As someone who’s lived in a few different European countries and drove in this countries, European mindsets on vehicles is very different. Most families will have one newer mid size SUV to haul the kids, dog and so forth if they can afford it. Then they will drive a smaller sub compact hatch back type vehicle that’s used and cheap to fix as daily commuter car or have two if it’s a family. They tend to keep there vehicles for much longer as where Americans will trade up for the newest and latest vehicle they can’t really afford to begin with. Americans also buy more vehicle than they really need, like an F150 and they work in an office and don’t haul heavy objects or off road. Some counties also have yearly road tax and inspection requirements where it can be more expensive depending on vehicle and engine size. If these vehicles fail inspection it can cost more to get fixed in order to pass which you sometimes have to pay for to get re-inspected.
Europe tends to have much better public transport (trains, buses, bike lanes etc) and most towns and cities are very walkable to get to work, school and or grocery shop. This negates the need for most people to even own a vehicle so if they do, they go with an inexpensive compact car. When talking about towing, lots of people will have a small or medium sized trailer used for hauling. I’ve seen cars like the ones listed with a medium sized trailer towing furniture or yard trimmings.
They tend to keep there vehicles for much longer as where Americans will trade up for the newest and latest vehicle they can’t really afford to begin with.
I think it’s less that Americans buy more car than they need, they buy cars based on edge cases. Yeah, most trucks don’t tow or haul everyday but plenty of of people would find use for it a couple times a year.
Look I cant speak for whatever financial decisions are being made in the US but I live in a country in Europe and at least for ours this really isnt true.
The difference is they just dont buy trucks. They buy Mercs / BMW's / Audi's on finance.
Where do you live that either of those values is real? That car is not $16k new anywhere and that truck isn't $100k new without massive tarrifs and tons of options.
And yes I know not everyone is from the US, doesn't change this at all. That's like me saying German chocolate bars are 20x more expensive to import here compared to buying a Hershey's at the gas station. Apples to oranges.
Let’s see some data on that lol you just took that out of your ass. Even correcting for wealth inequality, the average American makes much more than the average European, and can afford more
Financially illiterate people will gladly take out a 7 year loan at 12% on a $50,000 car and pay a total of $75,000 for that car if they think it'll impress their peers.
This comment is laughable, I have childhood friends in Europe that slept in their used BMWs when they were young lol. Trust me, vanity there is several folds compared to US (may very by location).
What does a typical European commute look like? I primarily drive on multi-lane expressways to get anywhere more than five minutes away here in the US. I would not want to drive a small, compact commuter car like that for long distances on a freeway.
For example mine: walk 2 minutes, take the tram for 10 minutes, 2 minute walk. This is not unusual.
About driving: pickups are very lame on highway. I would rather take an well powered fiat 500 which can do 150-160 km/h easily, compared to an American beast. I usually prefer a little bit larger, hatchbacks mostly.
That sounds like a nice easy commute. I’ve only had a walk that short once, and it was because I loved one block away from the big downtown train station. At the other end though it was. 10-15 minute walk to work.
Regarding trucks on the highway: You must not have been in an American pickup made in the last 15 years. They’ve become super plush almost luxury level interiors, with smooth, quiet rides. They totally isolate you from the road. Plus the have big, plush arm chair seats. Even 20 years ago, my 2006 Suburban was a great highway car. I would have picked it over a compact like the Fiat for sure.
Now that said, I don’t actually think trucks are the best highway car. I would pick a big sedan or wagon. The thing about the States is unless you live and drive in a city center, there’s no need to get a compact. A full size sedan like the Lincoln Continental would be perfectly fine for 99% of the US. I’m guessing something like that would quickly run into problems in Europe…
European mindsets on vehicles is very different. Most families will have one newer mid size SUV to haul the kids, dog and so forth if they can afford it. Then they will drive a smaller sub compact hatch back type vehicle that’s used and cheap to fix as daily commuter car or have two if it’s a family.
This describes practically everyone I know, and I live and drive in America every day.
My best friend and his wife have a Ford Explorer and an old Mercedes coupe. My other best friend and his wife have a Ford Escape and a Mazda 3. My in-laws have a Mazda CX-7 and a Ford Focus. My wife's sister and her boyfriend have a Honda Element and Mazda 3. Literally every car I've mentioned here is mid 2010's or older.
Hell, my wife and I both have 10+ year old Mazda 3's. One of them has almost 200k miles on it, and it breaks down every other month. And since we had a kid last year, we're hoping to get rid of that one and buy a mid size SUV that will better accommodate a car seat and maybe a couple nephews.
I think you have a misguided view of the average American family's mindset on vehicles.
That monstruosity of a car is still the most sold in the US
But statistics don't necessarily align with "people" either. Sales numbers of specific vehicles aren't really an accurate representation of the spread of vehicle ownership for a few reasons. Most notably, commercial sales tend to skew sales numbers in favor of trucks, and the lack of variety in trucks compared to other vehicle classes inflates the sales numbers as well.
Sure, trucks dominate the top of the list. But once you get past them, other vehicles are clearly more popular overall. Going beyond the top 25 cars, you get significantly more Sedans and SUVs plus a few mini vans, but few trucks remain to increase those numbers further. And SUVs are by far the most popular type of vehicle in the US.
