Just got back from Germany. We were there for four days and I rented a BMW 525 Diesel 6-spd from Hertz. New body style, low miles, iDrive, overall a very nice car (especially since I paid ~500 US for it).

Trip started out from Frankfurt to Munich with a brief stop-over in Wurtzburg for lunch and sightseeing. Once we got out of Frankfurt, the speed limit went away in between major towns. The BMW did not dissapoint as it made it suprisingly quick up to 200KMH (just over 125MPH). From there it pulled nicely up to 235KMH were my wife then asked me to slow down as she was feeling a little car sick.

Over the next three days I put the car through its paces over a variety of roads and it performed awesome. I can see why a lot of folks rave about the BMW's, but the way I see it, we cannot drive like that in the US and I am not just talking about the Autobahn, but even the lesser used roads are in much better shape.

The other thing I noticed was that driver discipline was out of this world. No clunkers hanging in the left lane, big trucks staying to the right, pass on the left and get back to the right, you name it, those people can drive. It was awesome to see a family of four come power by in a big 7 series or 600SL Mercedes at over to 250KMH (155MPH) and it look effortless.

When I got back to DCA last night, it was really weird merging on to GW PKWY and settling in at 60MPH, felt like I was standing still.

The only thing I was left wondering was how would the G35 do over in Germany? I think the whole "tail wagging" issue would need to be addressed as I took some turns at speeds that would have kicked on the VDC or sent me drifting. As for top speed, I think we would do fine, but would burn a lot of fuel with all those RPMs.

Bottomline is if you like to drive fast, take a trip over (but get a 3 series if you don't bring a lot of luggage). Make sure you get the iDrive. Over there it worked unbelievable and was linked into the traffic system so you knew when there would be any kind of slow down.

RF

 

nice, although i lived in Germany - Munchen (Munich) for two years, i never had the ability to drive since i was only 3-4 yrs old. but from what little i do remember the people there COULD DEF. drive as you mentioned. While you were in Munich did you stop by the BMW factory or see the 'famous' BMW tri circular building??

 

^^ wow...makes you think...

 

I, too had the pleasure of driving Germany's best highways about 6 years ago on a 3 week vacation with my then pregnant wife.

The driving was incredible there - no joke - people stay out of the fast lane, and they pretty much all drove in the correct lane according to their speed. I'm near Toronto - and the 401 - "North America's Busiest Highway" - and all rules go out the window when people drive here. You get slow guys in the fast lane constantly, and the "slow" lane will be wide open - it's crazy.

Instead of billboards beside congested highways, they should have live webcams from German autobahns showing how it's done. I'm a Canadian by the way - so I'm just praising all things German for the sake of it.

We were near Dusseldorf, and drove all down the Mosel river to Traben-Trabach (spelling might be wrong), and had a great trip - lots of history, and people were great.

Just to clear up some misconceptions - not all autobahns (highways) are wide open - most aren't, some are 120km/h or 130km/h - but on the few roads that are wide open, you'll see some nice machinery go by - effortlessly.

I recall a gentleman in his apparent late 60's absolutely flying by me in his big Mercedes sedan, looking very casual. It was a nice, clear sunny day, and the speed from his car was lifting sand/dust off the pavement behind him! Pretty incredible to see.

The radio traffic interruptions were pretty cool too - we don't have those here - not sure if they're in the US or not - but songs will get interrupted to tell you about any accidents or road closures as you're driving.

Hope to get back to Deutschland someday - though it's a big planet, and there's lots of other interesting stuff to see.

 

Yes, the Autobahn may be awesome comparing to American roads. Autobahn is also designed in such fashion that curves are generally wide and sweeping, and thus allow the drivers to sustain a rather high speed going into and exiting them.

I have no doube the G can handle the Autobahn effortlessly.