original post: https://feddit.org/post/10733288
Source: [email protected]
“This is why we don’t need #US #cars in #Europe”
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We don’t need US cars like that one in the US!
Too bad the tram havent hit his car
This was taken BEFORE tram went to ramming speed.
And the orange man doesn’t understand why Europeans don’t want to buy American cars. :\
hey. we zijn allemaal Van Oranje!
There is something poetic about this image and how the USA “fits” in with the rest of the world.
That team’s going to have to pick up some speed if it wants to get through.
Me to tram driver:
“SEND IT, BRO!”
Closest I could find was bros yeeting a car out of the way of a tram.
These cars should be banned in Europe. If your car doesn’t fit into a parking spot, it’s too big.
Yeah this is the thing.
If someone can make a case for actually needing the capabilities of this vehicle… fine. That doesn’t mean you can just park wherever you want and complain that the bays are too small though.
They’re not a car, they’re a truck, and can do things no passenger vehicle can do.
Trying to park a light truck in the middle of a city is entirely on the driver though.
The space in the back is smaller than the trunk a station wagon usually has. So all they can do is tow something, which any run off the mill SUV can also do. For the vast majority of actual work, we tend to use Sprinters in Europe. These trucks are completely useless here.
Vehicles like this are typically a “one Tonne” pickup, meaning they can carry a metric tonne or more in the bed. They can also tow huge amounts, 4.5 tonne or more often.
Whether the owner actually uses that capacity is another question, but they can do things no SUV or station wagon can.
The thing is that large vans can also carry all that stuff and they can lock it up, protect it from the elements, and access it more easily because the floor is lower than a truck bed. They can also carry a wider variety of things since the inside of a work van is much longer and has walls to support various items. The entire benefit of a truck bed compared to a van can be defeated easily by a laying down a tarp(say, if you’re bringing in gravel) except for if you’re trying to tow a fifth-wheel or have converted the truck to be a tow-truck. I guess you could make an argument for carrying a single, small hay bale but I c’mon that’s like an American saying they need forty-five guns in case the government goes crazy while actively electing the craziest government officials; it’s clear they don’t know what they talking about and just think they’re neat but can’t simply admit it.
I watched coworkers here in Canada buy two F-150s after they attended a single track day for motorcycles. The coworker who raced regularly, though, drove a little Ford Transit and the coworker who had a small race team and actually built parts for motoGP teams had a Mercedes Metris. Watching people struggle to get a little Ninja 250 out of the F-150 was hilarious and getting my Ninja 1000, a couple hundred pounds heavier, into the Metris one time was super easy. They could have just bought a trailer like my dad did and which we towed with a Subaru Outback, later a VW Golf, and now a Subaru STi.
Trucks are largely worthless and the people who buy them very rarely use them for anything they are the only option for, often using them for things they are, in fact, greatly ill-suited to handle.
I own a 2008 Dodge Sprinter. You can put two full size round hay bales in the thing and close it, or about 15-20 of the rectangular hay bales.
Trucks only have the advantage of the ability to install and use a fifth wheel towing mount.
I’m imagining that actually getting those large haybales in there is probably a whole thing, no? Either way, the little ones would be fine for sure like you say and I’m willing to bet that even farmers aren’t exactly hauling any of it around in their trucks anyway.
A VW transporter can carry 800kg, a Mercedes Sprinter up to 1.5t and their lengths are not absolutely absurd:
(Pictured is the VW but Mercedes is roughly the same length)
The only thing left then is the towing weight, that’s limited to 2 tons for the Volkswagen, same for the Mercedes Sprinter. But I’d assume that usually people towing more than that in Europe would go for a semi truck anyway.
What are people in the US towing that weighs that much regularly?
Boats and caravans, same reason the most popular new vehicle where I live is the Ford Ranger.
Also, the person I replied to was talking about station wagons, which most definitely cannot carry 1.5 tonnes.
