Why don't they like American cars in Russia? How the greed of dealers weaned us from buying American cars
I'm absolutely wrong about the title. They drive, they don't drive. All cars, which will be discussed below, are in perfect order and on the go. To get to the meeting point on your own - this condition was mandatory for all participants of the exhibition, which was organized in Chicago in a regular parking lot. I suggest you see what cars have been preserved by the Americans over the past 100 years.
1. I will try to put the models in the timeline: from the oldest to modern cars mobiles. 
2. Let's start with Ford's grandfather, namely the 1928 Ford Model A. "Model A" was the second major success of the Ford Corporation and replaced the "Model T", which had been produced for 18 years by that time. About a million cars were sold in the first year. Their prices ranged from $500 to $1200. Nine body styles in four colors were offered. If you see a completely black Ford "Model A" somewhere, you should know that this is an amateur performance, black color was absent in the line of these cars for some unknown reason. 
3a. The Model A was the first car to use driver gadgets to show speed and fuel availability. The brake and gas pedals were standardized, as well as the gear lever. Windshield It was considered safe and differed from ordinary window glass in a special composition. A small door was made in the cockpit to the engine compartment, through which heat entered the cabin in cold weather. 
3b. This is the Ford Sport Cupe. Pay attention to the round plaques on the bumper and mudguard. Passengers climbed onto the rear sofa along them. Honestly, I don’t know how comfortable it was to go there. True, in those days, few people thought about it. 
4. They were car plate numbers in Chicago in 1931. Round badge - a city sticker, indicating the payment of road tax. Such metal stickers have survived to this day, but are issued only to motorcyclists. 
5. Ford's emblem at the time was a flying bird. 
6. And here the owner of the car demonstrates an unusual saddle mounted on the bumper of the car. 
7. In the 30s, the coolest in Chicago were, of course, the gangsters. Well, what gangster does not like to drive fast in a good car?
1936 Chevrolet Master DeLuxe 2. 
8. 31 cars have survived to this day. 26 of them have found their home in museums and only 5 are still roaming the US roads. 
9. It seems to me that the owner of the car went over a little with a gangster theme. In 1936, Al Capone was already in prison, dry law was repealed, and gangsters hunted bank robberies. For such cases, two-door coupes were not very convenient. Such a car would be more suitable for some successful clerk. 
10. The cost of the car was $675. The engine had 76 Horse power and accelerated the car to 100 km / h. 
11. The machine is 90% composed of original parts. You can only envy the owner. 
12. The next copy is 1948 Bentley Mark IV Delux. A car for wealthy people. The first model that was completely assembled at the Rolls-Royce factories. 
13. Mark IV was considered the fastest sedan in its class. Its 4.6-liter engine accelerated the car to 100 km / h in 15 seconds. A total of twenty-seven such cars were produced. Meeting with one of them can be considered good luck. 
14. 1953 Pontiac Chieftain Catalina. Look with what love the parts of the bumper, body and interior of the car are made. Beauty! 
15. 103 horsepower with an 8-cylinder engine accelerated the car to 100 km / h in 14.9 seconds. It was nice to ride with the breeze in Las Vegas in such a convertible. The clock in the cabin deserves special attention. 
16. The head of the Indian - a symbol of Pontiac in the 50s. 
17. 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. Unlike the Ford and Plimus, the design of the Chevy Bel Air was considered fresh and squeaky clean. The colors were dominated by bright colors from blue to mother-of-pearl. A lot of chrome, leather, moldings, stainless steel window trim and wheel covers - all this was supposed to emphasize a new direction in automotive fashion. 
18. Under the hood is a V-shaped eight with 180 horses. Specifically, this model has been modified and overclocked to 260 horses. 
19. The original interior is also slightly modified. Additional sensors and various devices have been installed. But anyway, look at these sofas instead of front seats. The birth rate in those days beat all records. 
20. Stoplights - just do not take your eyes off. 
21. This is also a Chevrolet Bel Air, but already the third generation, released three years later. Distinctive feature in design - shark gills on the side panels. 
22. Rockets are symbols of speed. 
23. The salon has already survived the reincarnation and appeared in the form of a modern finish with leather in two colors. 
24. Well, the last in this line is the Chevrolet Bel Air Sedan. 
25. Here they did something unimaginable with the engine. The car has 450 horsepower. BMW and Porsche nervously smoking in the corner. 
