> > They are pretty anal about how things should flow. If your wheels aren't turning one nanosecond after red/amber lights at traffic lights there is a chorus of revving engines and horns...
ha ha, try Israel for that trick. The horns are blowing when the lights in the other direction have just turned red!
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I am thinking, after my comments on another thread, that maybe I should move to Germany. Or Israel. Or Italy. Or Romania... : )
I have probably mentioned it before, but in Romania, in many cities, there are countdown timers at the lights!! It's like Pole Position.. "Prepare to qualify..."
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I wonder if the Japanese diesels sold in Germany have their stop controls modified. The ones that we get here in N.Z. have stop timers in the ECU's so that you can turn the key to "off" and leave the vehicle, but the engine keeps ticking over for a time for turbo cooling. I don't know how long the run-on timer is though, just something that I have noticed , including a Mitzi Pajero of one of my colleagues.
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Every handbook I've read has said move off immediately after starting up. Cold idling is reckoned to be by far the most damaging phase of engine use. It's highly polluting and a source of annoyance to neighbours, especially late at night and early in the morning.
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in Romania, in many cities, there are countdown timers at the lights!!
They are also in India (seen), Bulgaria & Turkey (heard) - and I think many other places in the world.
It helps not being an Amber Gambler :)
Coming back to the topic, I really think this is a weird rule in Germany about engine idling.
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Also, I believe technically that at idle your cams are suffering the most wear. I too, believe that the advice has always been set off the instant you start. Not that you should thrash it from cold, of course.
V
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Cold idling is reckoned to be by far the most damaging phase of engine use>>
Yes, if left for minutes, though 15 - 30secs idling after starting lets the oil pressure rise etc before you give it any welly.
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I have spent quite a bit of time in Germany and find them a very sensible and agreeable people. Certainly if you are slow to set off at lights you'll hear a peep from behind, but you do have to be SLOW.
The engine idling rule has been in force for some time, and I think I saw it first is Switzerland. Its designed to reduce noise and pollution. I've never had a problem with it. Their concern is for extended idling, 15-20 seconds will not be an issue.
When you start your cold car up let it idle for a few moments before driving off - e.g. start up, then put on your seat belt, adjust mirrors, radio etc., that's enough time. Cold oil needs a 30 seconds or so to fully circulate the engine and allow pressure to stabilise. In the case of an automatic transmission you also need to allow the transmission pump to build line pressure.
The Germans have lots of small laws, but most of them are designed to lessen social friction and protect the environment. They have laws about making noise, when you can put out rubbish etc etc. IMHO they seem to work, and we could use some of them in the UK.
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I also lived in Germany - for several years, as a child, and its as Aprilia says. Or was! However an important difference between UK and Germany is that the populace were not slow to point out your error if you transgressed the rules, like lawn mowing on certain days/times. Tends to reduce the burden on the enforcement agencies if you know that the neighbourhood will be down on you if you step too far out of line. Unlike here, where you cab be isolated, and picked off by the antisocial if you raise an issue.
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Yes, very true. The Germans do behave like this and I admire them for it, unlike the English who are increasingly a nation of strangers with no real national identity.
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Yes its true the Germans are very strict about following the rules. All those trains taking all those people to their work camps, still disobeying an order would be verboten wouldnt it?
I think Ill stick to a country where people are a little more cavalier.
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Yes its true the Germans are very strict about following the rules. All those trains taking all those people to their work camps, still disobeying an order would be verboten wouldnt it?,
But I think we were too - once (don't mean the trains bit). Personal responsibility & adherence to 'minor' social etiquette convention make for a much nicer place to be. Small infringements nipped in the bud (as the Germans seem to practice) allows for lots of minor easings, rather than where a neighbour snaps one day and stabs the guy next door because of a barking dog.
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There are lots of infuriating things about Germany (and the Germans), but likewise there are a great many positive things about the place. Suppose the same holds true for just about any country.
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Two things struck me about my most recent stay in Germany (Hannover)
1) No shutters or grilles on the shop fronts at night in the city centre
2) No litter.
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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One of the great advantages is that when I'm over there I can go out at night into the centre of Munich, have a few Weissbiers and a good meal, and then stroll back to my hotel after midnight in relative safety. I've seen the odd harmless drunk, but nothing worse. If I tried to do the same in the centre of Birmingham I probably wouldn't get more that a couple of hundred metres without be attacked or accosted. IME of visiting over many years the Germans are a lot less aggresive than the British (contrary to popular myth). In Britain you can get your throat slit for looking at someone the wrong way in a pub ('what you lookin' at?'). To bring it back to motoring, I believe that the UK is claimed to have the highest level of road rage in Europe - I can quite believe it. Lot of people are on a hair-trigger in this country..
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I don't want to cast doubt on what anyone is saying, but is the danger of being attacked really as severe in the middle of Birmingham at chucking-out time as Aprilia suggests (and I have seen many similar assertions here?
Certainly people are often bad-mannered and bad-tempered these days, but I haven't seen the enormous crowds of fighting drunk yobbos everyone else seems to see. Perhaps it's important to go to well-run pubs.
If you mind your own business, walk briskly, ignore stares and similar and look as if you know where you're going, people usually leave you alone. But I have known individuals who meander about looking lost and timid who tend to get mugged etc. An exaggerated and soppy wish to 'make friends' across cultural barriers sometimes gets people into trouble too, but they have to be pretty insensitive to signs.
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is saying but is the danger of being attacked really as severe in the middle of Birmingham at chucking-out time as Aprilia suggests
This is what I love about the back room. I click on a link expecting to learn something about the longevity of engines in Germany. I don't learn much about that topic, but I do find a discussion of the dangers of walking around the centre of Birmingham by night. :-)
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Which is one of the major reasons for me being here. The trouble is, Oktoberfest starts in two weeks which does lower the tone somewhat - what, with the invading Brits, Italians, Aussies etc.
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Small infringements nipped in the bud (as the Germans seem to practice) >>
Tell me about it! My mother-in-law is German!
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Its a very good point made re small infringements: here, the retentive nature (adverb omitted) means the British have a reputation for being cold. Its untrue: its just that the British are inertiated until the safety valve blows. Then, its all spewed out. Tradition: the Viking berserker, as seen at football grounds, and High Street, Preston in the melee outside the scruff-clubs. The latter to be especially avoided! www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_berserker.htm
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