Are German cars still cool?

[kambites]

Cloudy147 said:

Never thought German cars were cool growing up. Aspirational yes, but not cool.

When I was young they were the epitome of uncool - well built, reliable... exactly the sort of thing your middle-class middle-aged parents bought. Very much what Kia and Hyundai are now, I suppose. If you asked my peers whether they'd rather have an XR3i or an E30 3-series (even an M3) most of them would have gone for the Escort.

[MC Bodge]

TheJimi said:

among a certain demographic, they are definitely seen as status symbols.

I'm not sure if that is the case.

It may be more a case of what they see as needed to show that they are able to keep up with the others in the tribe.

They are not exactly Rolls Royce convertibles and they don't stand out in a car park full of similar cars.

[MC Bodge]

The original M1 and original M3 were quite cool, non?

The 190-2.3 too and the Ur Quarto too?

Ps. I saw a an E30 series do a little drift out of a roundabout earlier. Chapeau!

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 20th July 08:33

[MC Bodge]

kambites said:

If you asked my peers whether they'd rather have an XR3i or an E30 3-series (even an M3) most of them would have gone for the Escort.

In the early-mid 90s the E30 became popular with young lads, when insurance was prohibitive for hot hatches.

[TheJimi]

MC Bodge said:

TheJimi said:

among a certain demographic, they are definitely seen as status symbols.

I'm not sure if that is the case.

It may be more a case of what they see as needed to show that they are able to keep up with the others in the tribe.

They are not exactly Rolls Royce convertibles and they don't stand out in a car park full of similar cars.

That's exactly what I'm getting at.

Hence they are status symbols *among a certain demographic* - we don't see the cars as anything to write home about (well, I certainly don't) but certainly types do.

[kambites]

MC Bodge said:

kambites said:

If you asked my peers whether they'd rather have an XR3i or an E30 3-series (even an M3) most of them would have gone for the Escort.

In the early-mid 90s the E30 became popular with young lads, when insurance was prohibitive for hot hatches.

"Popular" is not the same as "cool", though. From what I remember, teenagers aspired to own hot hatches with silly body kits, not "old-man saloon cars".

[unpc]

I'm not sure the any of the German brands have ever been cool. Some of the models they've made maybe but they're the exception rather than the norm. Some old stuff has assumed coolness by just being old.

When I was growing up in the 70s Mercs and BMs were thought of as well made but very dull and I don't remember them being aspirational then. That didn't come until the 80s. Back then Audi were really niche and weird and VW churned out cheap, evil handling crap. Not sure anybody drove a VW by choice in those days.

[chris7676]

Nein!
Except some Porsche sportscars.
I especially never got the Audis (an R8 I would consider if given, and the coolest thing about most of them is the paint colour, mind).

[captain_cynic]

MC Bodge said:

The original M1 and original M3 were quite cool, non?

The 190-2.3 too and the Ur Quarto too?

Ps. I saw a an E30 series do a little drift out of a roundabout earlier. Chapeau!

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 20th July 08:33

This... brands are not cool, individual models are.

Every brand produces a crap car... quite a lot of crap cars for most brands as these bring in the money. Some brands use that money to make interesting, quirky or unique cars.

[Justin Case]

For true coolness, we should look to the Italians not the Germans. For example this rates pretty high by any defintion even after ten years:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+alfa+...

[KM666]

I'd say there is a correlation between how much of a sense of humour the owners generally have and how cool brands are.

From my experience owning a VAG vehicle they are most definitely not cool. Precious, try hard, cry babies in cars that all look the same and owners who all broadly look the same as one another.

Whereas weirdly I've found the BMW scene to be much more laid back and inclusive especially with the E30/36/46 generations.

Mercedes are cool cars for old men or daft rich women.

[Deep Thought]

Sitting in our local Merc dealers at the min and looking round me. Nothing particularly "cool".

Of passing interest a lot of the showroom cars are now petrol. Theres a very nice E300 coupe in silver behind me here which is nice to see rather than a CDI variant but not "cool"

[jamoor]

These days.

Volvo and Tesla.

[Resolutionary]

Lots of weird generalisations going on - obviously personal experience weighs in on the overall views of individuals but as someone has stated earlier, entire brands cannot really be seen as entirely cool these days.