26. And you can’t tell from the outside - it’s an old machine for the weekend. Who will guess what monster is hidden inside. Subsequently, Chevrolet changed its policy in car design and moved to more different forms. 
27. 1953 Oldsmobile 98 Convertible. I could not pass by this Oldsmobile. It looks like it was hand-picked. 
28. In modern cars, you will no longer find side windows, but you really want to open the window on a hot day so as not to spoil the hairstyles of the rear passengers and so that it is not noisy. 
29. Rear lights. 
30. Well, again - the plane on the hood symbolizes speed and speed. Subsequently, automakers refused to place such figures on the hoods of their cars due to the increased risk of injury in accidents. 
31. Another interesting line in terms of design in the Chevrolet company was Chevrolet-Corvette cars. This is the first generation of the 1954 Corvette Convertible. 
32. The salon is clearly redone, but maintained in the original style. 
33. The emblem features racing flags, hinting at the sportiness of the model. 
34. This model has a V-shaped 8-cylinder engine with 283 horsepower. 
35. The next successful Corvette was the 1965 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe. 
36. This is probably the most popular model that has survived to this day. Sting Reev I read about a dozen at the show. Everything is on the go. 
37. Shark gills on the side. 
38.
39.
40. Various body options - hardtop. 
41.
42. Tee-top - the roof consists of two removable panels. 
43. I don’t even dare to guess how much power is under the hood, it looks like an impressive muffler on both sides. 
44. 1966 Poniac GTO was the brainchild of engineer John DiLoren. In the 60s, the company concentrated on the opposing characteristics of cars. GTO sounds like Gran Turismo Omologato- which means "officially fit for racing" in Italian. 
45. Gasoline was cheap, and engineers did not strive to make engines economical, on the contrary, they increased the cubic capacity and the number of cylinders in production models. Salons became less beautiful and more functional. 
46. Cars still retained huge dimensions. 
47. 1969 Mercury Cyclone. At one time, he set a world speed record of 304.5 km / h. 
48.
49. This model has a Cobra Jet engine with 320 horsepower, 390 cu. in. V-8 and a three-speed gearbox. 
50. 1970 Plymouth Superbird. This model has a high rear spoiler to keep the airflow over the car. The front, made in the form of a shark nose, is also unusual. 
51. There is nothing to say about the salon; for a real racer, the asceticism of the salon is a common thing. 
52. Plimus reached 100 km/h in 5.5s. The rear wing helped keep the wheels on the road at speeds over 250 km/h. Otherwise, the car went on a short flight. 
53. 1964 Porsche 356C Outlaw Coupe. 
54.
55. Judging by the original numbers, the machine was brought from Panama. 
56. 1962 Studebaker Avanti is a very rare specimen. The first car with a fiberglass body. 
57. He was visible last car, descended from the Studebaker assembly line. In 1963, the company was closed for good. 
58. Couldn't get past this bmw car Izeta 300. 
59. Simple, cute, comfortable. City car. 
60. Not an ordinary design decision. The door opens with the steering column. 
61. 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V - huge, ultra exclusive car. You could say the king of the roads. 
62. V-shaped eight with a four-speed automatic transmission gears. The car was the first to use power steering. 
63. Salon trimmed with natural wood. 
64. Among the owners of this model are Queen Elizabeth, the mayor of Hong Kong, Iranian Shah Mohammed Pahlavi, Yugoslav President Josip Tito and musician John Lennon. 
As you can see, Americans are very kind to their cars. Especially the ones with history. Now it is difficult to say which of the modern cars I would like to keep. They are all the same, molded from plastic. In production cars, you will meet the legend less and less, and you will find more and more cheap gadgets.
In the next part I will talk about cars from the 70s to the present day.
Stay in touch. I'll be back soon.
As a motorist with more than a decade of experience, I continue the US automotive theme. I already posted a post about the features American roads and driving habits.
Today we will compare how the American car stream differs from the CIS one. Namely, which cars are extremely rare or almost impossible to meet on Russian roads, but very easy to meet on American.
In short, most of all on the roads of Japanese and American cars. Slightly less Korean and German. And even less European. By the way, there are no French at all, however, like Chinese.
