Notes from Germany

Unlimited speed zones are awesome. Especially in an Audi, Mercedes or BMW. Which represent 80% of the cars here.

The VW Sirocco is awesome. Please, please bring it to the states.

Why is the Ford Kuga not sold in the us?

Whereabouts are you? My standing offer of Beer for GRMers who show up in Berlin / Potsdam is still open.

I was in Stuttgart a couple of weeks ago, visited the Porsche factory and Museum. It's a must-see for us car lovers. I'll say one thing for the Germans – they sure know how to make a decent cup of coffee!

Lesley wrote: I'll say one thing for the Germans – they sure know how to make a decent cup of coffee!

...which only partially offsets the lousy breakfast.

When I was there, the entire country was a passing zone, even blind corners on narrow back roads. If it wasn't safe to pass, you didn't do it.

Really? I had this really amazing muesli and yogurt concoction, with sliced fruit and a sprig of mint. Looked like porridge, tasted fantastic!

Woody wrote:

Lesley wrote: I'll say one thing for the Germans – they sure know how to make a decent cup of coffee!

...which only partially offsets the lousy breakfast.

Depends, I never got used to the Anglo-American style breakfast, even after 12 years in the UK and a year over here.

I remember my uncle once told me, when he was stationed in Germany, he had his Ford Country Estate wagon taken over with him. He would be doing 80-85 MPH and was still getting passed like he was parked on the side of the road. He also mentioned that their road manners there were superb as compared to US drivers. Makes me want to take a trip there just to see that alone!

Have you gotten out to the Nurburgring yet? Are you planning to?

If I were there, I'd also be wanting to take a tour of Weihenstephan brewery.

<----- Jealous that you're in Deutschland. I want to go back

Lesley wrote: Really? I had this really amazing muesli and yogurt concoction, with sliced fruit and a sprig of mint. Looked like porridge, tasted fantastic!

looks like someone already ate that...

Awww... you just had to go there, didn't you?

pinchvalve wrote: The VW Sirocco is awesome. Please, please bring it to the states.

Lee had one in the Koni booth at SEMA a couple years ago. I was impressed.

In reply to Jay:

Thanks for the offer, I was in Baden-Württemberg (Bad Friedrichshall, Neckarsulm, Inglefingin) with stops in Heidelburg and Stuttgart. I was partial to the Paulaner Hefeweizen.

Drove past the Porsche Museum on the way to the Mercedes Museum, which was also amazing. Stayed a few blocks from the Audi Forum, which was neat. The Autobahn was awesome, 145mph on the way to work in the morning, and the Porsche factory testing cars on the roads at night.

The drivers (and roads for that matter) really are amazing in Germany.

If I were to ever move out of the states, that's where I'd go, it's just an all around nice place.

Oh, did I mention my transportation?

pinchvalve wrote: The VW Sirocco is awesome. Please, please bring it to the states.

Only when VWoA gets their heads out of thier asses and realise that it will not take sales from the GTI

e_pie wrote: The drivers (and roads for that matter) really are amazing in Germany. If I were to ever move out of the states, that's where I'd go, it's just an all around nice place.

However, there is no DIY car stuff. Oil changes are expensive, its illegal to put a cold air intake (or anything else) on a car.

^^ My car has an aftermarket intake, K&N cone filter, and HKS bypass valve on it. Along with a rollbar. It's legal.

Oil changes cost me €29. I'd do them myself if I had my own driveway. But yes, dumping the used oil down the sink or in the bushes behind the skip is illegal.

Kendall_Jones wrote: However, there is no DIY car stuff. Oil changes are expensive, its illegal to put a cold air intake (or anything else) on a car.

Actually, that's not true. A lot of larger towns have rental workshops where you can rent a bay or a lift by the hour to work on your cars, or you rent some space with a few like-minded individuals to work on your cars. Or you just work in your garage - the main problem is that it's very much frowned upon to change the oil by the side of the road.

It is illegal to put non-type approved tuning parts on the car unless you have the changes recorded in the car's paperwork. To do the latter, you have to have the vehicle inspected by the local TÜV or Dekra vehicle inspectors and if they're happy with the quality of the parts and the work, you're OK.

You can get away with some pretty interesting stuff, if you want to make massive changes the idea is that you check with a local inspector first, talk him through the plans and if necessary, have the car inspected partway through the build (if you're making massive changes to the body, they might want to inspect that before you get it painted). A lot of the engineers involved in that sort of inspection are enthusiasts themselves and as long as you can prove you know what you're doing and your mods are safe (and still pass emissions), they're unlikely to deny them.

In Belgium OTOH, you're not allowed to make changes to the drivetrains (ie, not CAI etc unless it's a race car), but you can do to the body what you want, which explains why a lot of the Euro-look type trends came from Belgium.

Yeah Belgium is ridiculous with their car laws.

whoops sorry, my bad. has this changed from 15 years ago? I looked at relocating over there back then & it wasn't that tuner friendly.

Kj

The factory next to the marina is a Dupli-Color paint factory. (not sure if it is related to the Dupli-Color that we all know so well) Not a bad work location eh?