Quote from Electric Eye :

Another good point since I even forgot what I was talking about!

Glad to help.

I noticed the difference in roads when I drove in France and Switzerland. Its like driving on satin
I attribute the relatively poor quality of roads in the US to the sheer number of them, it would cost too much money to even come up with a plan to bring the roads to UK or France standards.
I drive a camaro with very tight springs and it gets pretty bad sometimes.

Christo you're full of good points.

It's a shame, you get the impression alot of American's enjoy driving, but in reality, we have it better over here in Europe.

Well... maybe the roads aren't as good there but at least they can enjoy the nice V8s while we're stuck here with 3 times bigger fuel prices lol

Quote from Electric Eye :

Well... maybe the roads aren't as good there but at least they can enjoy the nice V8s while we're stuck here with 3 times bigger fuel prices lol

When you have to drive 500 miles to the shops it doesn't make much difference

Quote from Christofire :

I like a good handling car, but in the US it makes sense to have the softer sprung stuff. Some of the trips I've done would've been horrible in a stiffly-sprung car. If these guys have to drive on these roads all day every day then it'd soon be a no-brainer. Comfort.

Personally I find the overly softly sprung stuff very uncomfortable to travel in, including on US roads, as soon as it starts wallowing around it's like being in a ship, maybe dampers are an optional extra on new US Fords? Apart from road surface you have to take into account that American cars are heavier than their European counterparts and equally significant a lot of their occupants are enormous. Car manufacturers have done extensive research into what ride suits the build of people around the world so in theory you should find cars from your region are more comfortable to travel in.

Quote from pb32000 :

When you have to drive 500 miles to the shops it doesn't make much difference

Exaggeration !

499.99 miles then :P

Quote from Christofire :

but in comparison to UK/EU roads they're a good deal rougher with more bumps, potholes and overbanding.

The UK has some of the worlds worst road qualities of any country in the developed western world, they are widely regarded to be some of the, if not the worst in Europe.

Maybe you just went on crappy roads in the States (some states had problems with their roads, like California), but generally they seem to have smooth(ish) highways, and their roads in town, and their lookalike equivalent to B-roads are way ahead of the ones here.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

The UK has some of the worlds worst road qualities of any country in the developed western world, they are widely regarded to be some of the, if not the worst in Europe.

Maybe you just went on crappy roads in the States (some states had problems with their roads, like California), but generally they seem to have smooth(ish) highways, and their roads in town, and their lookalike equivalent to B-roads are way ahead of the ones here.

Sorry? We clearly don't live in the same country then, in the UK our roads are generally very good. With the exception of bumpy side streets and country lanes most our roads, and all the main routes and high speed sections are kept smooth and are quickly repaired when they get damaged. The general state of repair of American highways is far worse, they're often rough and bumpy, not necessarily dangerously so but not terribly comfortable to drive on. Given the nature of the States there are a lot of long straight fast roads with very little traffic passing along them, it doesn't make sense to look after them like we do. What you also find in the States is they have a lot of unpaved public highway (it's nearly half of all their roads IIRC) and even just being a bit inquisitive and turning off the beaten track on holiday you'll soon find that the dirt roads are the only way to get to a lot of places. Have you even been to the States and ventured outside of Disneyland?

If you think we've got bad roads, then look at Australia, nothing wrong with their roads, which are mostly unpaved and until very recently the major highway across the country was to. If you want to see really bad roads in the developed world then look at somewhere like Malta, the roads are simply appalling like you wouldn't believe, we found a paved road. Marked on the map as a main road connecting the North and South that was literally so broken that it was impassable in a standard car.

