Greetings from Germany

[n0b0dy]

Hi all

I'm Martin from Germany.

A few months ago I switched my '03 Chevrolet Express Explorer to a '07 Ford Expediton EL.
I've started driving US-cars about 4 years ago.

The Expedition is not my first Ford. I've started driving with a '96 Ford Fiesta.
Later on I bought a 2011 Ford Mondeo (EU Modell of the Fusion)

Here's a picture of my old Chevy. I realy liked the car, it was very comfortable, but I missed the ventilated seats from my Mondeo. And sometimes the hightop makes it hard to find a parking space in town. Most parking lots in the EU are only 2m or 2,1m high.


After a long search I found this beauty in Amsterdam, Netherlands:


Regards,
Martin

 

[Eagle 71]

Hi Martin,

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your Expedition purchase. I bet you don’t see too many Expeditions on the Autobahn!

In your photo of her, I was unable to see the cost of gas prices in Germany. It varies in the US, depending on where in the country you purchase it, but here in the Midwest (Nebraska) regular unleaded goes for $1.99/gallon…approximately 53 cents for a liter of gasoline. Anyway, would be interested to know what the cost of gas is in Germany.

Enjoy the forum!

 

[1955moose]

Eagle, it's averaging $1.50 a liter. Holy popcorn Batman! That's about $5.80 a gallon, give or take for Euro pricing. That's $175.00 to fill our 30 gallon tanks. No tanks!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[n0b0dy]

At the moment the prices are quite low in Germany.
It's about 1.50 Dollar/Liter.
A few months ago the price was about 1.70 Dollar/Liter.

It's not cheap, but I'm driving only about 10.000 km a year.
I thinking about to modify the engine and built in lpg (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).
This is much cheaper, it costs about 0.75 Dollar/Liter.

 

[1955moose]

I was spot on that petrol price. It's bad enough here in Cali, paying $120.00 when prices were past $4.00 per. $6.00 is just nuts. I've heard in Germany it costs over $1500.00 Euro to get a driver's license. And anytime on say a larger cc motorcycle, you have to pay all over again. When I got my first license back in 1971, I think I paid $2.00. they threw in the class m1 for my Yamaha for free.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[n0b0dy]

The price for a driver license depends on your skills, but you're right, it's not cheap.
First, you have to visit the driving school and take some theoretical lessons. That's a must!
Then you make a written exam.
If you pass, you take some driving lessons. There's a minimum on driving hours you have to do.
And it has to be done with a driving teacher, not with a private person. Taking a "private" driving lesson (e.g. father shows the son how to drive) is forbidden!
At the end you have to make your practical (driving) exam.
If you pass, you have your driver license. If not, take more lessons and make the test again.

Ever hour driving and every exam cost (a lot of) money.

With a driver license for a car you can only drive a small motorcycle with 50ccm.
If you want to ride a "real" motorcycle you need an additional license.
So it's the best to make both licenses at once, so you can save the money for a second theoretical lessons/exam. But you have to pay for the additional practical lessons/exam.

That's Germany

 

[1955moose]

I used to work for a German boss from Hamburg. He and our rental customer's told me of the great expense. But see that's why guys/girls from Germany don't have nearly the accidents that we do here in the states. That, and your violations/tickets are more expensive, a lot more. Can you guys there dismiss a ticket from your record with traffic school like we can here. Ours is 18 month increments. You can't have a ticket for at least that time. My license these days is commercial, so traffic schools aren't an option for me, as points double and more for infractions.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[n0b0dy]

False parking costs about 10-40 dollar. If you get towed, you have to pay around 300 bucks.

Other things, such as driving to fast can be "cheap", if you're to fast only slightly. Which means less then 20 km/h (about 12 miles) you pay 15-40$.
If you're driving faster, the money raises a lot and you get some points.
Depending on fast you're, you can even lost your license for 1-3 months.

If you have to much points, you can take place in extra lessons (which costs about 300$) to dismiss some of them.
If you have to much points you can even lost your driver license. Than you have to wait 2 years and you have take an extra exam/test to get it back. Which costs a bunch of money, of course.

Tickets/violations which gives you no points, will not saved in your record. The other ones will be saved and deleted after 2 years automatically.

In Europe the highest tickets you can get in Swiss. Here you can get tickets which costs you a salary of a month.

 

[1955moose]

Our fees from what you described is double in San Francisco. An expired meter is $72.00. if you park in a yellow commercial truck zone, you get towed. Towing is a minimum of $600.00 to get your vehicle back. Seems like they get you guys up front with huge fees, then go easy after that. Even the big heavy 2019 Expedition at 5400 pounds can easily top 120 mph, but maximum legal speed in California is 70 mph or 113 km. Wonder how fast you could ring out the 400 hp twin turbo on your Autobahn? Sure would work well in your winter snow.

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[Adieu]

Hi Martin,

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your Expedition purchase. I bet you don’t see too many Expeditions on the Autobahn!

In your photo of her, I was unable to see the cost of gas prices in Germany. It varies in the US, depending on where in the country you purchase it, but here in the Midwest (Nebraska) regular unleaded goes for $1.99/gallon…approximately 53 cents for a liter of gasoline. Anyway, would be interested to know what the cost of gas is in Germany.

Enjoy the forum!

In california it's around $3.50 , and that's LOW... so ~$0.95 / Litre