DD_545i

+1 on everything in there. There are a lot of rules here. Here's another - you can't wash your car in your driveway either. You also can't use power tools or lawnmowers outside of Mon-Sat 8am-8pm. No sundays washing the car and mowing the lawn here. Still, at least you can go shopping - oh wait, all the shops are closed sundays. D'oh! Saying all that, there are few other places I'd live now - the standard of living (at least here in Bavaria) is super high. Way higher than US or UK. The only countries I can think of that are higher are Switzerland and Sweden.

v_therussian

As opposed to Germans, who LOVE to lose freedoms?

I was actually saying that in order to gain some, we need to yield some - and maybe I wasn't very clear, but I seriously doubt people here are ready to yield. But in my opinion, by far the biggest problem with increasing the speed limit here in the States would be the fact that roads here are built like shit. Especially up North, where there's bad weather exacerbating the effects of corruption. For example, in New York, it is mandated that a specific brand and type of asphalt be used on ALL roads, regardless of the fact that it is extremely inferior to what's available now, and the fact that people waste insane amounts of money of repairing their cars due to bad roads. It has been estimated (and I'm sure this is a very low-ball number to anyone, who's a member on this forum), that on average New York City driver spends $2,000 per year to make repairs to each of his/her cars due to bad roads alone. This is ON AVERAGE - not just some Benz, Bimmer, Audi, P-car owners - everyone! And from my experience, as I said, it is a LOW NUMBER. Now, I'd MUCH rather pay those 2-3 grand in taxes and drive on perfect roads and have higher speed limits with fewer traffic jams. But again, I'm in the minority, because general public is largely in the dark about it and no one wants to speak up against the corruption.


Another thing I want to point out about my previous post. I was not saying we need to abolish speed limits in the States. I believe a limit should exist, and it should be enforced. I just think it should be fair and reasonable. With today's technology, 100mph speed limit seems reasonable and fair to me ONLY if the road surfaces are good enough for it.

And lastly, all that certification is bullshit. I bought my Bilstein B8 suspension with H&R sport springs, thinking that "if it's certified in Germany, it must be awesome". Well, it is awesome. Except you can't drive it anywhere in the real world - only on autobahn-quality roads. Otherwise, it bottoms out while hitting a badly-installed manhole cover. So all those regulations over there - I think it's bullshit for the most part. Just another corruption scheme. Hey, I may be very wrong about that - and if I am, I apologize to anyone I may have offended.

So let me get this straight, you can't use a lawnmower Mon-Sat 8am-8pm, but if I decide to crank it at 3am, it's not a problem? That's retarded. Come to the States, buy an assault rifle, get a supercharged lawnmower with a straight pipe, strap on some big-ass powertools on it and go fishin', boy!

DD_545i

The key word there is outside.

You can only use them mon-sat 8am-8pm. If you cranked it at 3am you'd go straight to jail, no trial, no lawyer, no phone call. But you might get to drive at 150mph on the way to jail

v_therussian

I kind of wish we had regulations like this here, actually - couple of weeks ago, few of my neighbors in a condo across the street from our building, decided it was a great idea to get a bunch of power saws out at 6AM on a SUNDAY!!! and go trimming bushes for several hours

DD_545i

It would be nice if we had at least 2 hours on a sunday, say 4pm-6pm.

Oh, I forgot, it's not 8am-8pm. It's 8am-12pm + 2pm-8pm. You can't make a noise during 12pm and 2pm, can't disturb anyone who's having a relaxing lunch on their patio

I do enjoy the benefits of these rules for sure. I just wish they'd stop treating sunday as sacred though (like we did in the UK in the early 90s).

pukka

Yes - but not every car on the road has "today's" technology.

What about that teeny-bopper with the old ragged out Stang that hasn't had their brakes checked in ten years?

Or the moron who flies down the road using a DONUT for one of his wheels because he is too stupid/broke/lazy to put a proper wheel on the car?


I see alot of those types of cars where I'm at.

pukka

Bullshit??.......No comment - here's a story:
I brought my Trailblazer to a GM dealership in Stuttgart for service. Another customer had a Tahoe in for service and was interested in my vent visors and hood deflector. Since my car was registered under the SOFA , the German inspection rules are much more lax for me. So when the gentlemen asked about my mods I told him I bought the parts and installed them myself - total cost was less than $100 or about 90 Euros at the time. He then asked the service rep how much installing the same mod would cost on his car........the answer? 500 EUROS.

The counter-argument would be; unless you are recognized as a fully trained auto technician - who are you to say that you know what you are doing when it comes to working on or modifying cars?

porsche911targa

What if your lunch included beans and you had to pass gas between 12pm and 2pm? Would your neighbors call the fart police?

v_therussian

Both great counter-arguments to what I had suggested. And in part, both reasons why things are the way they are on either side on "the pond".

DD_545i

Oh the joys of living in the land of the autobahn.


Picture it.


A lovely summer's day in August,

a car that'll cruise at 155mph happily all day long,

and autobahn's that'll allow you to do it.


Scroll down to see the dream...



























and then wake up to the reality...