Quote from ajp71 :

Sorry? We clearly don't live in the same country then, in the UK our roads are generally very good. With the exception of bumpy side streets and country lanes most our roads, and all the main routes and high speed sections are kept smooth and are quickly repaired when they get damaged. The general state of repair of American highways is far worse, they're often rough and bumpy, not necessarily dangerously so but not terribly comfortable to drive on. Given the nature of the States there are a lot of long straight fast roads with very little traffic passing along them, it doesn't make sense to look after them like we do. What you also find in the States is they have a lot of unpaved public highway (it's nearly half of all their roads IIRC) and even just being a bit inquisitive and turning off the beaten track on holiday you'll soon find that the dirt roads are the only way to get to a lot of places. Have you even been to the States and ventured outside of Disneyland?

If you think we've got bad roads, then look at Australia, nothing wrong with their roads, which are mostly unpaved and until very recently the major highway across the country was to. If you want to see really bad roads in the developed world then look at somewhere like Malta, the roads are simply appalling like you wouldn't believe, we found a paved road. Marked on the map as a main road connecting the North and South that was literally so broken that it was impassable in a standard car.

Been on the M25 recently? Or do you class that as a side street? the section between jct 9 and 10 (both ways) is abysmal! And between 15 and 12 (anti-clockwise) is like a bloody roller coaster, even though that bit is less than 2 years old!

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

The UK has some of the worlds worst road qualities of any country in the developed western world, they are widely regarded to be some of the, if not the worst in Europe.

Eh? Clearly you´ve never been to Eastern Europe. Especially Estonia and Poland. The roads are very bumpy. It´s mainly down to poor build quality, rougher winters than Western Europe (freezing and defrosting wrecks roads) and in Poland´s case very high load on the roads. Every other vehicle in there seems to be a huge truck.

And if you want examples of really bad roads. Look at this "highway" in Russia. (Ok, Russia may be evil but it´s still relatively developed compared to most Asian, African and South American countries.)

Quote from Crashgate3 :

An annoying lorry thing: When you get lorry drivers overtaking each other on a dual-carriageway, one doing 0.1mph faster than the other so they take 10 minutes to pass each other.

Russian truckers here tend to do that every time they have a chance

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

The UK has some of the worlds worst road qualities of any country in the developed western world, they are widely regarded to be some of the, if not the worst in Europe.

Maybe you just went on crappy roads in the States (some states had problems with their roads, like California), but generally they seem to have smooth(ish) highways, and their roads in town, and their lookalike equivalent to B-roads are way ahead of the ones here.

Ever been to America? They have FAR worse roads than us. Think about it, cost per head to build the amount of road they need...

UK can be bad, but they are nothing like those in the States.

Mhh.... UK roads are brilliant where the hell does s14 live?

Roads in the UK, compared with the US, are fantastic. I used to drive quite often from Chicago to Des Moines and after my first lousy experience on the I-80 in my Grand AM, I resorted to hiring a large Buick. Anyone who thinks that European roads are in ANY way comparable with US roads is utterly clueless on the topic.

The Eisenhower interstate infrastructure is brilliant as a road network, but it has never had the money spent on it that it needed for maintenance since it was constructed. It was treated largely as a one-time investment instead of the ongoing investment that any road is, and simply doesn't receive adequate funding to keep up with 50 years of wear and tear. Not that the problem is limited to the interstates, though. The problem is almost everywhere.

Oh, and the US road repair construction workers are the slowest workers anywhere on the planet. It is astounding how they can stretch 2 miles of roadwork out over an entire season.

Quote from SamH :

Roads in the UK, compared with the US, are fantastic. I used to drive quite often from Chicago to Des Moines and after my first lousy experience on the I-80 in my Grand AM, I resorted to hiring a large Buick. Anyone who thinks that European roads are in ANY way comparable with US roads is utterly clueless on the topic.

I don't know about that direction or when that was, but Chicago to Pennsylvania is much nicer now. Late last year I had a trip out to Indiana and once I got out of the 2 lane but smooth PA and it opened up into 3-4 lanes each way it was quite a nice fast smooth trip. Ok, I was on the clock, so it wasn't so fast. Had to set the cruise control to slightly below the speed limit and take lots of breaks to get the trip up to 8 hours.