According to my observations the most running car is the Toyota Corolla. They are just everywhere.
But this is in brief .. And now more about what is always interesting to gawk from the window of your car.
Mobile homes or as they are called here - RV. There are a lot of them. They can always be found in the general stream on the track. Moreover, very often along the highways there are huge car dealerships with entire fields of RVs for sale. They come in all shapes and sizes.
The explanation for this is quite simple - the United States is a country completely sharpened by cars. In any corner of the wild with reindeer, dew, waterfalls and picturesque sunsets, you can always come by car. There will always be a campsite for you to park such a motorhome. And although, according to my calculations, a vacation on the principle of “airplane + hotel” comes out cheaper, all the same, RV has its advantages and some kind of romance of its own, which I perfectly understand.
Very often, an ordinary car is also attached to the RV to move around the area after reaching the destination.
SCHOOL BUSES
For me personally, they always seemed like something fabulous, something that is shown only on TV. Here it is a common means of transportation for children. They are found in absolutely every city and state.
When boarding and disembarking children, STOP signs are put forward at the bus, and red lights also light up. For all drivers, this means that you need to stop immediately.
trucks
Those that are called in Russia - jeeps.
There are a lot of them on the roads of America. I must say that in general there are a lot of big machines and sometimes what in Russia is considered a cool big jeep, here it looks like an ordinary car, because there are always bigger jeeps.
Well, for example, Toyota Land cruiser doesn't seem big at all.
These same Dodge Ram and Ford Americans simply adore. I do not argue the car is big and cool, but why it is needed in the city, I did not understand. It’s a completely different matter when the same RV trailers are attached to them ..
Ford Mustang coupe / chevrolet camaro/ Dodge Challenger
If in my home country eighteen-year-old children of deputies or stars drive these cars, then in America they are middle-class cars. You don't have to be rich to afford this car.
Having lived for some time in America, you stop perceiving these brands as something super expensive.
Pumped cars
I regularly meet such chariots on the roads of our city.
Apparently, the size of the disks is inversely proportional to the size of the car owner's pussy.
Tesla
I don’t know how things are with electric cars in Russian-speaking countries, but Tesla is quite popular in the USA. In recent years, Elon Musk was inferior in popularity only to Trump, perhaps this influenced car sales. Plus, environmentalists, of which there are many in America, also choose an environmentally friendly car.
I wonder what comes out cheaper - gasoline or electricity?
SOMETHING THREE-WHEEL..
Or as it's officially called the Polaris Singshot, it's not uncommon in our sunny state of Florida. I have so far more questions than answers. It is not clear what it is, for whom and why. But people go, so the product has found its consumer ..
The price for a new copy is $20,000, which is equal to new Toyota Corolla in the maximum configuration.
RETRO AUTO
Meeting on the road some grandfather driving a fifty-year-old Mustang, you understand that America is really a country of cars. He bought it when he was still a student, and then just kept, maintained, cared for, and now he just rides for fun. It is quite possible that such a grandfather has a new Tesla in the garage in addition, for shopping trips, but his soul remained in that old Mustang.
There have always been cars here. Some cars are perfectly preserved from those old times, some of course restored, which does not make them less attractive.
In my country, I did not notice this, because at that time our fathers and grandfathers rode a trolley bus for 5 kopecks, and there was essentially nothing to save and restore.
AMERICAN CARGO TRUCKS
To be honest, not so many truckers drive exactly on such trucks, they choose Volvo more, but still they are.
When I see this eighteen-wheel carcass with chrome pipes on the road, I have some kind of childish delight. Like it's a cool, life-sized toy for kids.
LUXURY CARS
Ferrari and Lamborghini are not uncommon in Florida, and in general in America. A lot of people earn big money, why not buy yourself a cool car? Well, if the salary still does not allow, then you can always rent it.
Imagine that you are renting a Lamborghini in Russia. What should be pledged? Your family and documents for an apartment ..?
Garbage trucks
And I'm not talking about those machines that take your garbage from your house. Now I'm talking about the phenomenon that I have met more than once only in the United States.
It can be any passenger car completely filled with rubbish from the inside. As a rule, there is no trash only where people sit. That is, if one person drives it, then only the driver's seat and the glass in front of it will be free. The rest of the space from floor to ceiling will be littered with rubbish.
