American Reacts to 'Normal Everyday German Things that Really Surprised Me'

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[SheratanLP]

Not only are winter tires more expensive than summer tires, the rubber compound is also designed for cold weather. In warm weather, they wear out much faster and are also damaged more quickly.

[leobeck]

A manual gearshift would probably be a great theft protection in the USA.

[Markus-htwe]

In Germany, using winter tires in snowy or icy conditions is mandatory for safety reasons. Winter tires have a special rubber mix and tread pattern that grip better in cold, slippery weather, helping prevent accidents. Driving with winter tires all year isn’t practical because they wear out faster in warmer temperatures, have longer braking distances on dry roads, and increase fuel consumption.
Many German auto shops offer seasonal tire services, including switching tires twice a year and storing the off-season set. This makes it easier for drivers to always have the safest tires for each season.

[Muck]

The key part about "removeable shower heads" is that they are NOT AT A FIXED HEIGHT ... and thus you can - if you have long hair and dont want to wash it today - lower the shower head to below your hair ... and wash everything above it carefully.

[Gaston]

The reason why almost all Germans learn to drive in a manual vehicle is that if you take the test in an automatic vehicle, you are restricted to automatic vehicles on your driving license.
In addition, there are a lot of manual vehicles in use and on the used market, so the proportion of automatic vehicles never became dominant. With electric cars, the issue resolves itself.
In the past, automatic cars were less popular because they had higher fuel consumption. The reputation and the sporty aspect probably also contributed to the fact that automatic cars did not gain the same popularity as in the USA. I can also imagine that manual cars allow better control in mountainous regions because you can use the engine as a brake when going downhill.

[Attirbful]

another great plus to having removable shower heads is that you can get larger objects (such as mosquito screens, dogs, or - as I did recently - a large wicker basket) into the tub or shower and get the water to spray and clean where you want it instead of getting in with it at the same time and getting all wet trying to manoeuver the object you want to clean underneath the water that comes from one spot…

[tommysellering]

One reason for taking your driving license with a manual car (in Sweden at least, but I think it's the same in many other countries in EU) is that the driving license is conditional.
This means that if you do your driving test with an automatic, you get the condition "Automatic" stamped in your driving license and you are not ALLOWED to rent or drive a manual car.
So if you take the test with a manual car there is no condition, and you can drive whatever you like.

[LoboMarone]

concerning laziness, funfact: after some time driving manual, the procedure is in your muscle memory, YOU become the automatic. only thing that never changes, no matter how used you are to manual, is, that you can eat much better behind the wheel in an automatic car ^^

[Perseus]

Greetings from Germany. Manual/automatic transmission. A little bit of history: as I grew up (1950's) the horsepower of an average car was around 50hp and with manual transmission you had 4 gears. An automatic transm. had a powerloss of 15-25% and only 3 gears. The consequence was that automatic cars were extreme slow and were driven only by old folks and had a bad image. Another reason was the hefty price increase for automatic transmissions.

[alexanderblume]

Why are manual transmissions so common in Germany?

1) They are cheaper to buy
2) They are cheaper to maintain
3) They use less fuel
4) They are more fun

[MrsStrawhatberry]

Detachable shower heads are normal in most of Europe. Whenever I go abroad and the hotel has fixed ones I always assumed it was a bad hotel. 😆
Low quality appliances.

[LutzAlbrecht-Mylenium]

Biking is generally considered a normal mode of transportation in most European countries whereas it appears that in the US and other countries it's really more viewed as a sports activity. That probably explains a lot. At least whenever I see documentaries it's more about mountain biking, BMX, competitive race cycling our couriers battling the traffic in New York or something like that. You don't even see regular middle aged people just cycling around for fun, let alone grannys doing their grocery shopping by bike, which is the most normal thing around here.

[schlummbumm]

Wintertyres in Germany are from october to easter next year. A good wintertyre costs the same as a summertyre

[dirkspatz]

The rubber compound of winter tires is soft(er) to be not so hard at cold temperatures and have more grip to the ground/ice. Additional the tread pattern of winter tires has more fine cuts to bite better into snow.
All this plus for winter conditions comes with a minus for dry hot summer conditions:
- the softer compounds "pulverizes" in the hot and you can see the tires strip themselfs down in a few thousend miles.
- the many cuts in wintertires produces (when the tire gets really hot in the summer) a lot of friction that causes higher gas consumption (up to 1/4 Gallon per 100km)
- The soft rubber that gets to soft in summertimes causes that the brakeing distances getting longer - even with ABS - not good to slide into the end of a car because your car needed 10m more room to stop.

[TimOldBag]

It is also nothing unusual or even exceptional in Germany to see 90-year-olds on bicycles. I have personally pulled 95-year-old men out from under their bikes after a fall. Then I asked: “Is everything okay”? Then mostly only curses came. Damn traffic ... Fucking car drivers. 😂

[Rick]

Winter tires are not more expensive, but they are much softer and therefore wear out much faster. Good summer tires are usually more expensive, but offer much better driving comfort. All-weather tires are suitable for those who drive very little and may have to resort to other means of transport in the event of heavy snowfall.

[knightwish]

from Germany .... I'm 72yo and still ride my normal bike not an E-bike. A lot of the older people are now turning to E-bikes which is good form of excercise and in keeping the joints working. Because of the E-bikes they are motivated to get out and about instead of just walking up and down the same street or worse just sitting at home doing nothing.

[soap]

Also we have "all-Wetter" or "full-year" tires. For example in NRW we usually don't have much snow in winter. So we don't really need wintertires.

And it has nothing to do with the price. Because u drive it the same time anyway.

U can drive 2 half years your summer and 2 half years your winter. Or 2 years "all-wetter".

Because after x amount of time. The tire has to be switched to a new pair anyway.

So yes wintertires are more expensive but that's not the reason.

[tomaskrcho]

In Slovakia, your summer tyres need to have at least 1.6 mm tread depth, the winter ones must be more than 3 mm

[rontaumelscheibe]

Hi guys, Ron from Austria/Germany here. Another option: Anyone driving on roads covered with ice or snow must have winter or all-season tyres fitted. All-season tyres are a combination of summer and winter tyres. The rubber technologie ensures balanced driving characteristics throughout the whole year. No tyres change. I'm not a tyres sales man! 🥳