Quote :

Oh, and the US road repair construction workers are the slowest workers anywhere on the planet. It is astounding how they can stretch 2 miles of roadwork out over an entire season.

Ah, the beauty of unionized labor at it's finest right there. One guy holding a shovel picking his nose because it's not his job to use the pickaxe to loosen up the dirt that he needs to shovel. That's the other guy's job description to use the pickaxe.

Quote from mrodgers :

I don't know about that direction or when that was, but Chicago to Pennsylvania is much nicer now. Late last year I had a trip out to Indiana and once I got out of the 2 lane but smooth PA and it opened up into 3-4 lanes each way it was quite a nice fast smooth trip. Ok, I was on the clock, so it wasn't so fast. Had to set the cruise control to slightly below the speed limit and take lots of breaks to get the trip up to 8 hours.

Yeah, headed East from Gary IN it's not at all bad really. I drove a few times to PA and NJ, and also went as far as Maine on one roadtrip (24hrs solid from Chicago, stops for gas only). Headed West it's not bad until it begins to get rural. By the time you're in Iowa, you're suffering. I only drove West as far as Nebraska but I'd had enough by then and headed off the beaten track to find some fun gravel roads to kick up some dust on, Dukes Of Hazzard-style.

Quote from mrodgers :

Ah, the beauty of unionized labor at it's finest right there. One guy holding a shovel picking his nose because it's not his job to use the pickaxe to loosen up the dirt that he needs to shovel. That's the other guy's job description to use the pickaxe.

hehe.. yeah! Not that I'm against the unions, but road construction are their worst face!

huh i thought Belgian roadworkers were the slowest :O

Quote from Christofire :

Yes, I have. Have you driven in America recently?

No, but I didnt say:

Quote :

With the exception of bumpy side streets and country lanes most our roads, and all the main routes and high speed sections are kept smooth and are quickly repaired when they get damaged.

Quote from Bladerunner :

Been on the M25 recently? Or do you class that as a side street? the section between jct 9 and 10 (both ways) is abysmal! And between 15 and 12 (anti-clockwise) is like a bloody roller coaster, even though that bit is less than 2 years old!

What is wrong with it? One of the concrete sections of motorway I guess? Whilst they are uncomfortable to travel on in some vehicles they are still kept in a good state of repair and never have pot holes or broken road surface which you do find in lots of other places in the world, the road surface isn't bad enough to effect safety and any damage to the road surface usually results in emergency repairs, not so in other places in the world.

Quote from Scrabby :

huh i thought Belgian roadworkers were the slowest :O

They are.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

The UK has some of the worlds worst road qualities of any country in the developed western world, they are widely regarded to be some of the, if not the worst in Europe.

Sorry, but that sounds like a comment from somebody who's never driven abroad. UK roads are fine.

The only roads I've driven on that are consistently excellent are French toll roads but you have to pay to use them so they bloody well should be.

I'm sure the answer to the original question is simply down to geography and the road network. Australia has a very similar landscape with the US and its trucks are the same. If you have to drive an artic' in heavy traffic, as European drivers have to regularly, you'll appreciate not having an enormous nose sticking out the front of your vehicle.

Comfort. Sitting on that axle is terrible. Having a longer wheel base makes driving them a lot more comfortable.

-If the nose is sloped, a conventional can give better fuel economy than a cabover, especially at 80mph.
-The engine and radiator are easier to work on and remove for overhaul on conventionals.
-With cabovers you have to secure any loose items in the cab before tilting it up to get at the engine.
-Long haul conventionals have easier cab ingress and egress than long haul cabovers. I note long haul because intermediate delivery straight trucks with cabovers have cabs that are lower than their big long haul brethren. Most of the intermediate cabovers sit a little forward of the front axle, allowing for a nice step ahead of the front wheel.
-If a driver is unfortunate enough to hit something head on, it's probably nice to have that big engine absorbing some of the impact first.

Of course that long nose can obstruct visiblity, and this can happen- http://www.dailycognition.com/ ... out-driver-realizing.html