They don’t even fit in the parking spaces in the United States. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes waiting for some dipshit to figure out how to maneuver his monster vehicle into or out of a space.
Guess it depends on how you live. I’m over here like “how do you have spots that don’t fit trucks? Every other car on the road is that size”
Context, I live in Texas.
Also also, I’ve been to the Netherlands and those spots in towns are tight fits for a normal car. Even a large full size German sedan probably wouldn’t fit. But that’s fine because almost everyone parks outside of town and uses public transportation or walks or bikes. You basically can’t drive around in town. This truck driver is just an idiot.
Second that. I drive a Seat Alhambra, and parking in Rotterdam is a pain in the whatever. We have turned to leave the car on the hotel parking lot and use the tram, which, incidentally, seems to be the only vehicle the cyclists actually respect, even when they basically ignore all signs and traffic lights.
Seat Alhambra
Never heard of this vehicle before. Now I want one. Wonder how much it’d cost to import it to Canada…
Not so sure about that, given that I’m pretty sure there’s a full sized Mercedes in the back row, and what to me looks like a Volvo in the middle slot, facing the camera.
I’m all for banning pick-up trucks, but @neclimdul has a point. The Mercedes you point at in the back row is literally the smallest Mercedes (A-class) and the Volvo in front row is an older full-sized wagon, which isn’t big in todays standards. A “full size” today, is definitely closer to 5m or even a little over (BMW 5-series). A mid-sized like a C class or 3-series is 4,80. Cars have grown a lot over the years!
But where @neclimdul makes a good point, if you take the largest sedans manufacturers offer, they won’t fit the spot either. For instance: Mercedes S-class is 5,20m long (for the regular version).
Still, the pick-up trucks like pictured are way bigger, for reference a RAM is 5,80m. So in this example, if we’d parked a Mercedes S-class in the same spot, it will cross the line as well, but the tram would still have enough clearance to pass.
I guess my knowledge of cars must have atrophied…
Yea, I was going to say this. We have to park in the back of a lot with the tailgate over a curb to the truck fits into a space.
Oh no. Someone gets caught on camera stealing a tailgate and insurance gives the truck owner a brand new factory original one and then sues the thief to recoup the expense.
The horror.
Ain’t no one gonna steal a 55 pound tailgate.
Owners of such cars should be required to take extra training about where they can operate them, restricting them like large commercial vehicles (which these try to be)
Let them have them; don’t let them drive them in tight urban areas, don’t let them park in parking places that can’t fit them
Australia is much like America with places designed for motor vehicles. So American light trucks fit here, but many of our carparks do not allow vehicles longer than 5m to enter
longer than 5m
Not car anymore, it’s truck.
A brand new Ford Transit Custom is just over 5m, there’s probably a few station wagons that are the same.
One of the many points that prevent cybertrucks from European roads is actually the requirement for a commercial truckers licence to operate it.
Fuck that. Those cars should be banned here in america.
How else are they gonna haul their 3 bags of groceries AND own the libs?
Don’t forget the most important thing you can do with a Ram: mod the diesel engine to spit out even more black smoke than normal while surviving smashing into something when you’re drink driving on a residential road.
Ban track yem this side of Proxima Centauri
They say everything is bigger in Texas. Apparently not the parking spaces. These ugly trucks don’t even fit in parking lots.
Where is the tailor made tramway dilemma meme here?!!!
There is no dilemma. Just Ram the Dodge.
Well it’s on fixed tracks, so there’s really no way to Dodge the Ram.
Hell yeah brother
Canadian here - they’re useless here too. Saw a guy the other day who couldn’t even put some 2x4s in his box because it was to short due to having full size back seats. He had them poking through the window into the cab 😂
I saw a truck today, and I thought, if it were 1995 and you showed my mechanic old timer uncle that truck, he’d call you a yuppie
Big, beefy, and engineered to be loud this truck was, I don’t think you could fit a 2x4 in the bed
the actual bed size is smaller than the old 90s ford rangers’, iirc.
