I finally see the light. I had to admit to having been plagued by the nagging feeling that German cars were ever so slightly mismatched to the American driving experience – not that they’re boring, slow, or poor handlers… Far from it! Yet, I couldn't shake that feeling that I was missing something.
It turns out that something was the autobahn. Yes, I was cruising down the A8 from Ulm to Stuttgart last night at the end of my business day in a rented E-Class, averaging 160 kph with a few bursts of 190 kph, and my personal ‘best’ of 210 kph at one point. I was rocking out to the [very catchy] German station SWR3 (I can’t get their jingle out of my head anymore, either!), thinking two things:
- I love my life.
- This is the trinity of German engineering.
Skipping over #1 above (who wants to read about that, anyway?), let’s talk about this so-called trinity. Automotive engineering? Obvious.... I was cruising in a Mercedes E-Class.
The traffic engineering? Well, let’s just say that there’s something about the autobahn that Mr. E Class liked -- I'm not sure if it was the curves, hills, swerves, signage, other drivers, or perhaps the intoxicating cocktail of them all together. It just clicked with that car.
And audio engineering? SWR3 sounded sweet on the E Class’s audio system. (Side note: the US Military as a radio station nearby in Heidelberg, and it sounded like crap -- so much for the US government's audio engineering! ;)) Had somebody called my cell phone and offered me a job in Germany at that point (including a free company E Class, of course), I would have been seriously tempted.
And about this 210 kph thing? Of course, that’s arrest-me fast in [most parts of] the US. Here, as long as there’s no speed posted, it’s totally cool. The tricky thing is that it turns out to be tough to notice speed limit signs while you’re going that fast, as most of your attention is on managing the 100 kph speed difference between you and the trucks in the right lane. This is one country in which I would not want to be a trucker. It’s funny – as I was doing it, I’d be fine, fine, fine, and then all of a sudden my ingrained American sense of speeding shame would kick in and I’d slow down – that is, until the next BMW or Audio rocked me in their wake, and it’d be on again!
As my loyal readers (reader?) can see, I’m having fun. It’s a good thing, as it seems my trip here may be extended into next week!
">autobahn. Yes, I was cruising down the A8 from Ulm to Stuttgart last night at the end of my business day in a rented E-Class, averaging 160 kph with a few bursts of 190 kph, and my personal ‘best’ of 210 kph at one point. I was rocking out to the [very catchy] German station SWR3 (I can’t get their jingle out of my head anymore, either!), thinking two things:
- I love my life at times like these.
- I am experiencing a trinity of German engineering: automotive, traffic, and audio
Skipping over #1 above (who wants to read about that, anyway?), let’s talk about this so-called trinity. The automotive engineering is obvious – I was cruising in a Mercedes E-Class. The traffic engineering? Well, let’s just say that there’s something about the autobahn that Mr. E Class liked. And the audio engineering? SWR3 just sounds suite on the E Class’s audio system. Had somebody called my cell phone and offered me a job in Germany at that point (including a free company E Class, of course), I would have been seriously tempted.
And about this 210 kph thing? Of course, that’s arrest-me fast in [most parts of] the US. Here, as long as there’s no speed posted, it’s totally cool. The tricky thing is that it turns out to be tough to notice speed limit signs while you’re going that fast, as most of your attention is on managing the 100 kph speed difference between you and the trucks in the right lane. This is one country in which I would not want to be a trucker. It’s funny – as I was doing it, I’d be fine, fine, fine, and then all of a sudden my ingrained American sense of speeding shame would kick in and I’d slow down – that is, until the next BMW or Audio rocked me in their wake, and it’d be on again!
As my loyal readers (reader?) can see, I’m having fun. It’s a good thing, as it seems my trip here may be extended into next week!
