , get on roentgen, than radiation scan, and you can enter inside to load

european curtainsider trailers can slide sides, roof and can open rear doors, but once but once you open both doors and slide roof, nothing holds roof guides .....

and romanian driver did exactly that, it was blue scania dont remember company anymore, he opened roof as he was suppose to load from crane, and he did not close doors, when he start to drive right roof rail together with pillar bent , we helped him to fix that, and straighten it ......ok he start again and on gate, where is radiation scan , it is maybe 3-3.5m wide and have sidewalk alongside he climb with right side on sidewalk and hit something there, also as he climb on it , and had roof opened he was too high and hit ceiling as well...

he could not find loading spot inside ( this is quite large place....) and i have heard latter he spend all day inside, if you are lucky and bribe workers you can spend only half hour inside

 

Yes indeed, Volvo is offering a 750HP straight 6, and Scania is offering a 750HP V8 in Europe.

@Cowpie1: I noticed you carefully avoided the efficiency argument. What if a trucker could save let's say 10% on his fuel bill, how much money would that be?

However you want to look at it, I see a lot of automotive technology flowing from Europe to the US, and can't think of anything flowing the other way around. The Paccar engines in Kenworth and Peterbilt are DAF engines, Detroit Diesel are Mercedes engines, Volvo is using Volvo engines of course, Mercedes is selling its European Sprinter vans in the US, Chrysler is selling somewhat modified Fiat/Peugeot vans, Ford is selling its European line of Transit vans, unfortunately with US drivetrains. That means you can only buy them with rearwheel drive, and not also with frontwheel or fourwheel drive like their European counterparts. And even a new Jeep, a US icon, is in fact a Fiat 500.

Why is this happening? I suppose because Europeans are forced to use resources far more efficient than Americans. Fuel is far more expensive, winding roads were built hundreds of years ago, and have to accommodate for semi-trailers these days. When I look at a 500 year old map of my home town, I see exactly the same streets as I walk today. Some 30 years ago one of my neighbours had a Cadillac Fleetwood. It used two carports, and the trunk was sticking out. US cars were nicknamed battleships over here. A local demolishing company used Mack trucks. They looked magnificent, but with three rear axles and one lightly loaded front axle, you couldn't get these trucks around the narrow corners of our mediaeval city, these things went straight ahead. That is why a heavy 50ton Ginaf 10 x 8 dumper truck has steering on four axles. Europeans need to be more efficient and resourceful to get what they need.

Because US automotive manufacturers didn't have to invest in efficient technology, they didn't know how to make such technology when it was needed, and they lost out to European and Asian manufacturers in many fields. And I'm sure that when US fleet owners will realize that they can safe a lot of fuel by using more European style tractors, they will ask for them.

 

what is insteresting to me is this is my field from collage)

american truck makers dont invest lot of money in developing and they sell one basic models with some small changes for many years

but i notice that production ways are much more hand made , which is good for those workers , but not good for truck makers,and truck owners

here truck manufacturers invest a lot in automation to compensate prices with all those expensive things fitted to trucks


compare this two:

 

But many made it on the road. Friend had a16v92 in a Pete. Has rated at 900hp and like 3000lb . I made a VT903@675 in my 77, easy just needed the CPL. Just because the factory did not offer something is not the end. If it's not offered , build it yourself. John Deere never made farm tractors with 6 V8 supercharged engines. Thomas Produce out of Greensboro had several KT 8 on the road in the day.

 

Didn't carefully avoid anything. If fuel economy is the only concern, it might be a good thing. I, for one, have no desire to have a truck I have to lift the cab to work on the engine unless it was necessary to do the job I need to do. I also do a lot of back roads bulk hauling that I am not comfortable with a Euro setup. I have had many occasions to not only throw in the interaxle switch, but also needed to engage the full lockers I have on each drive axle. Some of us actually have to do things that are outside the normal running down the 4 lane road. I only addressed that the OP seems to think so many Americans "hate" Euro trucks, when the actual analysis would be that many Americans just plain don't think about it or give a rip. While what they do in other parts of the globe is interesting, it is not my little piece of the planet. I have what I like to do the job I want. I really haven't given much of the Euro thing any of my time. If it works great for them, then I applaud that. Would it work great for me and what I have to do? I am not so sure. Fuel economy is always a good thing, but if spec'ing purely for fuel economy also creates problems in the operation, then how great is it? With all things in life, there is a balance. To that end, I have good setup for what i do, and I get respectable fuel economy. I got about 8.5 mpg for my run all day today. I am not complaining.

 

With my earlier statements I would love to see the Retarders over here. But the Paccar engine they brought us STINKS . What works great here may not fit there, what is great there may not be a fit here. The MBE900 was not a great engine . Could be made fine once we fixed them. Benz knew they had issues , but had Freightliner pumping them out.

 

Lets ask the question differently.
"Would Volvo have gotten a easier time if they had kept selling their trucks under the White brandname??"
Same truck,same Americanised EU design,just not the EU brandname but a American one.
White.

What do you think?

 

On the original question, I don't hate euro trucks, I just think their ugly, I've always have been a long nose Pete guy, just my taste

 

Something I would love to find out is where comes the idea of the seriously love front axle load in US? Ain't something like 13000lbs max on the front axle? Why?, is it some old law just hanging around or are there any seriously good explanation why it hasn't been raised? By my experience with that love front axle weight makes it's a nightmare to drive on anything else than dry tarmac. With 16500lbs that I'm running loaded in the winter could if I wanted put the truck in a big power slide and still now that the front grip remains, I know it will turn in roundabouts and so on.
This doesn't really belong here but I just would want to know why there is so low front axle weight since it's by my experience makes the truck a bit dangerous.

Used google to convert from kg to lbs, hope it did it right.

 

they have 12000