I don't see any explanation for this. If you know, write in the comments. Of course, you might think that a person is moving somewhere, but no. Things are not stacked in packages and boxes. The car itself is a box filled to the top with junk.
I call them "homeless".
That's probably all. Write in the comments about what other features of American life you would like to read.
Thank you for your attention!
Among the cars that the owner wants to sell without driving a brand new car for a year, seven models stand out. It is these models that Americans, for one reason or another, especially do not like and try to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Automotive website iSeeCars.com analyzed 5 million cars sold from September 2013 to March 2014 and checked the same car owners a year later. So the seven brands of cars were determined, from which car owners quickly got rid of, although the speedometer showed from 10 to 15 thousand miles traveled.
Seven cars that Americans don't like to drive:
1 Nissan Frontier
6,9% Nissan pickups The Frontier were resold by their original owners just a year after purchase. This is 2.6 times higher than the average figure - 2.7%. The price in the USA is 23425 dollars.
2Chevrolet Cruze
For Chevy Cruze, the statistics are slightly worse. These cars are sold a year after purchase by 7.2% of owners. Price - $ 18345
3. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
The first shock of the list. 7.4%, i.e. one in fourteen C-Class cars was resold a year after purchase. Price - $36,000
4. Dodge Charger
This model has a 7.7% return rate one year after purchase. Price - $27,900
5. BMW X1
7.8% of the owners of this crossover got rid of them within a year after purchase. Price - $ 31,850
6Chevrolet Sonic
The second car in the list of the most unpopular cars made by GM. The percentage of return in a year is 8.9%. Price - $ 14995
7 Buick Regal
GM cars are especially disliked by Americans. 10.7% of motorists who bought Regal, i.e. almost one in nine people sold them after only a year of driving. Price - $ 30,615
It is interesting to look at the same statistics for Russia. Naturally, the tastes and preferences of our and American motorists do not match. Moreover, we can safely say that in a number of positions they can even differ diametrically.
For example, three of the seven most unpopular cars in America are quite popular in Russia.
This is about chevrolet cruze, Mercedes-Benz C-class and BMW X1, which Russian motorists not only actively buy, but also drive for a long time.
For example, in terms of Chevrolet Cruze sales, Russia ranks third in the world. As of August 2014, 195,000 Cruze vehicles have been sold in our country.
As for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, sales of this car in Russia, despite the crisis in January this year, even grew by 16% compared to January last year.
Popular with Russians and BMW X1. True, in the current difficult times, sales are falling, but if our motorists buy them, they drive them for a long time. It is no coincidence, probably, that no foreign car has so many diminutive names and nicknames: "beha", "boomer", "bema" - just a few of them.
It should be noted that the majority of Russians put up a car for sale when it reaches 6-8 years of age.
Such conclusions were made by specialists of the Avito Auto classifieds website after analyzing offers for the sale of used cars offered in October 2014. Most of the ads are offers from owners of cars manufactured in 2006-2008. This situation is observed in the vast majority of Russian regions.
Average age of those in operation Lada models- 13.8 years, UAZ - 15.4 years, GAZ - 15.7 years. The most interesting thing is that many foreign brands have no better statistics, because with secondary market Europe, Russia also got a lot of junk. So average age Audi models we have 16.1 years. For Mercedes and BMW, this figure is 13.2 years, for Volkswagen - 13.1 years, for Toyota - 12.5 years, for Opel - 12 years.
Today is a great date for many millions - on July 20, 2015, the US embassies in Cuba were officially opened, as well as the Cuban embassy in Washington. If someone does not know, these countries have been in a state of "cold war" since 1961, ever since the Scoop decided to spoil the air next to the United States. The best option was the revolution of the communist rat Fidel Castro, generously paid from the pockets of the citizens of the USSR.
Everyone knows that after the Second World War, two huge "camps" of politics appeared in the world - the "Western world" and the "communist bloc". Various states where the serpent of socialism lurked became closer to the USSR, and all other normal countries joined the Western Europe-USA bloc. Today it is NATO compared to the Taiga Union.
Everyone has sins - America climbed into Korea, then into Vietnam. The USSR climbed into Czechoslovakia, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Also in the scoop they decided that it would be better to have six friends right next to the main enemy - the United States. There is nothing closer than Cuba. There they decided to launch their communist virus.
