you ppl have a false view of germany as a "car country".
few facts:
- when buying a new car within europe you will pay the most money when buying in germany (even for the cars built here).
- quality and service with german manufacturers were utter crap within the last 10years (even today, if you buy a german car in germany,you get worse factory guarantee conditions, less service and higher prices than people who buy a car in another eurocountry)
- german TUEV + police will f*ck you in your popo for almost any modding of your car. making a modded car street legal is an expensive and difficult thing to do down here.
either the additional accessory/part has an E-number (approved by the EU, only tested "standard" accessory has this...like headlights, audiostuff, etc blahblah) or you can pay a huge amount of money to make individual modifications street legal by the national TUEV.
e.g.: adding a turbokit : 3000 for the kit, 1000 for labor, 1500 for tuev inspection/accreditation.. only successful (=legal to drive) if the car passes exhaust emission inspections AFTER the modding..which is highly unlikely with all the progressively developing exhaust emission standards. so you can basically trash thousands of euros and still fail the approval tests..
- driving is not necessarily fun down here..general speed limit is 50kmh within city limits (in residential areas it's mostly 30kmh), the roads are in a bad condition, we have stationary speed cameras every here and there and the autobahn is always crowded in the daytime...
and just in case you forgot: gas prices...
about 1,35euro/liter for premium gas = 1,63US$/liter = 1,63us$/0.26gallons = 6,27us$/gallon.. filling the p5's gas tank is 55*1,63=89,65us$
insurance and taxes (for beeing allowed to drive a car) eat you up....
driving a car down here has become an anti-pleasure in the last years...