Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

No this is more our style...

 

I had Volvo F10 many years ago.
20' refer box and dr.bar trailer.

One more truck I wanna remind u. Mercedes SK amd MK series. In 80s they made autoshift transmission, it was called EPS - electronicall pneumatic shift.

Mercedes MK got OM904and 906 engines in 90s, with ECOPOWER label. It is really Atego engine, also used in usa as MB9000.

Really 80s were golden age of cool cabovers

 

What on earth is the reason for that huge gap between the cab and the trailer. European trucks have skirts to make that gap as small as possible because of the aerodynamics. Such a huge gap is by far the best way to get a huge fuel bill as well.

 

We don't hate their trucks

Just their funny accents.

 

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Red truck looks totally practical. But why not suicide doors to accommodate the forward steps ?

Engineers. ?"?????????

And I am sorry but that is one ugly creepy looking truck Bet it rides like a dream too.

 

Also cant get weight transfer to steers , but in the US that is not an issue as they don't load them heavy anyway.

 

These are also not too small with out creating a combination that can be compared to a limo pulling a trailer.

 

Some interesting differences in truck building between the US and the EU. These two Paccar trucks are completely comparable, the Kenworth K370 and DAF LF are brothers so to speak. Both are 12 metric ton trucks, they have the same cab and the same engine. You can even get the same transmission.

What are the differences? The Kenworth K370 has a little bit of streamline, but the LF is far more streamlined. According to DAF that saves about 8% on your fuel consumption. The K370 has 22.5 inch wheels, the LF has 17.5 inch wheels. The LF has fenders over the rear wheels, the K370 doesn't. And then there are the bars between the front wheels and the rear wheels of the LF. Any guess what they are for? To prevent cyclists and pedestrians from falling in front of the rear wheels. There's also a small downward facing mirror on the LF, again to make sure the driver can see pedestrians and cyclists next to his truck.

You can also get these small mirrors over the front window, like you can see on the picture below. Another reason why trucks with a big nose are not very suitable in Europe. By the way, these days you can also get small TV camera's on your truck to act as mirrors for this purpose.

 

Those little mirrors are so you can see the steering tire on the opposite side to the driver for maneuvering as far as I have always been told.
I have found them very useful when maneuvering in tight spots.
The little one mounted vertically under the main mirror is curved to give you a view near the side of the cab.
With that combination there are no real blind spots.
You can even get one facing down on the front of the truck to see the front end.

On some of the older American trucks there used to be little windows on the bottom corners of the doors to help with far side visibility.
On some Japanese trucks those door windows were not so small.

 

Windows in doors.