Modified Cars in Germany.

Hey folks.

I just got back from a week in Germany. I was doing work stuff the whole time and got almost no opportunity to relax. I did a little touristing, but not near enough for my taste. The one day that I would have had time to walk around and shop had hurricane force winds and we ended up staying in.

As always, I enjoyed seeing the cars that people drive. I had a few observations that I thought I'd relate.

1) There's a BMW that we don't get here in the states that looks pretty cool. Imagine if they made a Z4 in a 4-door wagon. Well you don't really have to imagine it because they do. They don't sell them in the US though. It is a cool looking car.

2) There are very few modified cars in Germany. I saw 2 or 3 cars with aftermarket wheels and only one car with enough modifications that it really changed the body lines at all. It was a pretty cool Alpha Romeo spyder with flared fenders and wide, deep-dish wheels. That's it! Everything else was stock and 95% of the cars had steel wheels. I know it is winter and many folks will bring out the bling for summer. I just thought it was interesting.

3) In America, VW's large van is called the Eurovan. That made me wonder, What do they call that same model in Europe? The Amerivan? NOPE. It is the Transporter. I actually knew that from previous trips and plenty of time on Vortex. What I didn't know is that they have a special edition model called the California Cruiser. :D

4) In the 90's VW made many themed editions of the Golf. One that I hadn't seen before, but saw three examples of last week was the Bon Jovi edition VW Golf Wagon TDi. I didn't see much special about it except for the badging.

5) Driving on the autobahn is pretty cool. Conditions were not ideal to really fly, but we got our Passat wagon TDi up to about 180kph in the left lane.

Later folks. It is good to be home.

Pete