Found the missing option above YT3 PTO control!

[rockyridgefarm]

There is a circle on the side control panel for an unavailable option.
From the symbol this must control a mid or front PTO that Europeans get!

 

[mark2610d]

Wow Europe always gets the good stuff! Hopefully we could get that option in a few years.

 

[VeRV77]

Wow Europe always gets the good stuff! Hopefully we could get that option in a few years.

Europe DOES always get the good stuff. Diesel engines, manual transmissions, AWD options (cars) and that sweet suspension seat and headlamps on the Euro version of my Yanmar 424. The older I get, the more I realize the USA gets the shaft when it comes to mechanicals.

 

[CalG]

Americans don't get the good stuff. Agree. In a market driven economy, why might that be?

American's don't recognize the value and so are unwilling to pay the price. Bottom line consumers!

There is another model. "Buy it once!"

 

[VeRV77]

Americans don't get the good stuff. Agree. In a market driven economy, why might that be?

American's don't recognize the value and so are unwilling to pay the price. Bottom line consumers!

There is another model. "Buy it once!"

I like that model!! I've scratched my head about this very topic for years. My best take:

The market-driven economy is characterized by what Adam Smith called the "invisible hand". Note that he did not say "invisible brain". We don't automatically get all the benefits for just being market driven. You still have to think. Do we often describe ourselves as "thinkers" in this country? Nope. In the US, if you can just "feel good" without thinking, then why go to the trouble? Value is a complex concept, price is not. One requires thinking, the other, not so much.

This is why we're the only modern, industrialized nation that puts tarred grit paper (aka asphalt shingles) on our roofs. They last only 17 years on average, but a common comeback is "but I don't plan to live here forever!". But everybody thinks that way, so everybody's constantly replacing roofs, no matter how many times they move.

So what makes us "feel good" ? Novelty, for one. Corporations know that well, and they really leverage it. Look at how differently American car companies operate, compared with, say Honda or BMW. GM releases new models and sunsets them all the time; engineering driven by marketing. Honda's been refining the accord, generation after generation. Same with BMW and the 3-series. They apply the notion of pedigree and "breeding" to engineering - making this category of thing incrementally better with each successive generation. In the US, we're unconformable with that idea; a person, or even a thing, having some inherited advantage is unpopular, undemocratic, and beholden to the past. It's unsavory. Rags to riches, novelty, and upstart stories are more popular, and a benefit not realized in the immediate term is not worth pursuing. All of that affects our products, our markets, our choices.

So there you have it - my theory for what it's worth. Thinking is hard, novelty is good, long-term thinking is best avoided, benefiting now is best. Rinse and repeat. I mean, how ELSE do you explain this???:

 

[rockyridgefarm]

My kids aways thought those looked just like a Jeep Cherokee (after losing a race against a train)

 

[VeRV77]

Evidence that you've raised them right!