Differences between US Spec and EU spec cars?

[buickgnx88]

yea and another problem on the 3rd gen Altima's is that they dont have catalytic converter's. I had an 05 Altima before i got my 08 and the 05 didnt have any cat's !

Untrue. All cars after the 1970s have to have a catalytic converter in the US.

The 2005 either had it next to the exhaust manifolds (4 cylinder) or about midway down the underside of the vehicle (V6). If it was a second owner vehicle, then the previous owner cut it out.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> ...

Vanishing: what the hell is someone doing with a Chevy Caprice in Europe? wouldn't that take up half of the passing lane? and how does anyone in those little matchboxes not have a heart attack on witnessing that monster.

^ To be honest, I don't know!

-> I just stumbled this pic in the interwebs!

-> I even don't know that the Caprice was officially released in Europe! Notice that the car was factory-fit original not some aftermarket add-ons:

Caprice Euro Version (not many people knew)

Caprice US Version (everyone is familiar with this one)

Heres a weired one, it has the Euro-spec lights but with the NA-spec rear bumper:

 

[eiriksmil]

Man, I want a Caprice for holiday cruising.. The whole family can dine at that rear bumper!

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

^ In my opinion, I get this:

^ Vista Roof = Epic
(Sorry, can't help it. I'm a wagon fan!)

 

[Sniffs]

heh. the revived Roadmaster was buick's clone of the Caprice. the wagons are pretty rare...even rarer is running into the Olds Custom Cruiser version of the wagon.
the 9C1 cruiser, there, appears to have Pennsylvania Municipal plates (in our previous "gradient" style). behind it is an Aries/Reliant K car, so that confirms it's a photo of US spec Caprices. since the center light of the passenger side taillight cluster is amber-looking, it might be the lighting angle making it look like they have euro spec tails. GM doesn't often use amber turns on USDM made here.

 

[Christhedude]

yesterday i drove all the way to munich in my gf's mom's peugeot 307 just to floor it and at a petrol station i saw a Chrysler Voyager with Illinnois plates.
I went up to the family and starting talking with them and they told me that their doing a holiday trip through Europe.
They were also so shocked that people do 130+ mph and he was talking about that he just did 100mph and felt so happy

Chris

I <3 Autobahn!

 

[Balocco]

US regulations meant you couldn't get a Citroen DS or SM with the totally awesome swiveling, self-leveling headlights. To add insult to injury the headlights we did get here were hideous, especially in the SM, where six small square lights were replaced by 4 big round ones.

 

[homeforsummer]

Yep. Eunos Roadsters and MX-5s both have that foglight. While it's possible to tell apart other imported cars from their native counterparts by the strap-on foglight hanging incongruously off the rear bumper, it's not with Eunoses/MX-5s.

You can tell when importers have made absolutely no effort though. Like this one I test-drove a year or so back:

The ones where the fog is just hanging down rather than semi-attached to the bumper... Ironically, actually, given that the one above looks to have had the reverse-light to fog-light conversion I mentioned earlier.

Vanishing: what the hell is someone doing with a Chevy Caprice in Europe? wouldn't that take up half of the passing lane? and how does anyone in those little matchboxes not have a heart attack on witnessing that monster.

I don't know whether that was tongue-in-cheek or not but I've never understood why people assume that anything bigger than a Mercedes E-Class or similar is a shock to Europeans, and we've never seen anything so big. We still have 44-tonne lorries cluttering up the roads and they don't just stick to motorways either.

Note to our American members: We still have big stuff in Europe. You just tend not to go and get your groceries in them...

 

[Jondot]

I don't know whether that was tongue-in-cheek or not but I've never understood why people assume that anything bigger than a Mercedes E-Class or similar is a shock to Europeans, and we've never seen anything so big. We still have 44-tonne lorries cluttering up the roads and they don't just stick to motorways either.

Note to our American members: We still have big stuff in Europe. You just tend not to go and get your groceries in them...

Well yes, but as you say you tend not to see one of Scania's finest hanging out of a Tesco parking space. A Chrysler Sebring, however, will most likely be driven like it's a Nissan Micra. Which is fine until one parks next to you and you're suddenly forced to use your sunroof like a trapdoor.

 

[Famine]

Mk4 Mondeos don't fit into a standard Tesco parking space. Fact. And they're one of the most commonly bought new cars.

 

[homeforsummer]

Well yes, but as you say you tend not to see one of Scania's finest hanging out of a Tesco parking space. A Chrysler Sebring, however, will most likely be driven like it's a Nissan Micra. Which is fine until one parks next to you and you're suddenly forced to use your sunroof like a trapdoor.

Again though, that assumes that something like a current model Land Rover Discovery or a V8 Land Cruiser isn't parked next to you, both of which are significantly more enormous than most other cars on the road. Or even a Transit van, of which there are plenty in the average supermarket car park. 2 meters wide and just under 5 metres long for the short wheelbase version (almost 6.5 meters for the "jumbo" version) isn't exactly small.