I bet it was a half-ton sporty short-box.
With the rear seats dropped my MK5 GTI has almost as much cargo space as some of those bloated cries for help.
I’m in the US and have a 1970 Fiat 500. That little car can handle quite a few of my needs. I sometimes use it for work, when I only have estimates. Normally I drive a full size Ford E150 van.
I appreciate the Fiat because it’s so different from everything on the roads here, just fun to drive, (I’m 54, so at an age where things like lumbar support and other creature comforts are nice) and it’s just uncomfortable enough to make me really appreciate our more modern and larger vehicles (the For van, a Mercury Cougar convertible, a Dodge 2500 4x4, and a Volvo XC70).
The only real bad side is that between it’s age and the fact that they were never freaky imported into the US, parts aren’t readily available. The last time I used it for work, it broke down.
This reminds me of my sister, who hooked a 6’ trailer to her civic.
I worked at Hornbach in the Netherlands, it’s become a big thing among small independant contractors.
We would have about 50 of these trucks pull into the drive-in every single day.
I do think they are pretty cool looking, but the bed is so tall that even a dutch person can only gain access through the rear door. Outrageous with their 5.4l Hemi but i liked the sound and a fairly impractical car overall.
I mean, a contractor that hauls heavy loads, machinery, dirt, etc, those guys actually have a practical reason to buy such a car. There’s never a reason to drive such a car tot he super market.
Those things tend to be full of fancy bells and whistles too, and many don’t even get a full legth bed anymore. The market isn’t targeting workers with them.
I’m going to instantly judge anyone who gets one without a proper bed, but I can see why some might want the fancy bells and whistles. You know what someone with a physical job that involves lots of driving is going to want in their 50s or 60s? Comfy seats, adaptive cruise and an AC.
You see loads of absolutely fucking miserable old work vans where I come from, and while they often technically do the job, I’ve always hated driving them any time I’ve had to borrow one for work. The issue is not the tiny 2 liter diesel engine or the near total lack of an audio system (though that does suck if you’re driving somewhere for 2 hours each way), it’s the fact that they often weren’t specced with AC in the first place and the seats feel like wooden chairs.
Now the newer ones of course are starting to get AC and some even have not just radios, but bluetooth! But the fact of the matter is, if I had to drive every single day for work and either one worked for me, I’d take an F250 over a Transit or a Crafter or whatever too. Even if the vans are now finally starting to feel as good as an economy car from the late 1990s.
Hell, I can even see why people would drive them to the supermarket. If you’re self-employed or just run a company, you have a comfy work vehicle… Why spend money on a secondary vehicle at all? Just drive the one vehicle everywhere. It’s also normal here to drive your work van to the supermarket to pick up groceries if you’re already passing by. Why make a separate trip with your personal car.
All that falls apart if it’s not a work vehicle at all though. Just get a fucking station wagon, or if you have a bad back, a normal large SUV. BMW X5 or MB GLE ought to be big enough for anyone that doesn’t have a family, X7 or GLS if you do. I can fit 2 adults, 2 kids in child seats, a stroller, suitcases, and a bunch of bags in a normal 5 series or E-class wagon. Or an Outback. There are so many options out there. Best part is, these expensive German cars are still cheaper to buy AND to run than a big ass truck because the trucks have gotten so expensive and there’s a huge weight difference. I get 5l/100km or 47 US MPG out of a diesel wagon on the highway without even trying to save fuel, 7 l/100km or 33 US MPG out of a gas powered wagon.
American cars are the way they are because if you make them big enough, you can classify them as a truck. Trucks, because of old regulations aimed at farmers, have lower safety standards. The automakers thus don’t have to spend as much on development and can make bank off of idiots that feel safer in their death traps just because they can see over the sedans.
Trucks, because of old regulations aimed at farmers, have lower safety standards.
More importantly, they have lower standards for emissions and efficiency.