In the 60s, Soviet agents paved the way for Fidel Castro, and since then this scoundrel has been ruling beautiful but terribly poor Cuba. Cuba is on the same level with North Korea (also friends of the scoop), and many African countries. There is no business in Cuba, entrepreneurship is prohibited, as well as new cars. You must have seen documentaries about Cuba - palm trees, beautiful girls .... and everything ... the rest is just a nightmare. Old Soviet cars decommissioned from the scoop (kopeks and Muscovites), skinned kids on the streets, crumbling houses, even in the center of Havana (the capital). The salary in Cuba is something like 50 dollars. This is all the result of many years of "friendship" between the USSR and Cuba. As long as the dictator Castro is alive, she will remain so. Although there are glimpses.
On July 20, 2015, Cuba officially wanted to get closer to the United States (it looks like old Castro is living out his miserable days). Not only quick death Castro was the cause. The fact is that Putin simply refused to sponsor Cuba because of his own problems. Of course, how can Castro's heated speeches against the Americans be sponsored when there are no roads outside the Moscow Ring Road, when outside Moscow people receive a salary of 7-10 thousand rubles, when Russia's life expectancy is on par with Zimbabwe (55-60 years). For example, "damned Americans" live an average of 70-80 years.
Cubans are not idiots. They decided to turn their faces to capitalism in the face of American investment, tourism and omnipresious privileges if the embargo is lifted and turn a point to PUTIN (with a small letter), from which the smell has already reached the Caribbean. No one wants to deal with troubled countries, and especially with their sick leaders.
Greece is sinking, Putin's next Russia, analysts predict. Cuba does not need such friends.
The funny thing is that Cuba knows firsthand about the "good" life in the United States. In the 80s, a lot of people fled the Castro regime to Florida. Now these people are 50-70 years old and rich - with cars, houses and swimming pools. Calling "home" to Cuba, they tell how great it is to still be a "Pindos".
For Putin, the friendship of Cuba and the United States is like the friendship of all of Europe with Ukraine, which began actively after the invasion of the Russian Armed Forces into the territory of Crimea and the Donbass. Putin gets slapped around the globe. Full itnog, or sends to hell.
Even Iran, which seems to hate the US, is asking and begging to lift the embargo and "begin to be friends." With Putin now they want to be friends only in S. Korea and somewhere in Africa, where people still eat each other.
Cuba's friendship with the United States will be a farewell call for the Putin regime and, unfortunately, for Russian tourists who will no longer go to Cuba for the proverbial cigar and hammock. The freebie is over. Kiselyov's fairy tales have exhausted themselves. Firstly, the Russians no longer have money left, let alone to Cuba, not everyone can fly to Turkey. Secondly, as soon as investments of rich Americans pour into Cuba, Cubans will publicly send Putinoids and all this three-letter rubbish with a microphone. Life is one and the Cubans want to improve it.
Even the hater of the West, Kiselyov, went to the Netherlands to take a break from "beloved mother Russia". Here is a patriot! Here are the gay Europeans, hold on! Lol
So, in 2016, the first cruise ship will go to Cuba. There are 3,000 seats on the ship. All tickets are sold out. Americans are willing to spend dollars, and a lot. Cubans don't need a drunk Vanya with a bottle of vodka under a hammock and no money. They need serious, money tourists. Such as Americans, Canadians and British. They don't need clumsy evil Russian faces without money but with a belly - they have enough of their own.
As soon as the tourism industry in Cuba gets back on its feet, prices will rise. These prices will drive out those Russians who could still afford to buy a ticket ($700-1000) and a hotel and a cigar.
Another 2-3 years of Putin's junta, and the poor people will not have any money left. Only the mafia and oligarchs will be able to fly to Cuba, but why, if the US Marshals and Interpol are waiting for them there for robbing the people?
When cruises are trampled to all ports of Cuba, Castro will have a blow. He will cry because his worthless life, fueled by rubles from the scoop, was in vain. Putin no longer knows how to shit the whole situation. Perhaps he will sponsor some little green men in Cuba (as in the Crimea) in order to return the country to the abyss and the poor, but without capitalism. P.S. In Crimea, the fall in tourism is 120%. Don't believe me, I don't care - comb the webcams of the popular beaches of Crimea.. LOL
Millions of Cubans are happy about the friendship between the United States and Cuba, because it is work, tourists, improved infrastructure, standard of living and education. If you take up tourism wisely, then at the expense of the Americans you can create a budget that Putin's junta never dreamed of. He will not sell as much oil as there will be sold tickets for steamships, attractions and other entertainment that Cuba offers.
