To all car guys in USA, would you be curious about cars mostly exist in Europe?
Posted by umutcklc@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 54 comments
I'm not from USA. And as far as I can see, some European cars like Renault, Opel, Peugeot, Fiat, Citroen, Alfa Romeo and many other are very rare in US. Despite the fact that they are extremely popular in Europe. Which is totally understandable since American Muscle's are rare here too.
You guys get used to big engines and most of our engines are relatively small. You guys use Gas cars but even a small hatchback can be found with a diesel engine here. There is a big cultural difference. There are probably lots of cars that you haven't heard before but considered as a legend here.
So my question is, would you be curious and learn about these cars? I'm planning to create videos based on European cars targeting US audience but not sure if it would be interesting.
Thank you.
mds818@reddit
As a fellow european guy... lets be real, majority of those cars are shit - strictly point A point B vehicles because they're not really capable of any other actions... 75hp, 110hp engines... that's just lame, anything below 150hp is hardly of any use, and most of those small hatchbacks don't have 150+... especially french cars...
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
100 HP and above are easily enjoyable İMO
HungryHungryMarmot@reddit
I’d be very interested in cool cars in Europe that aren’t available in the US.
vespers191@reddit
The general assumption of engineers in Europe seems to be that they want to be small and maneuverable, since the roads are relatively old and intended to allow carts to travel. So they make small, zippy cars and supercars and so on, suitable for those roads.
American cars concentrate on comfort and ride quality, and going fast in a straight line. Not necessarily as fast as the supercars and hypercars, but perfectly capable on an open road. Displacement is preferred over meticulous engineering, but there's a lot of cross pollination over the Atlantic. With BYD now available in Canada, I'm expecting that we'll be seeing more Chinese hardware down here as well.
HousingSmart4426@reddit
I think it will be cool. I rented a Citroen DS and a VW Polo when I was there. The Citroen was a pos but it was still cool.
Disastrous-Group3390@reddit
I’d be interested in the ‘whys.’ Why does x country get a smaller engine than y (explain the tax penalty in x.) Why do euopean cars have repeaters on the front fenders (and how do these get included or hidden when the model gets wxportwd to the US.) Why are your signal lights amber? What about mirrors being ‘break away’? (I’ve seen some older US cars like late ‘70s Trans Ams modified to meet Euro specs and they have funny looking mirrors, extra lamps in the bumpers, weird looking taillamps for example.) Do some ‘compare and contrast’ and explain things like ‘in the US, it’s not unusual to have a life (house, driveway, roads, parking lots and long, mostly straight distances as routine travel, so we don’t value buzzy turbos in little boxes that corner and stop on dimes as much as we do roomy highway eaters.’ Bob Lutz explained a lot of it in ‘Car Guys vs Bean Counters’ and it really made sense that a Texas oil man wants to go ftom Houston to Dallas to New Orleans at 85 mph in 100 degree weather with his AC sitting on 68*, and trying that day after day in a Mercedes or BMW wouldn’t work like it does in a Cadillac (then a Fleetwood, now an Escalade or Yukon Denali.)
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Wait, do you guys not have taillamps and extra lamps in the bumpers? They are for foggy days and actually very useful. And it's illegal to turn them on unless it's foggy outside lol. Interesting info
lemmeEngineer@reddit
Fog lights are not mandatory in the US and most cars don't have them. Even the red in the back is rare.
Side indicatora are also not mandatory andamy cars don't have them
Rear indicators are allowed to be red and be shared with the brake light. So many cars have red rear indicators. And what happens is you let's say indicate left and brake at the same time? Left red is flashing and right is constant.
From headlights have differences as well, for one amber side markers are not needed in Europe. Ans many many other differences all around the car...
Disastrous-Group3390@reddit
A lot have front fogs but they’re not required. Americans like front fog lamps 24/7/365, but when they drive their German cars like that the single left rear fog being on looks like they have an electrical short. No US vehicles (to my knowledge) have any rear fog lamps, just the red lamps that come on with headlamps. There’s no ‘extra’ rear lamps.
PowerSpool@reddit
I unfortunately am.
I love cars ill never get to drive in my country because the government is full of unhappy old ass white dudes
clipples18@reddit
Give me 1000 fiat panda videos
BraveLordWilloughby@reddit
The first of my mates to pass his test, his first car was an early first-gen Fiat Panda. Such a fun little vehicle. With 4 of us inside, the thing could barely hit 50mph, even on a nice open motorway.
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Lol that's actually a really cool example of my question. Panda's are praised and loved in Europe but an American's first impression might be that it's a goofy shitbox. So I wonder if I make a Panda video, would it interest the US audience.
jrileyy229@reddit
Well, are you making videos for fun? Or trying to generate revenue? The vast majority of Americans don't consume any car stuff on YouTube.