A Crown Vic is pretty big but it's narrower by almost 20cm and only longer by about 40cm, and a hell of a lot easier to see around than even the SWB Transit.

My point being, it's not like we don't have big vehicles here. Not to mention that ours run on significantly narrower roads, and in my experience most traffic travels a hell of a lot quicker on average than it does over there.

In other words, it's a misconception that all vehicles in Europe are tiny, and another misconception that they're slow. In terms of sharing the road with very very small and very very big vehicles I think we get on pretty well.

 

[Balocco]

Well yes, but as you say you tend not to see one of Scania's finest hanging out of a Tesco parking space. A Chrysler Sebring, however, will most likely be driven like it's a Nissan Micra. Which is fine until one parks next to you and you're suddenly forced to use your sunroof like a trapdoor.

Wait, people in Europe buy Sebrings? Us Americans won't even buy them, and we MAKE the damn things.

 

[Sniffs]

i remember hearing just as loud complaints about Chrysler products in europe (overweight and underpowered)

Home: i never said euro cars were SLOW. there's plenty of expensive proof of that! it's the tiny part. the only things I've seen that would NOT qualify as "tiny" in american eyes are the lorries of yours. we're used to yaghts.

it bugs me more that europeans assume american roads are eight lane bone straight interstates EVERYWHERE.

i notice a lot of those required fogs are extremely tacky and tasteless.

 

[homeforsummer]

Home: i never said euro cars were SLOW. there's plenty of expensive proof of that! it's the tiny part. the only things I've seen that would NOT qualify as "tiny" in american eyes are the lorries of yours. we're used to yaghts.

Yeah, I know you didn't say slow, but that seems to be a stereotype too.

Would you consider a Dodge Sprinter "tiny"? Because that's roughly equivalent to the vans that are absolutely everywhere in the UK. Yeah, a lot of our cars are small, but they share the roads with stuff easily as large as the largest you get in the States (referring to lorries, rather than pickups etc). A Caprice or similar is completely insignificant. It only stands out for being a different shape, not for being big.

it bugs me more that europeans assume american roads are eight lane bone straight interstates EVERYWHERE.

I think that thanks to the internet very few people hold that misconception any more.

That said, when I was over there I came across roads in two-horse towns that were wider than our M1 motorway that runs from Leeds to London - it's not a misconception that US roads are massive, in general. Because they are.

 

[Caio_Reinhardt]

The changes I think are few, you will have to change the first stage of the Headlight (Presence Lights) because in an American car, it turn on the turning signal, in Europe they have to be separated. At backlight the turn signal must be ambar (I saw a Civic from the US market in Europe and the guy had to import the rear light from Brazil) and it has to have a Fog Light on the side of the driver...

Some few examples of that:

Outside of that, just the size of the plate...

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> Here's a newer one:

North American vs. Euro/Global spec Camaro

^ And here's from Top Gear UK before facelift:

Notice the amber LED strip on its tail lights/lamps.

 

[Caio_Reinhardt]

More diferences:

Focus EU X US

Jetta EU x US

500 EU x US

 

[Ibonibo]

A bit late here, but this is my advice for you Chris:

Get a "einzelabnahme" from the TUv or Dekra.

It will give you all the papers needed for a EU homologation. (Austria needs to except them, EU regulation FTW)
But the modification are still required to be done, "remap" if emission aren't to Eu specs, lamps, maybe some mirrors....

I already heard of JDM cars needing a replacement windshield because it wasn't up to Eu specs, but that is rare and can be circonvented by passing through the TUV.

When I searched for my GTR, i even found a garage in Austria which can do homologation for you.

TUV "Einzelabnahme" one is probably the safest bet to get it on the road. Then there is no need for expensive translation of papers,... (probably saves you a 1000-3000&#8364

If you need more info, I can try to get more info and more specifics or maybe we have a german tuner here

And congrats on your N24 race 👍

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> ...

More diferences:

Focus EU X US

^ The RS vs SVT isn't right. It should be the ST170 vs SVT, because their performance is terrifyingly similar!

ST170

SVT

-> I have more:

US Version Passat

EU Version Passat

 

[Slash]

No - because there isn't one.

Typically, where a car exists in both markets, the US spec car tends to be slightly heavier, slightly softer sprung and can, on occasion, have different bumpers in order to pass the differing crash tests (which are a legal requirement in the US, from what I recall, but not in Europe - merely marketing over here). But that's not always the case, by a long way, and nor is there any reason at all that a car can't be identical between the US and Europe.

I doubt "no-one has ever imported one before" - and I also doubt there's any requirement for you to convert the car (the only exception I can think of would be for Switzerland). Some friends of ours are bringing their Toyota FJ back with them from the US and all it requires is the money to ship it.

Some had different engine and power options available too.