Volkswagen, Das Auto

[jasonl]

Louis

I test drove a Smart 451 (2008- model) and didn't really have a problem on the interstate. It got up to 70mph fast enough to not get run over the trucks didn't bother me. Maybe the 451s are more refined than the 450.

Anyway, they are fun to drive and remind me of the OLD Bug, but for that kind of money, I can get a REAL vintage Bug all restored and shiny.

 

[panthera]

Ben,

I can't remember driving a European anything in the last 10 years which didn't have power steering. You're image of European cars is seriously out-of-date.

Our cars, today, are sensible, boring, sensible, boring, fuel-efficient, boring and, did I mention, sensible?

The last European car I drove without power steering was the first turbo-diesel Golf, back in 1985.

Air-conditioning, in the meantime, is also pretty much standard, tho' in a climate which almost never sees hot, humid days (we have humidity and, every so often, hot weather, but seldom) you don't need it like in the US. Goodness, I've driven from Cheyenne, Wyoming at 70°F in the morning to Denver at 104°F at one in the afternoon. We'd kill to get that sort of summer weather, and I mean the 70°F, too, some summers.

Driver's Ed was killed off in the US by the conservatives to "save money" in most places. Here, you have to take driver's ed and you have to learn how to drive stick. Since even young girls feel comfortable shifting (and can do it well) there is no compulsion to buy automatic. Tho', when I look at the automatic transmission in my '98 Malibu, which lets me start in 2nd in the snow (before anybody says, no they don't, I've go the service notes to prove it) and handles like a dream in snow and slush, I think today you can get by without manual shift. But that's a fairly new thing, really, before the electronic transmissions, you had to have manual shift to get around in our climate in the winter.

 

[swestoyz]

Keven -

I personally do not have a view of what Europeans consider to be options or standard of their automobiles - I was simply going by what Louis stated earlier in this thread. A little humor, I suppose.

Also, Drivers Ed is still offered in most US Midwestern schools, and I know up through at least the late 90's they were still giving lessons on how to drive a standard transmission in the classes at the high school I attended.

Ben

 

[panthera]

Hi Ben,

It sure isn't in Colorado or Wyoming, anymore-my nieces didn't have it and both the insurance companies and police are complaining that kids today haven't got a clue what to do in a bad situation.
Glad the mid-west is more sensible.

We don't get much snow or ice or below -40 weather in those states, anyway, least ways not in June-August, so who needs to know how to drive?

I wasn't taking it seriously, but you'll find a much broader range of cars here in Europe than in the US. Until fairly recently, American safety standards were far higher, so we still have lot of little, squashable bugs out on the roads with no power-anything.
Gas here in Munich, this evening, is 1.39Euro/liter (that's a generous quart) so let's see: 1.39x1.45x3.91= $7.88/gallon for the cheapest gas.

That explains a lot about why people drive differently here.

 

[cadman]

I'm not sure what the conservatives have to do with it, but I do know the problem we had in this area is that drivers ed courses (required prior to a permit or license around here) are also taught in the summer when school staffing is thin and much of the buildings are shut down for maintenance or run with a skeleton crew (and when kids are very eager to drive!).

When we were off the road, we still used a simulator lab with faded 70's 16mm films (this was the late 90's) tied to the responses of each student's controls. The thing was dodgy at best as I remember the machine complaining about the way I was "driving" a stick.

Bringing the thread back around, my GF has had good service from her TDI Golf, it's the dealer that leaves something to be desired! -Cory

 

[foraloysius]

I agree most cars have some of those things standard for quite a few years, but since I'm an old school car lover, I keep mentioning things like power steering and electric windows (I love the word "Elektrisch betaetigte Fensterheber") as options. So, it wasn't out of humor that I mentioned them and not because these options are rare, just out of habit.

 

[favorit]

Dual Drive E.P.S.

Here's an example: the new Fiat Panda isn't a luxury car, indeed it doesn't share nothing else than the name with the old reliable, cheap, square little can with 4 wheels. It comes with a 2 setting EPS. When the "city" setting is engaged - typically while parking or driving in downtown - steering is so light and easy that could be done with just one finger.

As the old one, it comes in several 4WD versions (best sellers in the Alps)

(check "interior" >> "ergonomics"):

http://www.fiat.co.uk/Showroom/#showroom/panda/explore

 

[panthera]

Oh, yes -

No language I know has such lovely words. There is a reason German absorbs English and dutch words so readily.
English: Dimmer
German: Stufenloserlichthelligkeitsregler.

 

[sudsmaster]

Mark Twain once wrote more than one hilarious essays on the German language. In one such effort, he referred to the majesty of long compound German words marching across the pages of the newspaper, taking up an entire column with just one word, with some letters left over.

In other essay, he does a literal translation of a supposed German story of a fisherman's wife (I think). The point here was to illustrate what to most American English speakers was a completely unnecessary and altogether confusion devotion by the Germans to preserving gender for even the most insignificant parts of the body, as well for various animals (like fish) and their most insignificant yet highly sexed parts.

I could however see how the Teutonic attention to detail would make German an excellent language for science and philosophy. English, unless one really works at it, can be a big vague and allows for too many conflicting interpretations of the same sentence or phrase. On the other hand, its a favorite device for humorists - saying one thing but meaning another, as in doubles entendres.

 

[launderess]

Manual Transmissons Go Right Along With Manual Hand Signals

IMHO! *LOL*

Then again do most of my driving in metropolitan areas where the beauty of the "stick" is lost upon one. If one had to concentrate on shifting gears, clutches and driving, it would leave no time and indeed no hands free for giving the oft required "one finger salute" to other drivers! *LOL*

 

[sudsmaster]

My '50 Plymouth has three on the tree and no turn signals. So in cold weather I always wear a warm jacket, 'cause I'm likely to be rolling down the window for hand signals at every turn.

I do have an aftermarket turn signal control... but that would be cheating, lol. And it would need a new wiring harness (which it needs anyway, but that has a round toit on it too).

The biggest problem is on the freeway. People just don't seem to understand, or see, when I want to change lanes, especially to the right. As a result I try to avoid the freeways as much as possible (esp since I like to keep the car under 55 mph).

 

[lordkenmore]

"So in cold weather I always wear a warm jacket, 'cause I'm likely to be rolling down the window for hand signals at every turn."

You don't need an old car for this wear a coat experience. The car I was driving last winter had heater trouble. Being frugal, I could either A) pay for a $300 repair or B) wear a coat.

Being as cheap as I am, I went with Plan B.

 

[whirlcool]

The problem is how many people these days understand a hand signal when they see one? Many of the youngsters these days wouldn't know.

A lot of scientific and medial journal articles are written in German just for this reason.