Cuba says "Goodbye Soviet past, goodbye Russians and hello America, hello good life"!
Not instantly, but in 20 years these guys will live at the level of Spain, Italy. This is a guarantee! putler shoot yourself, bitch. lol
Article about American drivers: Interesting Facts about drivers from the United States, differences and similarities between American and Russian drivers. At the end of the article - a video about one day in the life of a driver in the United States.
The content of the article:
America is a country of private cars. Public transport with the existing urban infrastructure in the states, it is not very developed: people prefer to settle in small towns around megacities, and it is simply unprofitable for the authorities to start a bus from a tiny town.
If in Russia there are about 50 million private cars, then in the USA this figure is 230 million, and it is growing all the time.
Every American family has a car, and often more than one. By spending a lot of time behind the wheel, Americans have developed driving habits and features that foreigners may find unusual and even exotic.
Politeness is determined by laws
Most American drivers are extremely polite on the road. Here, a “reckless driver” rushing headlong is a rarity the same as a driver who breaks the rules traffic.
Often on the American road you can see a situation that for the same Russia looks unthinkable, if not wild: when driving in three lanes, the two left lanes can be densely packed with cars, while the right lane will remain almost empty. The reason is that the right lane on this section of the road is intended exclusively for turning right, and therefore no one occupies it.
Drivers try very hard to avoid accidents, and the point here is not at all the cost of repairing or buying a new car. Even for a minor accident, you can easily end up in jail or corrective labor.
And then the fun begins: a single database will no longer allow such a driver to get a normal job or get a loan. Moreover, difficulties with employment and lending arise even for those drivers who are lucky enough to get off with a simple fine.
The rules of the road throughout the country are the same. There are minor nuances and features that vary from state to state, but they are few.
Some of the rules may seem unnecessarily lenient to our drivers: exceeding the speed limit up to 10 miles (not kilometers!) per hour. And even a continuous lane can be crossed if the driver does not create problems for the oncoming traffic. I must say that American drivers actively use this, but at the same time they remain attentive and cautious, mindful of the fines.
The rules of the road are being studied from the school bench. Middle school students are already required to know traffic rules, and not only regarding the rights and obligations of a pedestrian, but also from the point of view of a motorist. This is not surprising - in America they sit behind the wheel early.
An interesting feature of the American auto world is the fact that teenagers can drive without a license (!) From the age of fifteen. True, there are two conditions for such a ride:
- a parent with a driver's license must be in the car with a teenager;
- at the age of fifteen, you can only drive a car until seven o'clock in the evening.
From the age of eighteen, restrictions become even less, an escort is no longer required, and you can ride until three in the morning. Between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, rights are almost equal to "adults" except that alcohol is not allowed at all.
Lack of driving schools
But training in a driving school here is mandatory only for truck drivers and special vehicles. Perhaps that is why our motorists who have visited the country of autobahns and Coca-Cola often notice that the average set of knowledge of an American motorist comes down to the concepts of “driving straight, turning, backing out, parking, opening and closing the trunk, opening and closing the gas tank”.
All "braking distances" and "reaction rates" along with such concepts as "turning the steering wheel in the direction of a skid" and "throttle on rear wheel drive"- this is for professionals and truckers, but for a simple American car enthusiast, this is too complicated.
On the one side, this approach is understandable: if you drive politely and calmly, if all the necessary communications are located along the roads, and the tow truck arrives at any point where it was called, not after three days, but in a completely sane time, such knowledge is quite enough.
On the other side, accustomed to understanding the car "from A to Z" by Russian drivers, such "illiteracy", of course, seems wild. But the Americans somehow cope.
In America, they have a passion for mobile homes. For any company that specializes in car camping products, the States is a paradise for marketing their products.
Here you can often meet owners of motorhomes created on the basis of full-fledged buses. Inside, such a motorhome contains everything necessary for life: from a kitchen and a bathroom to bedroom furniture, a TV and a refrigerator. Carries all this luxury, as a rule, diesel engine from 300 to 600 horsepower.