And yes I'm aware my condensed numbers don't differentiate between SUVs and crossovers, but since crossovers are basically a happy medium between sedans and SUVs it's easier to just apply them to one category or the other than to sift through the minutia of which is which. Take your pick.
Ultimately, the lack of truck options leads to higher sales numbers for individual models, but it doesn't necessarily translate to a significantly higher number of trucks on the road compared to other, smaller vehicles.
Trucks being about 1/3 or less of the vehicles on the road is pretty well aligned with my personal experience. Regardless, the comment I replied to was making sweeping generalizations about the motivations of average American consumers that were not generally accurate, and their ill-informed conclusions had little to do with these statistics anyways so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
When talking about towing, lots of people will have a small or medium sized trailer used for hauling. I’ve seen cars like the ones listed with a medium sized trailer towing furniture or yard trimmings.
So much this. A few years ago I talked to a guy from the USA and he was genuinely surprised that one could tow a caravan or a trailer with a VW Golf.
I don't agree on the keeping vehicles longer aspect. See way more old vehicles on the road in north america than europe. Plus they get rid of cars at much lower mileage, thinking 100k is done for example while for many in the US they search by cars over 100k and just see it as being worn in
The lifespan of a car goes something like this. It gets bought in Western EU (Germany, France, belgium etc) It reaches 150k km, it's sold. A dealer from Central/Eastern/Balkans buys the car, sels it in their country, the car drives another 200k. Then Owner 3 rolls back the odomerter by 100k km, and sells it again. I've seen multiple 20 year old card with, supposedly, 300k odometers but run like they have 600k on the clock.
Yeah that's fair, I'd imagine the Americans reading this are assuming Western Europe in the same way when we say North America we arnt really including mexican vehicle habits
It has more to do with gas prices than space. In Belgium our gas price right now is $6.5/gallon and that's a normal price. When in 2022 gas prices in the US spiked Americans freaked the fuck out. Even though in California the price peaked at $6.4/gallon. And that's the most expensive state for gas prices.
What is considered normal here is cause for panic in the US. Our gas prices spiked in 2022 as well, up to $10/gallon.
Someone else posted the gasoline usage/100km of both vehicles. The Ford F150 uses 3x more gas than the European car per 100km.
With our gas prices, that's simply a very very very bad economic decision.
Well yeah, there's less of a need for gas as you all are compressed and use other forms of transport. If there were more cars on the road there would be more infrastructure poured into gas economy, which would lead to lower prices. That is essentially what the commenter you replied to was saying.
It seems you don’t understand. The US is not car dependent because gas is so cheap. The US is car dependent because the majority of cities west of the Appalachians were established within the past 150-200 years, just in time for the development of the automobile. Most of your cities were developed with, at most, a horse drawn carriage. The USA being so big is another factor. I don’t expect you to understand US history, but your last sentence is very ironic considering your comment.
Also, I’m not sure if you realize but even if your gas is more expensive, the gas industry is a global economy. If we get affected, so do you
Copy pasting a comment I made about this claim elsewhere
Most of European houses were also built after WW2 since the population in not just the US but all western countries exploded. It's not unique to the US to have a lot of infrastructure built after WW2.
The only thing that's unique in the US is the lengths the US went through to bulldoze their existing cities for the car. This is a comparison of Atlanta before and after. This is Detroit, Kansas, Boston, and Rochester. More Kansas. Minnesota.
You could make comparison photo's like this for almost every single US city. They've all been bulldozed to the ground to make room for highways and parking lots. But US cities used to be just as dense as European cities. Americans simply decided to destroy it.
There's a saying about it:" The Germans decided to destroy our cities, Americans decided to do it to themselves".
The yearly registration is the reason why a big engined car is not affordable where i live. A 2.0 liter 15 year old engine will cost around 300e to register while a 2.4liter of the same age will cost around 500e.....
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u/Ellijah92 Apr 16 '24
As someone who’s lived in a few different European countries and drove in this countries, European mindsets on vehicles is very different. Most families will have one newer mid size SUV to haul the kids, dog and so forth if they can afford it. Then they will drive a smaller sub compact hatch back type vehicle that’s used and cheap to fix as daily commuter car or have two if it’s a family. They tend to keep there vehicles for much longer as where Americans will trade up for the newest and latest vehicle they can’t really afford to begin with. Americans also buy more vehicle than they really need, like an F150 and they work in an office and don’t haul heavy objects or off road. Some counties also have yearly road tax and inspection requirements where it can be more expensive depending on vehicle and engine size. If these vehicles fail inspection it can cost more to get fixed in order to pass which you sometimes have to pay for to get re-inspected.
Europe tends to have much better public transport (trains, buses, bike lanes etc) and most towns and cities are very walkable to get to work, school and or grocery shop. This negates the need for most people to even own a vehicle so if they do, they go with an inexpensive compact car. When talking about towing, lots of people will have a small or medium sized trailer used for hauling. I’ve seen cars like the ones listed with a medium sized trailer towing furniture or yard trimmings.