GBScooby

I've seen a few people talking about Germany on here...

I'm in Finland now (great fun on winter tyres at this time of year...) but may be moving to Germany and I'm not sure if I can part with my pride and joy just yet so I might bring it over.

What's it like owning a Scooby over there? I've not seen any when I've been there so is it easy to get serviced, etc.? What's security like? There is virtually no car crime here and the standard immobiliser stopped the toerags who tried to take it a year ago (caught them in the act but was too shocked to do much).

Thanks,
Graham

Ale555

Just like to say : WELCOME!!!
Driving with a scoob in G: Everybody will look at you if you´ve got the big spoiler. (not in the Alps!) But in friendly ways. Some of the younger generation wants to fight you in their 1.6L Golf III(lowered,big wheels). On the highway you´re getting noticed (not from Mercedes-drivers but the rest). If your car is lowered and you are in eastern germany DRIVE SLOW!!!
Criminals? No way. They only want old cars like a Nova A or MKII Golf.(polish robbers want Landcruisers and Audi´s)
Gas is around 1,05 to 1,10€ per litre.
Servicing isn´t any problem. There are also dealers tuning cars by themselves and through the Subaru clubs you get help and advice on which dealers to go.

More questions? Just ask.

(Hope Wurzel shows the "western" sight of germany)

Taff107

Ale555, is right about people googling you as you pass and the MkII Golfs with the small, wide wheels wanting to have a pop, but they are no threat!

Ale555

Forgot to say: Police isn´t easy to take here. Once they stopped me, looked at my car shet,walked around the car and then they asked me "What are Sideskirts?","What is the rear end spoiler?". Always a good laugh as the "fights" with the Golfs and Opels(Vauxhall in UK). Mostly you can tell them hell is frozen about the scoob,they don´t know anything!( Just learn the sentence: "Das ist original!"(Means this is origianl)and you´ll come through)
But driving fast is not as easy as in UK (remembering my UK driving) as they stand whith laser-pistols behind greens in their green cloth. Also they stand whith a normal vid-cam and film you.
(Had that for several times...*argh*)

BlackScoobyWRX

Ale555
No problems on the autobahns tho eh??

GBScooby

Thanks for the feedback guys.

The speeding cops over there can't be worse than Finland - the land of the means tested speeding fine... There was a Nokia exec who got fined about E110000 for speeding on his Harley! He got it reduced on appeal but the potential for huge fines is there.

I actually had an unmarked police car flash his lights at me as I went past him at 1km/h below the speed limit (I thought they may be hiding there and I also think a marked car had radioed ahead to look out for the bright blue rally car...!)

BlackScoobyWRX

I thought Finland was the home of rally !!
You'll enjoy Germany m8 - I did for sure !!
Marvin

P1_BEN

I'm in exactly the same position, have a WR1 on order and been thinking whether to leave it at home for weekends or bring it out...

Means i'll never bother going back to the UK!!

Can believe the comment about being looked at as I haven't seen a single scoob in dusseldorf and been here for 2 months now..

Ale555

Scoobys in Germany are only to see over 900metre above Sea-level...
Thats what you can say. In Leipzig (500.000 people) there´s just a dozen Subarus...Imprezas?Turbos? I think 1 Impreza Turbo (driver about 70years)
But it´s always a realy good feeling to see your own scoob...
Go down from Dusseldorf to Cologne(mainly the Ruhrgebiet) and you´ll see some more...not as much as in suisse/uk but for Non-alp-region its quite good...

cheeseboy

Hi all in Germany - have a look here for a new meet:

Germany meet - stuttgart

Neal

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Ok Where shall I begin????

Scooby ownership in Germany is very simple and straight forward unless you want to modify your car or you are attempting to import a car that does not fit the German standard.

There is an organisation in Germany called the TÜV and these Aholes dictate what you can and can not do to our car.

every single part on your car will be TÜV approved.

if you want to add parts you will need to get parts that are TÜV approved and have a TÜV/DEKRA certificate included, no certificate no approval no insurance.

It is next to impossible to buy tuning parts in Germany and if you get them outside of Germany then 9 times out of 10 they do not have TÜV certificates as nobody else needs them.

You will get a small log book that has listed in it what size wheels and tyres you are allowed to have on your car, what size spoiler, what offset the wheels have to be etc.

If you find a set of wheels that are TÜV approved you will need to get them fitted and then take your car to a TÜV testing station and give them the paperwork, they will charge you lots of money and print you out a certificate saying the wheels are approved for YOUR car, not your mates identical car! then you take this certificate and your log book to the Landratsamt pay them some more money and they will add the contents of the certificate to your log book, you are no legal again.

if you have wheels on your car that are not listed in this log book you can not get tyres fitted at garages as you need to produce this log book everytime someone does work on your car.

You also need 2 sets of wheels and tyres one set for the summer and one set for the winter.

The term standard might get you off a few times with the police in regard to skirts, spoilers etc but not wheels and tyres and exhausts.

also listed in this log book is the standing noise of the car and the moving noise at full power, this noise is not allowed to be changed. If you fit a new back box it must be tüv approved and also not increase the db level.

Car tax is worked out on the emmisions of the car, the scoob has 2 cats so is relatively low to tax it is illegal to remove one of the cats and definatley illegal to remove both.

If the plod stop you and find something wrong they will either impond the car on the spot or make you take it to the nearest TÜV station to be inspected, and you will be fined aswell.

They also take photos of your car as evidence that there was something wrong with it.

Every part fitted to a car must have a number stamped on it as a source of identification, bearing in mind that SUBARU Genuine spoilers do not have any numbers stamped on them. The TÜV guy took one look at my car which has a 22B spoiler on it and said no way is that original.

The 22B, P1, STI5 and STI6 where never sold in Germany so there are no genuine approved spoilers here so anything bigger than the STI4 standard spoiler is not approved. There is however a company in Italy that makes a 4 piece cut down version if the 22B spoiler which does have TÜV approval.

I am not sure if the WR1 will be sold here either.

The STi7 Prodrive edition was also not sold here so the big spoiler caused major problems because there was not a brochure in German saying it was the same car and you could buy it like that.

Basically you are allowed the car as it left the factory, you can also not get the PPP over here.

I could go on for much longer but I hope you get the general idea.

If you have any other questions then drop me a mail.

Cheers

Steve

SirFozzalot

Wow! Pretty strict over then then!?!?!?!

Does any of this affect cars from other countries visiting Germany if they have non standard exhausts etc. fitted??

cheeseboy

nope - so long as they would pass an emmissions test etc , and loudness test, and the profile of the tires is ok, then you are fine.

P1_BEN

What about if you have very good connections with people in Dekra...

So as mentioned above what happens if I want to bring my car from the uk..??? (WR1)

That would be completely standard..??

Re-Bitten Hero

LOL at Steve

Steve (Wurzel) is absolutely correct, factually. Of course, what he doesn't mention is that he has a de-cat downpipe, non-standard wheels, very loud exhaust system, covered in stickers...

Richard


ps Welcome to Germany, the land of inane and pathetic rules but no car crime

Taff107

...thank god I don't have to comply with the TUV!

cheeseboy

@P1_BEN,

it is not a big deal to bring in a car from another country - infact this is a good way to have a "tuned" car - you still need Tuev, but they will write in all the extras etc that you have without charge! It is something called a "gutachten" - a bit of paper which says to all that your car meets requirements and all changes occured before import to germany. Re-bitten hero has done this with his own uk car which he now has here. The main problem with bringing a uk car here is that the steering wheel is on the wrong side - this can be either a small or large discomfort depending on your particular needs (ie. underground carpark may require a key, and the post is (of course) on the drivers side...) etc.

If you need more info email Re-bitten hero or myself.

PS: you coming to the meet on the 21st then?????

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Rich you are correct!!! but My non standard wheels are the gold limited edition Super T made especially for the Impreza by OZ and are even badges as for the Impreza.

My Spoiler is a 22b Replica from Scoobymania and has been tested on my car at upto 260hkh, my exhaust pipe meets all EU noise and emissions regulation of which I thought Germany was a member.

Scoobysport Downpipe, Subaru OEM midd section and PE T75 Backbox.

Ale555

One thing shoul´d´nt be forgotten: You have to change you´re headlights or put some stickers on them (look at your manual).

BMWhere?

Hello fellow sausage lovers!

Wurzel, your being a bit harsh there mate... Just 'cos you try and brake every rule the Germans make and get away with it 90% of the time, you can't really grumble about the other 10%.

The other thing you should bear in mind if you bring a car over from another EC country and you maintain your residence in that country i.e. still have an address there, then you don't need to re-register your car in Germany and therefore non of the German rules are applicable! I'm quite sure about this after 3 years over here with the RB5 on UK reg... I had an argument with a border controller, he eventually went off to check up and returned 5 minutes later and accepted defeat!

As for crime over here (South-west Deutschland), nobody knows what it is so there not interested in nicking it! Besides, steeling is verboten!

Oh, and they did sell the STi7 Prodrive style here!

Denmark

iTrader: (2)

It sound like it´s really strickt,

But it mucho fun on the Autobahn


Skassa