American drivers love to travel long distances in their own country. Spacious territory, living in small towns - all this contributes to the craving for travel. Again, visiting relatives living on the other side of the country for the holidays is not at all exotic, but an annual "must", as the citizens of the country of roads and cars say.
If in the fifties of the last century the motorhome was considered in America a haven for losers or escapists, today it is a way to escape from an overly urbanized world for those who have the opportunity to do so.
Motorists even came up with a special term - "off the grid", that is, "outside the coverage area". Basically, young people prefer to lead such a lifestyle until they settle down and grow into a family.
But this feature of American motorists, perhaps, does not add charm to them. According to the results of regularly conducted social surveys, it turns out that at least 80 percent of drivers are doing something else while driving: talking on the phone, setting up the radio, writing and sending SMS, eating. Women sometimes apply makeup using a rearview mirror, and men shave. Mostly young drivers are guilty of this.
An interesting fact is that car owners who confess to such “sins” say that they perfectly understand the danger of such behavior while driving, but, nevertheless, continue to diversify their lives while driving.
Another feature of American motorists is their aggressiveness.. According to surveys by the US Highway Traffic Safety Foundation, two-thirds of drivers surveyed admit to aggressive driving behavior.
Unfortunately, this figure has grown significantly compared to the results of a survey conducted three years ago. At the same time, nine-tenths of the respondents believe that such aggressiveness reduces their personal safety on the roads, but they cannot help themselves.
And again, aggressive driving behavior is inherent in younger drivers, and the middle and older generations are more peaceful and calm.
If in Russia it is rare to meet a driver over the age of seventy, then in the States the picture is completely different. Here they are in no hurry to leave driver's seat even if they have difficulty walking.
Moreover, in recent years, the car owners of the American fleet have rapidly "aged", and car manufacturers have begun to focus on the more respectable age of drivers, developing their new models. In just ten years, the number of drivers over 84 has increased by 43 percent!
According to statistics, Americans over 75 purchase and register for themselves six times more cars than young people aged 18 to 24. This is natural: they live in America for a long time and remain healthy for a long time.
It is customary for Americans to let their children “free float” so that they can earn their own living. But having worked for more than a dozen years, you can save up for enough expensive car and afford it! It is not for nothing that automakers have long understood that older American drivers are not inclined to bargain at a car dealership. On the other hand, they are more demanding on the model they buy than the youth.
Similarities with Russians
The similarities between Americans and Russians are often talked about. And drivers are no exception to the rule. Like Russian drivers, Americans are often in no hurry to change their car into winter tires. The desire to save money is also not alien to them, and given that the winter in America is generally warm, then “where is that winter!” So they go to the States in the winter, at best, all season tires often encountering difficulties as a result.
Another problem of the Americans, similar to Russian realities, is car damage due to liquid reagent, which are processed in winter roads. According to statistics, repairs associated with exposure to salt and liquid reagents pull out of the wallets of American motorists up to five thousand dollars every year.
A female driver behaves differently on the road than a male driver. For example, most American women admit that in no case will they stop on the road when they see a voting driver. And the reason is not that they doubt their ability to help, but that it is banal afraid to get into a dangerous situation.
Moreover, an American woman, being alone with a broken car, will not ask for help on the road, but prefers to spend the night in a broken car in order to call a tow truck in the morning. Another side of emancipation!
Gadgets in the car
Citizens of the home country of "Silicon Valley" are surprisingly not eager to succeed in the race for all sorts of "bells and whistles" of the car. Three-quarters of American drivers believe that multimedia systems in cars distract the driver and can lead to dangerous situations.
Even video recorders get into the “black list”, since freedom-loving Americans believe that this device, which is so desirable for the same Russian driver, limits personal freedom and invades privacy.
The exception, perhaps, was the electronic rear-view cameras and all kinds of sensors with which you can track pedestrians.
Conclusion
Each country has its own characteristics and habits, including among motorists. While American drivers are very different from Europeans and Russians, you can often find something familiar in their behavior. In any case, in order to fully appreciate the features of the American lifestyle behind the wheel, you need to immerse yourself in the world of endless American roads and feel this atmosphere yourself.
Video about a day in the life of a driver in the USA: