Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

There are some nuances of North American culture that are just impossible to convey to others!

 

Just like how in the automotive world, other countries ridicule our big block V8's. I don't care how much power or how fuel efficient the little 4 bangers are these days, the rush of dropping the hammer on built V8 just can't be explained to someone who has never done it.

 

I may be a millenial but I'd much rather drive a carbuerated big block V8 than a little compact car. Heck I'm building a 36 year old KW from the ground up because I'd rather have the reliability of mechanical than all the electronic and emission headaches. Of course I'll have the pump turned up, but not enough to smoke out the neighbourhood when I stomp on it.

 

I like pollution. When I bought a brand new 3/4 ton diesel pickup back in 2006 the first thing I did was get a programmer that hopped up the horsepower/torque and made it billow huge clouds of black smoke. That it make squeamish western Euros cringe is just the icing on the cake. It's a lot of fun to drive. I'm sure in the Netherlands they would frown on it and likely put me in jail.

 

I know a guy who deleted the egr/dpf on an 08 F 350 with 6.4 diesel. Best thing he ever did - instant 4 mpg better - took less than 2 years to pay for the conversion in fuel cost savings alone, not to mention the inherent problems associated with the egr and dpf.

 

I've never seen that kind of truck racing before.
In Europe we also have truck racing, but we can do it without black smoke:

 

Where is the load? Just as well be racing scooters. (Just having fun with you Caesar)

 

Well, it only shows that the engine is badly tuned, and you're wasting lots of fuel. In the Netherlands you would have to get you truck checked every year, and that includes environmental checks. Your truck wouldn't be allowed on the road any more.

But the Russians agree with you. Their only aircraft carrier sailed through the English Channel a couple of days ago, and although it is diesel powered, the chimney produced so much smoke that it looked like a coals fired steam engine.

Your ideas also remind me of a holiday on Sri Lanka. An old Leyland bus drove by on a road through the woods, and it was belching so much black smoke, you couldn't see anything any more for a couple of minutes. You would have loved this marvel of modern technology.

 

These days you hardly see a US car any more in Europe. A couple of decades ago they were imported, not many, but they were. These cars got heavy duty radiators, heavy duty suspension, heavy duty brakes, everything was made heavy duty so they could be used in Europe.

Never the less, I remember a test of a Chevy Vega (not really a big car, I know). A German car magazine tested it. They took it to the autobahn, brought it up to about 110mph (a normal speed on the autobahn), and then made an emergency stop. Half way the stopping distance the plastic hub caps fell off, completely warbled by the heat. When the car finally came to a halt, the brakes were glowing bright red, and smoke was pouring out from under the fenders.

I also remember a test of a small Cadillac by Top Gear. Richard Hammond was very surprised, you could drive around a corner! Turned out the Caddy had the chassis of a German Opel Omega.
Oh yeah, we called the really big US cars battleships.

 

I'm surprised a Vega made it to 110 mph. - they were designed as a cheap economy car. Interesting that the test wasn't done with a more applicable specimen.