Car Shopping

Today I went with my host dad to the local BMW dealership to do some research and pick his next car. His lease will run up in June and so you need to start the search because in Germany, cars are built to order, and only very few can be picked up off the dealership lot.

We naturally went to BMW since my host dad only drives BMWs. Germans have their favorite car brands and most won't defect to another. Either you're a Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Audi family. Those who don't care as much buy a Ford, Opel or Volkswagen.

BMW drivers are known to be agressive, and although my host father isn't an agressive driver, he likes to drive a car known for it's agressive drivers. It doesn't make much sense at all really, since he prefers the smallest engines, and it all has to do with image, although I'm telling him that other car companies, most notably Opel, Volvo and Audi have similar cars that he may be interested in.

Buying a car is tough decision anywhere you live. Just for you Americans to put into perspective exactly how expensive a new car is in Germany, take a look at this picture. Yes, that's right, you read the price correctly. Although you do have to take into account the 19% sales tax that is included in the price. By the way, isn't that a great idea, included the sales tax in the price so people know the final price? How come we don't have that in the US?

Ouch, 80,880€ for a BMW 5 Series? Okay, granted it is the 3.5L V6 which is a very big engine for Germans, but really, $113,000 for a BMW family sedan? That's almost double what we pay in America for the same car! By the way, the base price or "Grundpreis" for the car is 50,300.00€ or $70,400.00.

Anyways, the car is the new BMW 5-series sedan or limousine as their known here in Germany. It's the least popular body style as most people prefer the Station wagon version. Anyways, I think my host dad has at least narrowed his search down to the 5-series SW, the 3-series SW or the upcoming X3 SAV.

We'll be going over to Volvo and Audi again to see the XC60 and Q5. I like car shopping, but I'm always amazed at how many people simply don't care about the car and just buy what they think looks nice. We still have yet to actually test drive one of the cars!.