Slipstream - January 2013

Germany in June: A Great Place to Visit
By Ron Meyer
As relatively
new PCA
member
(we joined in
late 2011 in
preparation for
the delivery of
our 2012 Cayenne
S last January), and longtime
BMW-CCA member (2008 135i and
2007 Mini Cooper S), I often feel
the tug to attend driving events
as most of you probably do. For
any number of reasons many of us
can’t carve out the time because
we are too busy. Due to extended
hours at our day jobs, family responsibilities,
etc., we don’t have
enough time to play with our cars
more than a few days per year.
When we get stuck in traffic we
inevitably wish we were on the Autobahn
instead! Well, my wife and I
were part of a tour group from our
church that spent just under two
weeks in northern Germany this
summer, so we actually did spend
some time on the Autobahn! This
time around we spent most of it in
a really nice tour bus instead of a
Porsche or BMW. Nonetheless the
tour was really a lot of fun despite
the fact that it rained quite a bit.
We visited the major cities of
Hamburg, Lubeck, Bremen,
Bremerhaven, Wittenburg, and
Berlin, as well as some smaller
tourist destinations like Travermunde
on the Baltic. The fact that
we toured by bus means we got
to pay attention to a lot of sights
instead of trying to watch the
GPS. And we learned that most
Germans in major cities do not
fare much better than we do when
it comes to traffic and parking!
Generally in cities, traffic is heavy,
and parking close to stores and offices
is really difficult. Basically the
bulk of the parking spaces are in
the numerous commercial garages,
just like in Dallas. The situation is
not as bad as it might sound, however,
because there are signs along
the major thoroughfares that list
the number of free parking spaces
in the various parking garages. This
is really a nice aid, a much better
scheme than we have at DFW,
where we only get to see that the
express parking lot is open or full.
We now also know why the
Mercedes Smart is so popular
in Germany. It may not only be
a function of miles per gallon
(although that is a consideration
given the high fuel prices); we saw
many Smarts “end on” in parking
spaces so they could fit two or
even three into one normal parallel
parking spot! This allows the
owners to park close instead of the
parking garages - quite an inducement
to owning a Smart I guess.
Once we started looking closely
at the Porsches and BMWs on
the road we began to notice that
not all of them have the factory
model designations on the trunk
or tailgate. We learned that this was
because many folks who cannot
afford the larger-engined models
do not want to let others know they
have the small-engined model!
This practice seems widespread,
as we noticed it in all the cities we
visited. And while we saw many
of the more popular Porsche and
BMW models, we saw very few
Cayennes or Panameras, and very
few 6- or 7-series BMWs. They are
apparently very pricey in Germany
as compared to the US, especially
the Cayenne, and with fuel prices
approaching $10 per gallon, we can
see why not many are on the road.
When we did spot gas stations, we
noticed that
they had a “racing
premium”
grade of some
sort that we
would have
liked to try out
on our Cayenne.
Gas may
be high priced
over there, but
they do get to
try out some
premium racing
gas that is unavailable in DFW!
One of the interesting side trips
of our tour was in Hamburg. While
visiting a distant cousin who lives
in Hamburg, we learned she drove
a mid-80s 911 on the weekends, so
we of course compared Porsche
notes. She was kind enough to
take us to one of the two Porsche
“factory stores” in Hamburg for a
quick visit on a Sunday evening.
It turned out to be Porsche Hamburg
North West, the dealer they
frequent for parts and service.
If you want to know the difference
between a regular Porsche dealer
like those in the DFW area and
a “factory dealer,” it can at least
be measured by size! As you can
see from the picture, they have
LOTS OF CARS! Wow! I think
we counted more than 20 inside
the showroom, including a new
911 Cabriolet under a car cover.
22