Uninformed question: do they sell fuel efficient ICE in Germany or they just sell high performance machines or at least VW that can do 140 mph. And can we Americans handle having an Autobahn? We copied their interstate highway system from WWII for our interstate, why not adopt higher speed limit instead of the bs 65 mph with 70 mph sprinkled few and far in between?
Are there low spec cars like Civic, Corolla, and small 4-banger in Germany
- Thread starter M1Accord
- Start date
There are loads. VW do a lot of smaller cars like the Polo and golf which have usually had 4 cylinder 70-200hp engines.
Skoda are popular and they do a lot of smaller lower power cars like the Fabia and Octavia that have similar power to above.
I drove in Germany recently. The Autobahns are good, but a lot have limits (at least where I was in the south). They are also very busy during rush hour and from what I could tell a lot of the drivers on them had 0 regard for zipper merging etc. If you let one car in, they'll all force their way in. Which is odd, as I'd assumed (wrongly) that on the roads they'd be courteous drivers.
The one thing you really need to think about when on an Autobahn is moving into the faster lanes. Don't just indicate and move over even if there is space. I let the person flash me first before pulling across as otherwise they could be coming up from behind MUCH faster than you expect and are used to.
Skoda are popular and they do a lot of smaller lower power cars like the Fabia and Octavia that have similar power to above.
I drove in Germany recently. The Autobahns are good, but a lot have limits (at least where I was in the south). They are also very busy during rush hour and from what I could tell a lot of the drivers on them had 0 regard for zipper merging etc. If you let one car in, they'll all force their way in. Which is odd, as I'd assumed (wrongly) that on the roads they'd be courteous drivers.
The one thing you really need to think about when on an Autobahn is moving into the faster lanes. Don't just indicate and move over even if there is space. I let the person flash me first before pulling across as otherwise they could be coming up from behind MUCH faster than you expect and are used to.
Plenty of "low spec" cars in Germany and Europe, various car brands have something cheap and basic with small engine and low output. And if you want something even more basic than Civic or Corolla, Dacia might have a line of cars that are really cheap. Take Dacia Sandero for example. Most expensive brand new Sandero in Germany are currently listed at 23.490 euro, which is about 25 grand in US currency.
The top selling new car in Germany for 2023 is the VW golf followed by the VW T-Roc. There are even smaller cars in the top 10 such as the mini and Fiat 500.
The speed limits are what they are in the USA. There are plenty of places they should be higher. But forget about autobahn speeds in the USA. Driver education in our country was never set up for it and we'd need to have driver reeducation and testing before implementing it along with a future enactment date. Our roads aren't designed for autobahn speeds and our roads are not maintained worth a crap.
The big one people would hate would be vehicle inspections. If you do a vehicle inspection on the average 8 year old car/SUV/truck with 100K+ on it, you will find worn out crap on it when you put it on a lift and get a prybar out. Of course we all on here assume not my vehicle, I maintain it very well. You have no clue.
The big one people would hate would be vehicle inspections. If you do a vehicle inspection on the average 8 year old car/SUV/truck with 100K+ on it, you will find worn out crap on it when you put it on a lift and get a prybar out. Of course we all on here assume not my vehicle, I maintain it very well. You have no clue.
In Germany, and many other countries, engine displacement is a crucial factor used to determine vehicle taxes and insurance.
For instance, the BMW models we get here start at x28 or x30. There, they start at x16, x18. Those model designations have been perverted by marketing and don't correlate to actual displacement like they used to, but you get the idea.
As a luxury brand, the models sold here all have a minimum spec that is higher than in other places as well. Cloth seats, manual windows (when they were still made), and things of that nature were the standard base spec, and many of the features we expect, and consider standard, are options there.
The cost of obtaining a driver's license is at least $2,000, and takes longer; they don't hand them out like Halloween candy to anyone with a pulse, like they do here.
Combined with fuel taxes, and vehicle inspections, the cost of owning and driving a car requires a serious commitment.
One result of the more rigorous licensing requirements is that most drivers actually understand, and heed, the concept of lane discipline.
The free-for-all approach here would not work on the Autobahn, or the even the Autostrada.
For instance, the BMW models we get here start at x28 or x30. There, they start at x16, x18. Those model designations have been perverted by marketing and don't correlate to actual displacement like they used to, but you get the idea.
As a luxury brand, the models sold here all have a minimum spec that is higher than in other places as well. Cloth seats, manual windows (when they were still made), and things of that nature were the standard base spec, and many of the features we expect, and consider standard, are options there.
The cost of obtaining a driver's license is at least $2,000, and takes longer; they don't hand them out like Halloween candy to anyone with a pulse, like they do here.
Combined with fuel taxes, and vehicle inspections, the cost of owning and driving a car requires a serious commitment.
One result of the more rigorous licensing requirements is that most drivers actually understand, and heed, the concept of lane discipline.
The free-for-all approach here would not work on the Autobahn, or the even the Autostrada.
Turn the volume down to 0
I guess a lot of German cars can’t past that test out if warranty with their built-in degradation via plastic parts and planned failure and it is a nightmare to have a car in Germany. Such a shame that such a strong culture is allowed to build more reliable cars.
The Autobahn thing is purely played out by the internet. Especially the myth that German cars are all designed for “autobahn speeds”. Whatever that means.
Most people there travel at 60mph because gas is very expensive.
Most people there travel at 60mph because gas is very expensive.
JHZR2
Staff member
Europe is way better in that regard than the US. If our stupid cosfly epa fuel economy reporting wasn’t such an issue, I suspect we’d see more variety here.
