Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Cars of Germany and Zurich

These photos are from slirt. His thoughts on the cars of the various cities he visited are at the bottom of this post.

European readers: Although these cars may be mundane to you, they fascinate us Americans.

Citroen C4 Cactus:

Ford StreetKa:


Ford Focus:

VW Golf Cabrio:

Alfa Romeo 156 wagon:

Honda Civic(!):

1 of 350 Volvo limos built for East German government:

Audi A2:


Merc CLS wagon:

  • Zurich: nice car stock, good mix of all euros, many high end, with asia represented in the mix; saw 1 or 2 Teslas (only ones) and a VW e-Up!, a RR Wraith coupe & a Bentley GTC, a variety of Maseratis & Alfas, and one new C7 Corvette. despite this (and freezing temps), saw bicyclists & bike infrastructure, too.
  • Hamburg: much more modest car stock overall, most variety of VWs in traffic of all the cities, more asians/east.euros too; had a Touran taxi, saw two T1 Kombis. i rented the Skoda Citigo and went 2+hrs north on the Autobahn, the 1.0-litre 3-cyl keeping up with 100-120kph traffic, and hitting 160kph (~100mph) without any drama; very base car, but a fine little rental.
  • Berlin: most mixed international (German, asians, Frenchies, Fiat, eastern euros, SEATs, a few American); only Type 1 aircooled Bug (~'67); lots of smart Car2Go (car share) incl. e-smarts; also many cyclists.
  • Stuttgart: serious Car City: was told by hosts very few bikes & we saw NONE; most cars MBenz & BMWs, only a few Porsches, with a healthy Audi presence too; more Italians on the road again, esp Alfa Romeos; not many SUVs, a few, tho. Saw 3 b&w camo'ed prototypes on the road, 2 SUVs & one large sedan, but wasn't fast enough for pics.

3 comments:

  1. I's an Alfa 159. Note the front lighs.

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  2. Not o mention that Alfas 156 had hidden rear door handles :)

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  3. @ardas: You are right. I should have known better, as I have an Alfa 159 diecast car right next to my computer. #brainfart

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