If we say maybe 10% do, at least half of that is younger people watching supercar videos, they will not care about a Panda. People who grew up watching Top Gear will absolutely know about a Fiat Panda and a Dacia Sandero and other cars that were talked about often.... But will also know we can't buy them, so watching a video review of a Panda is pointless. So no, I don't think there's any reason to target US audience with basic Fiat Panda content.
Now if you're going to take one and do like and LFX swap and hot rod it, then you might have something cool... But that will cost tens of thousands and wouldn't make sense
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Yes that's exactly my concern. For example, Pontiacs looks awesome. But I wouldn't watch a "should you buy" review video about it since it's already impossible for me to buy it. But I would watch a video that tells the story of Pontiac cars that explains why they are cool because cars in general are interesting to me. But I'm not everyone.
DudeWhereIsMyDuduk@reddit
I'll likely be buying a 25+ year import in the 2040s when it's time to replace the Jeep.
TwinkieDad@reddit
It’s not that many of those cars are rare in the US it’s that they don’t exist at all. Most non-luxury European carmakers pulled out of the US decades ago. They struggled to meet emissions and safety requirements along with reputations for being unreliable and expensive to repair.
djsnoopmike@reddit
I have never, ever seen any French cars in the US, so that'll be a nice starting point.
Actually now that I remember, I have seen three Alpine A110s driving in a convoy two years ago
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Not just French cars, but there are lots of German cars that nearly doesn't exist in US. Like Seat and Cupra. They are extremely popular here and I think if a car guy take a look at Cupra, they would be get curious about it since I think they are awesome. Or Czech car, Skoda. Which makes awesome sedans that are used by presidents in Europe. I think some Alfa Romeo's exist in USA but considered as very luxury. There are lots of low budget Alfa's here that people love. In short, there are many cars that might interest people and hoping to be right about it lol
Antti5@reddit
Seat is Spanish, Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo.
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
My bad. Got confused since they are under VW group.
Antti5@reddit
Yep, these days they are much like Skoda. But I think in their early days the partnership was with Fiat.
KostyaFedot@reddit
Why are you assuming people can't open YT and watch detailed and even long term reviews on almost any car made in EU.
We ain't this stupid...
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Why would I assume that lol. Of course you "can". Question is are people are curious enough to do it.
Pipija_Banana@reddit
Nah not really I got Google
HenriDeToulouse@reddit
BigCar more or less does this. Doesn't target US audience specifically but does explain enough that it would be consumable by US viewer.
Seems to me that a lot of car culture is actually based on nostalgia and the familiarity of certain makes / models. With the US audiences not having that I'd wonder if it would be appealing - which I understand is pretty much your question.
I think the Americans cars have such a large audience in return is our consumption of American media and culture.
gotcha640@reddit
HubNut does pretty well, getting excited about super basic cars.
When I’m in England (or anywhere in Europe/somewhere I don’t know all the traffic laws) I much prefer a smaller engine to avoid speeding tickets. I don’t drive like an AH in the US, but I definitely know where I can get away with speeding.
hurricanePopsicles@reddit
I used to have a Fiesta ST which is not a common car here I the US, but in Europe that car was one of the most popular ones. It’s pretty interesting to me.
Apprehensive_Lake351@reddit
Also EU and US Fiestas had a lot of small differences. I had a 2013 Fiesta and I remember watching Doug Demuro’s review of a Fiesta ST from the same generation, and it looked like a completely different car to me, especially inside.
Laundryczar@reddit
Indeed.
ottrocity@reddit
Just mail me a Twingo already
RAMBIGHORNY@reddit
Weird/obscure ones for sure like the Renault Avantime or Aston Martin Lagonda. I really don’t care about some farty VW
Captain3leg-s@reddit
This is why I watched Top Gear.
StJe1637@reddit
The european hellcat is a 1.6 litre engine
Aegean8485@reddit
Labor rate in USA is 3-4 times more than Europe. So, high maintenance vehicles are not popular. Renault, Fiat, Alfa Romeo sold cars in USA but because of lower reliability they did not do well. The best example of difference between Europe and USA is Mercedes. In Europe can be serviced and run for decades while being very popular. In USA after 10 years the demand and prices drop significantly because of high cost repairs plus there are plenty of more popular luxury brands.
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Renault and Fiat is considered very reliable here with DIESEL engines. Gas engines are also reliable but not preferred much. Same thing applies for Hyundai and Kia too. I heard that they are popular with their unreliability in US. But they are considered the most reliable after Japanese cars here. But most preferred engines are again, diesels in them. Not to mention they are mostly stick shift so no issues coming from an Auto gearbox. I think that's also a manufacturer issue. Cars sold in US and cars sold in Europe are not the same even though they share the same badge.
Major_Enthusiasm1099@reddit
I see an Alfa Romeo nearly every day and I’m in the USA
mrdungbeetle@reddit
I love European cars and wish we got them here. I'd watch the videos if you showed how the cars are used in European life (because that is just as interesting to some of us Americans as the cars are). And get a huge American Pickup or SUV to contrast them with in how easy they are to zip around cities.