The rise of the econobox / diesel / badge snob has made brands which once could have been considered entirely cool drop in stature; to (rightly) accommodate the mass market, their share holders and indeed their successes. Then we come to the fact that most brands are conglomerates / sub-brands of another; rarely stepping outside of legislation driven design meetings like the fondly remembered Group B and touring car secret / night projects of old.

Yes; some German cars are still cool. No, some German cars are not.

[MysteryLemon]

Cool? I dunno. I'm probably a bit too old now to say whats cool or not but seems the GP love anything German. Audi, VW, BMW. They are the brands they aspire to own.

We've got a young lad at work who was bragging about his new car. It's the dream car he's always wanted to own. Best thing since sliced bread. All his mates are jealous of it etc. Turns out its a 65 plate 1.6 diesel 5-door Golf. I couldn't think of anything more dull but this is apparently what all the kids want these days.

There's even a song doing the rounds on Radio 1 at the moment. Lyrics as follows :

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

They think they making P's we be making R's
They be taking a bus, we're in a foreign cars
Come and take some change, top up your oyster card
We'll be living large because the world is ours
Because the world is ours
Look at my wrist and set reward for these battle scars
Look at my roof, I took that off, I wanna see the stars
V-12 engine in a BM so I'm coming fast

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

I wanna make a shoutout to the teachers that said that I wouldn't make it far
Look at me baby I be pulling up in foreign cars
Je m'appelle the money, man yeah I got foreign bars
They said that my come up was a fluke
I know how to play my cards
I'm always in a German coupe
I don't need no body guards
A German BMW
Be my wife, that's all I ask
I got the sauce, I got the juice
Foreign cars we're going fast
I got the black Mercedes too
Theres no way I'm coming last

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

Got my wrist blinging in a German
Got my gold chain swinging in a German
Real G's man bringing in a German
Got some bad B's singing in a German

In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car
In a German, in a German
In a German whip in a foreign car

...

Jesus wept.

[greenarrow]

There are still some cool German cars about.

Is the new M5 not cool? I'd say it was.

Any GT3 variation of the 911 -c'mon its cool....surely.

Little BMW i3 - I think they're uber cool.

Audi R8 V10 - cool in my book.

..but most of them aren't, IMO.

[Flumpo]

Germans cars were never all cool... some models were and some weren’t.

80s
Anything Porsche - cool
Anything Opel - not cool

Mid 90s

M5 - cool
Base spec 5 series in burgendy red, steel wheels, non leather seats and entry level engine - not cool

00s

First gen tt - cool
Vw Passat - not cool

Now

The German premium brands are so diluted with their amg/m trim lines who knows. But I’m fairly sure a povety spec a class with the 0-60 of 11 seconds isn’t a cool car.

[MysteryLemon]

Flumpo said:

But I’m fairly sure a povety spec a class with the 0-60 of 11 seconds isn’t a cool car.

Wrong. Any model can be made "cool" with some dished, negative offset wheels and air-ride. Everything is about brand these days, not whether or not the actual product is the best or not. Take the Iphone for example. Audi is the Iphone of the car world.

The majority on here really aren't the right demographic for deciding what is cool or not, myself included. I think my Nissan Cube is pretty cool but I think the vast majority of people would beg to differ.

Edited by MysteryLemon on Friday 20th July 11:01

[otolith]

Trouble with this sort of conversation is this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdaRbNWVrb8

[TWPC]

No, and they never were.

The cars being produced by one country's manufacturers can never all be cool. It could only be possible if said country has a tiny number of car makers (I guess you could ask. 'Are Croatian cars cool?' since Rimac and Dok-Ing are the only car makers based there. The answer in this case is 'no' because one makes a posturing electric supercar and the other hasn't made any cars yet, though their remote control mine clearance vehicle looks good.).

Since coolness depends on a certain level of inside knowledge and appreciation by a small but influential group, there is no way that a large number of items can ever be genuinely cool. Certainly 'German', 'British', 'French', 'Italian', 'American' or 'Iranian' cars as groups will never make the grade.

I love cars but am resigned to the fact that my interest is founded on geek-dom and that 99.99% of cars are not and will never be cool.