So the manufacturers would have to spend more on research and development, then build smaller cars which sell for less and fewer people buy – or they can go the other way, build bigger cars that are cheaper to make for more money to more people.The real issue here is badly written regulations due to lobbying.
In Germany for example, a vehicle classified as “light truck” can’t have a back seat.
Which is fine for farmers and craftsmen, but not for the majority of private citizens.
And for commercial trucks above 3.5 tons, you need a different driver’s license.So that’s why that truck i watched being tested vs it’s race variant was like an oversized Suzuki Alto with zero offroad capabilities xD
Someone in my city did this. Their car blocked the tram. The tram company ordered taxis for all passengers, and the car owner had to foot the bill.
They could just take the brightline approach for dealing with vehicles on the track.
@conditional_soup @shadowtofu
Would that mean that since the tram has the right of way on the tracks it can simply push the offending driver’s property off the tracks and any damage is legally the fault of the idiot driver?Not only that, but Brightline helpfully disassembles the offending vehicle so that any parts that are damaged in the move can easily be identified along the debris field.
Brightline is Florida’s highspeed rail line between Orlando (Theme Parks) and Miami. It opened recently and has destroyed many cars and trucks that sit at stoplights on the train tracks.
Me and the wife like to drive down from Tallahassee real early so we can spend the entire day riding the Brightline. They got a special car for those of us that buy the all-day passes. Its like tailgating at the ball game, people bring their coolers and sometimes a small grill. We always have a couple spotters watching for cars on the track ahead of us. If the cars linger on the track too long then we all start the war chant. It started out as BL! BL! BL! SMASH!, but now it has kind of morphed into BALLER! BALLER! BALLER! SMASH!
It’s like driving in a demolition derby but at like 125 mph and you don’t have to spend any time or money getting a hoopty running.Just Florida things
I want to believe this is real but it sounds too good to not be a meme. People ride trains as a hobby in Florida?? Pics (video) or it didn’t happen.
I admit at first we all felt like filthy communists, but the rush you get from the sound of the steel wheels sliding on steel rails followed by the sound of a train obliterating a Nissan at over 90 mph is god damn addictive. Occasionally, we’ll catch a lifted pickup that has stalled on the tracks (ironically it’s almost always a Dodge Ram) and man those dumbasses universally want to blame the train, so we all get to “Stand out ground” and riddle that truck with so many bullets that it doubles in weight. Hell, that’s how I met my bff Harlan. He was working off his community service time for his 3rd DUI right there next to the track picking up litter. Next thing you know him, me, and the train engineer are seeing who can spin the rear tire of some upside down Dodge the fastest. Harlan is a damn good shot, but since he was serving community time he wasn’t allowed to carry anything bigger than a 9mm, so he definitely lost that one.
amazing
Did the offender actually pay the bill? Did the tram company have to sue to get the money? Do you have a news article?
@rabber @shadowtofu
Tram company makes money by moving people. When the tram line stops moving, they lose money by the minute. 1000 Euros per minute plus the standard fee for a parking ticket seems fair. That should make the driver pay attention in the future.That’d be cool but I think people are interested to know if this actually happened
I mean I’m all for fining them but there’s no chance they’re getting 1000 euro/min lol
It’s a network. It’s not just the people in that tram. But all trams on that line and all people connecting through that line that are effected. And that specific track might actually run multiple lines as well. Depending on the country they might be applicable for an reimbursement fee. And lets not start about all the costs the passengers might incur… So €1000/min seems fine for me for this shit head
Public transportation is expensive here
@mac Get found to be intentionally delaying a train in Japan and they bill you a huge amount of money. Not just for the train you delayed, it’s also all the trains on the line behind it that also get delayed. 1000 Euros a minute seem reasonable considering the lost money for the tram company and the lost time of thousands of riders. Plus reduced reputation for the reliability and punctuality of the service causes incalculable loss to the train / tram company.
I’m not going to defend this ridiculous vehicle and the extremely poor parking but there’s just no way a court would award 1,000 euros a minute.