TheLastGenXer@reddit
my favorite part of traveling is seeing different cars.
SailingSpark@reddit
I have only ever owned European cars, mostly italian, but I have owned, English, Swedish, German, and Italian. Never had a french car, though they look interesting. Of the cars I have owned, I think only one ever qualified as "mainstream" and even that was just different enough not to be.
Serious_Lettuce6716@reddit
I haven’t been so far, but I like learning about cars. I like Ed’s Auto Reviews, SarahNTuned, and Doug DeMuro on YouTube.
SphericalCrawfish@reddit
Not really, I did engineering work on a few of them. Cars are cars. A few of them are just rebadges. You have a Malibu variant for Opel. Weirdly Compass goes the other way and has the same badging but different internal codes so you get things like different parts being serviceable.
Silent-Package7305@reddit
I love European cars and wish we had more of them here in the us, or at least wish that importing them was easier. I love little hatchbacks, and yall have them in diesel over there so logically they get insane mileage. A diesel Renault Clio or mg3 here would be so sweet
VivienM7@reddit
So... I'm in Canada, not in the US, but the cars we get here are pretty much the same as the US models. And I spent time in Europe (France) in the 1990s and have a sense of European-market cars from there.
My sense is that there are some enthusiasty European market cars that an enthusiast American audience would be interested in. High performance wagons from Audi. High performance hatchbacks from everybody, like those crazy rear-engine Renaults. Etc.
And also the really quirky things.
But... the more daily drivers? I don't think there's great curiosity about Renault Clios or Scenics (although I've always thought Scenics were kinda cool, and the Espace in the 1990s was a much more sophisticated minivan than the North American ones, albeit at double the price).
Really, look at what European-market vehicles Doug DeMuro has reviewed, I think he's mostly focused on the ones a North American audience would find interesting (and the ones that would be imported in North America under the 16/25 year laws).
One other thing I would note - what you call 'cultural' differences is also legal/regulatory. The biggest reason for the lack of diesel in North America is that the regulatory environment makes it very difficult for diesel, while it was policy in France and other European countries for decades to encourage diesel. Volkswagen is perhaps the automaker that tried hardest to push diesel in North America, and we know how that went...
Emperor_of_All@reddit
I think the question really comes down to what type of content you make. The term car guys is sort of a lie also if you plan on making a car channel for car guys you are going to starve to death. Even in the enthusiast world there are pockets. If you specialize in VWs you aren't going to get Chevy guys etc. If you want to make hardcore drifting videos you aren't going to get drag racing guys.
You need to figure out what your target demographic is and how you are going to attract them. I am always interested in content as long as it is cool.
I think for general consumption something like Mighty Car Mods which focuses on rebuilding cars and modifying them may work best for you. Where there are a lot different varieties and modding them. I would suggest starting with a comparison/base line people can compare to.
umutcklc@reddit (OP)
Yes I agree that the term "car guys" is actually different for everyone. I'm not a handy person myself therefore can work on cars mechanically. Maybe that makes me a "non car person". But I enjoy the cars stories, little details about them, characteristics about them etc. and treat cars like they have an actual identity.
I love talking to my friends about cars and telling to the very little details like a salesman to a point that they got frustrated with the conversation lol. So what I have in mind is, why not create videos of telling these things. Not mechanical, or actual driving etc. but telling the story and characteristic behind European cars. I hope that make sense.
Emperor_of_All@reddit
I think it would be closer to the show that Donut had for a while called Up to Speed, the biggest problem you are going to have is there is a limited number of cars available. With content you have a X amount and then you need to figure out how to make new content. Also the reason Donut's show worked is the host as well as JDM culture they were capitalizing on. However that only took their channel so far.
AlaskaGreenTDI@reddit
Having travelled to other countries, I’m always looking at cars and trucks that aren’t found in the US, so conceivably id watch some content like this, but at the same time it has to be interesting somehow and not just like you’re reading from a build sheet.
New-Patient-101@reddit
So you want to do what grand tourismo does?
Ill_Criticism_1685@reddit
As a car guy, interesting cars are always interesting. One of my favorite parts of traveling abroad is seeing cars that I don't normally get to see in the US.
bmxracers@reddit
Some of them sure. Most of them no.
doug-demuro-is-daddy@reddit
When I went to Japan, as an American, I was fascinated by all the everyday JDM cars we don’t get here. Any vehicle that is either not sold here in the States or not common here is very cool by me
WizeAdz@reddit
Yes.
I’m curious about cars worldwide.
When I’ve visited EDM countries, car spotting is an information-rich experience for me.
But I’m not everyone. I like EVs, hybrids, and new ideas. A lot of car guys just want to tinker on their Small Block Chevy engines and call it a day. There’s more than one way to get excited about cars. 🤷♂️
bandit1206@reddit
Thanks to Top Gear and similar, I’m familiar with most of those makes. It has reinforced that the only European cars I’m interested in are Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. Maybe Bentley, and one or two Mercedes and BMWs but not most of them.