As I’ve mentioned before, cars seem to be a topic that pops up all the time on tours, partly because we’re walking along the streets a lot I suppose. Anyways, the comments people make are quite interesting. Americans seem to expect all European cars to be tiny. Hell, Germans expect European cars to be tiny. What you see when you walk down the street is a different story though. I’ve done this many times…why don’t you try it and report back: walk down a street downtown wherever you live and note the general make of we’ll say 20 cars. Just note the # of doors and approximate size.
I’m guessing you’ll have a fair mix, if you’re in the states there will be a truck or two in there, a few SUV’s, and a good number of cars. (seriously, if you do this, let me know your results, I’m interested) Guess what you get in Munich? almost the same, granted, they’re BMW’s and Mercedes…but the same size.
The next question people ask: so BMW’s must be so much cheaper here, right? wrong. They’re about the exact same, give or take a couple grand. (at their costs, 1 or two thousand isn’t much of a difference imo)
SO, how do people afford them? well, quite a damn few are company cars, others, well…there’re people living in debt here just like there.
Now, on to the pictures. Since my tours are obviously in the downtown areas of Salzburg and Munich, I see a lot of damn nice cars regularly (especially in Munich). Sometimes I take pictures of them…
The first one is a BMW Z8. It’s a personal favorite with 400hp and no weight. It was built for 3 years, for a total of 5, 703…I think about 500 of them are in town here.
I love vettes. This one parked right next to me, so I had to snap a quick one.
Anyways, the Z8 is rather normal around here…the other two are not. The point is, we’ve got just as many SUV’s and 4-door cars as you do…in fact, we have so many damn station wagons it’s sickening. I hate station wagons…