It’s an absurd number you just picked that seems commensurate with everyone’s hatred for these cars.
Intentionally delaying a train is not analogous to parking your car on a tramway. Intent is important. Also a train might contain several hundred passengers while a tram might have a few dozen at most.
The reduced reputation as a result of this happenstance will be infinitesimals. No judge would award losses for reputation over this.
Okay, how about a large fine based on wealth, 1 year community service, and a lifetime ban on owning a vehicle and driving?
@null_dot
{Also a train might contain several hundred passengers while a tram might have a few dozen at most.}
True but what about the next one and the one after that etc etc? This driver didn’t just block the tram they blocked the line. Intent is proven by the obvious tracks that are being blocked by the car that the driver would have to have driven over to get to the parking space.No judge in the US? Or no judge in the EU?
Bear in mind that Finland, for instance, has day fines, and a speeding ticket in 2023 netted a businessman a €121,000 fine. So expensive fines are not unknown in EU countries.
You’re really missing the whole point that these kinds of delays propagate through the whole network. All trams after this point have to stop or they start congesting the roads. So all lines that share the same track and switchovers might have to be stopped too if there aren’t enough alternatives (which tram tracks usually don’t have a lot). This can easily halt a huge part of the tram network depending where in the network this congestion is.
And when the congestion is finally resolved it might still take a long time for everything to finally run smoothly again. You’re also looking at worker overtime, depending on how long it took the car to get removed. They might not be allowed to drive further anymore because they are over their time limits, so now you have to shuffle around tram drivers too adding to more delays.
Not the case I was thinking about, but here is a similar case:
[translated] Parking in a stupid way can be expensive. In Frankfurt, the regional court has ruled that a car driver must pay for the use of 28 cabs.
[…]
The cabs collected people waiting at the stops and drove them to other stops along the route. This went on for an hour before the car parked not far from a “Please keep enough distance from the track” sign was towed away and the route was free again. […]
When the VGF then demanded 973.13 euros, 25 euros of this was a lump sum for their own expenses - and the rest was the cost of the rail replacement cabs. The court ruled out manipulation by the cab company after hearing witnesses, and the court was also unable to recognize any dilly-dallying during towing.
The car driver did not have any legal grounds for not paying for the cabs, this only went to a court because they tried to accuse the cab company.
I get why people are annoyed but I wish my truck had a sunroof.
I don’t even drive a big vehicle, but I know that I would be mortified if I drove somewhere only to realize that my vehicle is like 2x the size of every other vehicle around me, and I cannot fit into any parking spot.
How do these people live with themselves? I would get out of the truck, take a look at how far I’m blocking the road, and then just drive away and never come back.
Here’s an answer to your question in joke form.
How does a deva change a lightbulb?
She holds the bulb and waits for the world to revolve around her.
Did you mean diva?
Thank you though, I have a new wiki page to learn about myself. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_(Hinduism)
Fixed. I forgot which spelling I meant.
You’re a supernatural being?
Diva is also a supernatural being. Meaning goddess originally. Derived from the same word as divine. I remembered some enemy or something from an RPG being called a Diva so I looked it up.
I believe to be part of a long cycle of rebirths. I doubted it until I found a book in a little free library. Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings.
In it I have found that it is not silly to believe my ideas of unity. To believe the name I was given. That he too believed it and didn’t have the name. That i as a person exist based on the ideas pushed through millenia. These ideas inspired and created the world, in turn molding me.
Now that I am here, I have suffered. The coincidences of life have aligned. It worries me what this could mean. People have been waiting for the arrival and I know not where to begin.
So every day I just reflect until the time is right. Sowing seeds. Waiting.
My name is my job, to heal. My surname means to supplant. I always wondered why was I born on the 2nd day of this millenia. I am the second in many things.
I fear knowing my catalyst.
Some people love any kind of attention they can get. You can’t be ignored with such a car. People will talk to you about it. You can’t be ignored feel stronger and bigger inside it than anyone else on the road.
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