I have driven many places and logged a ton of miles dating back to becoming a legal driver in the summer of 1994. When I go on vacation, more times than not, I want to rent a car and traverse the lands to see things off the beaten path versus the standard tourist stops. I’ve driven cross country twice (Alaska to Pennsylvania and Florida to California). In the summer of 2021, I logged more than 2,000 miles in five days bouncing between Colorado and some of its neighboring states. I’ve driven in Canada, I’ve driven in the United States…but until recently, I’d never driven off continent. That all changed as part of a hybrid work/vacation trip I took to Germany!
What do you think when you think about driving in Germany? My first thought was…Autobahn! I also wondered about reading road signs, the types of cars I’d see, license plates, how did the roads and drivers measure up compared to the states, and even what the radio offerings might be like. For this week’s All About Cars, I’d like to share a little bit about my adventure in Deutschland!
I landed in Hamburg on Friday morning, November 11 and knew I had at least an 8 ½ hour/500 mile or so drive in front of me to get to Munich. The rental car company gave me a brand-new VW Golf diesel. I have never driven a VW before, but it was an automatic (I can drive a stick) and was going to get me a lot of miles to the gallon (or kilometers to the liter in this case), so I was happy with my get. I did spend a solid 30 minutes messing with settings, as the default language in the car was German, and my default language….is not. Once I did that (and burnt my finger on the very hot and very active cigarette lighter), I plugged in my phone for GPS purposes and I was off. The first sign I saw read Ausfahrt. Now, I learned after a while that this meant exit, but early on the sounds of that word made me laugh a little.
The highway wasn’t far from the airport and I spent equal parts time looking at the buildings, eying up the passing cars, and trying to best understand all the signs so as to avoid a speeding ticket. By the way, I am not sure I’ll be avoiding a speeding ticket (more on that later). Another word I heard a lot was Straße (stra-za), or street. Almost everything had the word Straße in it. Again, much like Ausfahrt, once you know, it makes a lot more sense.
My first foray onto a European highway saw many similarities to driving in the states. I know not every European country is this way, but Germany and Austria, the two countries I visited, were left side of the car, right side of the road driving, so that was helpful. Beyond that, the signage is similar, yet very different. If a sign needed to be blacked out due to construction or a closure, a DOT type would just put a large X over it in what looked like tape. Speed limit signs were circular and white, with red trim. Posted limits ranged from around 40 (24.8 MPH) to 130 (80.7) kilometers per hour. There was also the magical circle with no number and a line through it. That, I quickly learned, meant no speed limit and yes, it’s true…there are long chunks of road with no speed limit.
In case you’re wondering, during daylight hours, I did open up the Golf on a straight stretch and hit 137 MPH. Oddly, or not…I still wasn’t the fastest car on the road. Going that fast for any period of time was not of interest to me, so I scaled back to a more reasonable 107 and hit cruise. The car was smart enough to scale me back and accelerate for me depending on what zone I was in too. I also couldn’t help but smile when driving through some of the towns with neighborhood type streets. Some speed signs had a digital addition where you’d get a green smiley face if you were speed compliant and a red frowny face if you weren’t. The visual affirmation of compliance or shame of failure was well executed.
Cars wise, I mentioned my VW and yes, there were many VW’s on the road. I also saw a few offerings from Ford, including very American looking Rangers and Mustangs, but also saw some Euro builds including a Focus wagon and a Galaxy (not Galaxie). Additionally, I spotted the following: Fiat, Porsche, the Dacia Duster, Audi, Mini, BMW, Opel, and even a few Tesla’s. There were also four-wheelers and tractors on the road, but that’s only fair because one time I drove my car on a bike path. Oops! What I did not see where large SUVs, cross overs, lifted trucks, vans, Jeeps, most other forms of muscle car, or anything that we might construe as gawdy vehicles. Every tractor trailer I saw was flat nosed and none seemed to exceed what we view as a two-trailer load.
I was also smartened up to how to read a European license plate. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, but here’s what you’re actually looking at.
Once I knew the bottom left was the country, I played my own version of the license plate game. As I played that game, I caught what appeared to be some kind of in country satellite radio and listened to German DJ’s play many of my American rock favorites. Also…Rammstein.
Finally, the roads themselves…oh so smooth. I am sure potholes exist, but I didn’t see or hit any. Driving felt like a group effort, like everyone around me was on the same team vs. in the states where people weave in and out of traffic, just to get one car ahead and park at the same red light. The left lane of the highway was definitely for those going fast. Unless you’re the pace setter, don’t cruise in the left lane. A fast mover can come in hot behind you and their speed vs. your reaction time isn’t a math problem you want to solve. They’ll flash their lights, but it’s best to not be in the way. The right lane seemed to be for the slower drivers and the middle of the road was for drivers like me; you want to go fast, but not that fast…but faster than those people in the right lane. I also saw first-hand something I’ve long believed; that 100% of car vs. train accidents happen on the train tracks. Look, if tracks are where you are driving, let the train go by first. You won’t win. Finally, construction zones are tight when trying to pass a car, let alone a big rig. I almost got smushed. I mean, when I say tight, I mean no room for error tight. If you can wait it out, do that.
In all, Germany and Austria were amazing! Not only was it scenic, but the areas I experienced were clean, friendly, and fun. I may have fallen victim to an automatic speed camera or two near Hamburg on my way back, but the Polizei (police) and the rental car folks tell me I should be ok since I’m from out of country. We shall see. Either way, I’d love to go back and who knows, maybe next year I will.
If imports are your cup of tea, you can either head to Europe like I did, or make plans for the Carlisle Import & Performance Nationals. This two-day event happens each year in May and brings together some of the coolest and hottest rides from around the world. You’ll see things that you’ve never seen before, and not just one of them either. Visit CarlisleEvents.com to learn more about the show and how you can be part of it!
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