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EU cave in on vehicle trade rules will cost European lives as US pick-up trucks flood into Europe
(www.transportenvironment.org)
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
470 points (98.2% liked)
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Honestly they're great to drive and can often tow over 10k kilos. Not for everyone but maybe zone them out of downtowns or something. The US has more rural roads than city roads. Unimproved dirt roads and towing heavy loads are what they were made for, not trying to squeeze into a parking spot in the altstadt.
as someone with their heavy goods, 10 ton behind a pickup is terrifying
That's why the big trucks are so big.
Way too heavy. Not allowed with standard drivers license in civilized countries.
Where I come from, being civilized includes not smugly degrading people simply for having different regulations. You have your rules, they work for you where you are.
Roads and drivers are a little different here, and you can tow ten tons with a one ton truck pretty easily anywhere but in the city. Very little of this country is city. Getting everything set up correctly is pretty expensive so most people don't want to have expensive repairs and learn how to do it right.
I've traveled all over the world and I noticed that only in civilized countries drivers licenses are actively enforced. If you find my remark smugly because you are feeling addressed, then that is totally your own problem.
They're absolutely not "great to drive" lol
Not in dense cities, but on back country roads and even for interstate they're great. I would say paying for a good suspension is smart though.
Yes but American cars don't have some magic suspension that is not available to others. If anything I'd bet that European suspension technology is objectively better as it always has been.
Where did I say anything about American suspension? I put a German suspension on my last Chevy truck, but that was many years ago. I don't agree that European suspensions are universally better though. Generally European cars have tighter high performance suspensions in their cars because they don't drive on rough dirt roads like many cars in the US are subjected to.
When it comes to suspensions for really extreme conditions, I think American tech has the lead right now. The European continent lacks things like the Baja 1000 or the Rubicon trail or the thousand similar routes that we have all over the hilly and mountainous regions of North America.
Listen dude, people are just having beef with your claim that "american trucks are great to drive" which is clearly not everyone's relative experience. I admit that american cars made huge strides in the last couple of decades but they're still mostly a niche meme everywhere else around the world.
We generally solved ICE cars somehwere in 00's so whatever local variant fits your need is 100% the best choice. I drive a Japanese ICE car from 2010 and recently looked at upgrades and really couldn't find a single reason for an upgrade other than aesthethics.
Yeah, you are never going to convince lemmings that they have a place. They have a niche and in that niche they are excellent.
I know a guy who has a industrial flooring business (epoxy coatings, grinding, etc) and he has a big fuckoff american truck. Because he lives in it 9 hours a day and tows around a trailer with ALL his work supplies and still has to pick the kids up from school and take them to sports on the weekends. Its one vehicle, it does it all and most importantly because its signwritten and its his work vehicle its 100% tax deductable.
Wouldnโt a van work better? No need for a trailer then.
I've hired industrial flooring companies. Those floor grinders are huge and extremely heavy and there's a lot of other equipment needed as well. It would not fit in a van, and neither would his kids. He needs more seating and a huge trailer. You don't need special license to tow huge trailers in the US. Little trailers are more difficult to back up anyway.
Not nearly as many people "need" a big truck as own them, but some people do. The landscaping crew that comes to take care of the 7 acre property at my work (30,000 sq meters) brings 3-4 guys, two big zero turn mowers, a smaller mower, a bunch of trimmers and other small equipment. One truck, one trailer.
Thankyou, that was exactly my point.
They are wildly oversold to people who have very little reason to own one, but for certain use cases they are absolutely brilliant.
I don't know what country this is, but in my country he will have to pay 100% tax if he uses the company vehicle for private purposes. The driver will have to keep an auditable km registration.
You arent wrong, but the govt doesnt look that closely at owner operators, they expect a measure of creative accounting/record keeping.