Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by snowbird_89, Jun 10, 2011.

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  1. Caesar

    Caesar Road Train Member

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    And yet, more than 50% of the US van market now consists out of European style vans, isn't that remarkable? It started with Mercedes selling the Sprinter with a Freightliner badge, then came Ford with the Transit (of course they had to use a V6 gas guzzler instead of the European diesel, so no front wheel or 4x4, just rear wheel drive in the US), and then came Chrysler with an adapted Fiat van. When GM still had a European subsidiary, they sold rebadged Renault vans in EU, so no GM EU van.
     
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  3. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    And those euro vans don't hold up out here where I am. The mines still use 4x4 E350 Ford vans for crew transport. Those sprinter vans wouldn't last out in the mines. Too low, too much plastic. I agree they do have their place and its on pavement or smooth dirt roads. I do like the Sprinter van and it looks like a good vehicle for someone like a plumber or small contractor.
     
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  4. dieselroarmt875b

    dieselroarmt875b Medium Load Member

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    this was designed under heavy drugs abuse,greetings from mescalito!
     

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  5. cnsper

    cnsper Road Train Member

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    Coroner?
     
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  6. Caesar

    Caesar Road Train Member

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    Yes, coroner too. But also buses, ambulances, fire brigade, name it.
     
  7. Caesar

    Caesar Road Train Member

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    Perhaps these pictures can change your mind?

    MB Sprinter AT46 vefur 1.jpg

    west-sussex-fire-chiefs-header-1000x480.jpg

    Aussen_2_01.jpg

    Not stock versions, but if the mine wanted to have 5 Sprinter 6x6 bus versions, you could get them from a specialized company.

    If those still aren't high enough, the big brother of the sprinter may be what you're looking for:

    unimog-u-5000-6x6-front.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2017
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  8. Caesar

    Caesar Road Train Member

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    There's a lot of truth in this. EU products are not build to the bare minimum, but Europaens don't like to waste resources. You used the term "heavy duty", but usually it is not really heavy duty. I've used the following example before. In the past US cars were exported in small numbers to Europe. Those were heavy cars of course, but heavy duty? Not at all. The factory installed heavy duty suspension, heavy duty radiators, heavy duty brakes, and so on. And still, if they were used under European conditions, on the autobahn, in the mountains etc. , they broke down, and according to Americans in Europe, they still do. So using a lot of material doen't mean you're getting a good product. Europeans use their engineering skills to build good products with as little resources as possible, Americans tend to solve their engineering problems by just using a lot of material. American cars were always build according to the same principle: you take a chassis, put a big lump of cast iron with eight holes in the front, an inefficient automatic transmission behind it, then a drive shaft to a live axle on leaf springs, cover the whole thing with lots of tin and chrome, and that's it. So when the time came that the market asked for more efficient designs, the manufacturers didn't have a clue how to do that. Europeans did.
     
  9. Cat sdp

    Cat sdp . .

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    Just give me a Ford F-250/350 ......

    Those will get the crew and tools to the site in style.

     
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  10. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    Why? Because oil field.

     
  11. 98989

    98989 Road Train Member

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    than you consider full size SUV as real offroad vehicle with chassis like ex. land cruiser? here segmentation is little bit different, suv is vehicle that is high but without real terrain features.
     
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