The thing with winter tires has more facets to it. Yes, they help with snow, but not really if there is a lot of it. Then you still might need chains over the tires. Secondly, it just is cold here in winter. So even if there is no snow, the grip of our "summer tires" decreases with temperature. To combat this, the winter tires have innately more grip. That, however, is the reason why you don't have them up all year. Tires with more grip are usually not that hard and wear down way faster. If you leave them on for the summer, they won't be good enough anymore next winter. Also, there are special situations e.G. when you parked on snow, and now you want to drive away. To prevent your tires from doing a burnout, you might want to use the second or third gear and be gentle with the clutch. Thats where a manual shifting helps. Yes, it isn't often that you need that, but it can help sometimes.
manuals allow also just more efficient usage of gasoline. which is compared to the US five- to 10 times as expensive- whichmeans a economic reson is there aswell.
Automatic (at least double-clutch systems like DSG or PDK) are better in every measurable way. But many people still enjoy the direct connection between car and road while shifting manually. My car, a VW Golf GTI TCR *ONLY* comes in automatic.
The 90% manual seems an outdated number. With modern 7 or 8 gear automatics or dual-clutch getting common in the last decades roughly 50% of cars are automatic today. Though - most Germans still learn to drive manual and for some cars we even prefer the experience.
There are actually tieres you can use the whole year. The problem: The rubber you need for them, limits the speed you can drive without risk to damage them, to 160km/h. You should't use them above 140km/h to be sure. It'a also not forbidden to use winter tyres the whole year. But of course considering the technical allowed speed limit. If you exeed the speed limit the tyres are allowed to and cause an accident due to a bursting tyre - you are guilty. So the reason for winter tyres isn't the winter conditions - it's the summer conditions plus no speed limit on sections of the Autobahn, requirering tyres able to be used at theese speed. A problem only Germany has, because no one else need "high speed" tyres in summer. Also seperate winter and summer tyres allow different profiles and rubber mixtures optimized for the weather conditions, also reducing energy consumption esp. in summer. Also the rubber used for whole year and summer tyres is less lasting (main reason trucks use summer tyres outside the snowing season).
my father is 81 and rides bike every day. we have a very small printing shop and sometimes he delivers small stuff like business cards to customers even 15 km away with his ebike just for fun.
There are also combinations for the bathroom. For example, we have a large, permanently installed shower with an additional hand shower in combination with a bathtub. This is very common in Germany. Some households also only have shower cubicles, as is common in many standard hotels.
In Austria and Germany a lot of People buy E-Bikes. This Bikes have an electric Motor , which helps the Driver save his Power. But you had step the Pedal yourself. But you can drive 2 times faster than other Bikers.
In our neighbourhood there’s a lady who is 96 and still riding her bicycle every day for running errands. She is very active and does everything on her own. Sometimes I think it’s a bit dangerous because to break a bone at this age can cost you your life. On the other hand, is it really a life if you only sit at home and don’t use your muscles anymore?! Should I ever grow that old I hope I will be able to ride my bicycle too until I die.
Automatic cars also are more expensive and used to need more gasoline. Nowadays it changes, especially electric cars are all automatic. But manual cars are cheaper and more lightweight and use less gas because of this. The woman from New Seeland picked funny examples. There are much more things to mention I learned. For example German windows that can be tilt and opened. … look out for more … Bidets are extra devices to wash your lower parts, but they are not so widley spread. In France they are more spread. Germans use toilet paper and thats it. 🤪 The litte showers you have you will not find here.
One reason, why Germans drive manual cars is. If you aquire the driver's license on a car with an automatic gear shift, you are restricted to drive this type of car, and you are not allowed to drive a car with a manual gear shift.
@@romanakipper7713 Thank you, I didn't know this. But then, when I got my driver's license, it cost me 200 DM, you can imagine, it must be a while ago. 😀
You guys should react to a drive through a German City like this card drive through Hamburg ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6osIK4ggqzc.html Berlin ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UJxd3UNFwvo.html Lübeck/BadSchwartau ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ar0R-EEM4qk.html or a scenic journey to Lüneburg ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pbseEOv2kE4.html or Dresden ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Tz-WowjJCyY.html
Good idea, there are also videos taken from the cockpit of trams ("Führerstandsmitfahrt") and city walks. Those show a bit more because they can also cover the pedestrian areas of German cities, where cars are restricted.
You dont use summer tires in the winter because they get hard by the cold. This in combination with ice and snow make them extremely slippery. You then also do not use winter tires in the summer because they are made for the cold. In the summer they get soft and wear out really fast. Also a kind of winter tires are studded tires. They have metal pins that help grip on ice. Using these in the summer is really bad for the roads.
studded tires are not allowed in germany. you will see them in Sweden. Winter tires perform not as good in rain as a summer tires. (sounds odd, but look up some tests). Winter tires also have more tread and are therefor louder and consume more energy.
But instead you also could use regular winter tires and add snow chains if needed. Because even in winter when there is no snow and/or ice on the road, you don't want to have pins on your tires that can't be removed.
I am 50 and work as a security guard. My route to work is exactly 9.4 km. I cycle there and back every day. If I can no longer do this, physically, I will be old and soon dead.
I'm German. I also need water after using the toilet. Toilet paper doesn't completely clean your bottom. I also find that unhygienic. That's why I always take a shower afterwards, if possible. I was in South India (Mysore, Kochi, Bangalore, Mumbai, etc.) once. I also found the water buckets there unhygienic. But a hose on the toilet would be useful, yes, but on the other hand, if I were to mess around with it, it would probably flood the whole bathroom. So I'll stick with the shower. 😀
Bidets are sadly not that common in germany. Even it somewhat gets more common the recent years, i think most households in germany don't have them. We installed one a few years back and i must say, since we have it, every toilet without it just feels dirty
Mobile bidets are now often on offer. A kind of bottle that you fill with water and then emit a jet of water. I have one of these. I now always need water too.
We are simply not used to bidets. It's not our culture (so far), not on our mind and we don't know how to use them properly. And despite germans being known to be straight forward this is not a topic to discuss with a random stranger on the street. The only way to get it popular here, too, are journeys to countries who have it plus tutorials how to use them properly. 😂
the the rubber in winter tyres is a bit 'softer' than the regular ones at cold temperatures and created more grip with a bulky, edgy sole. It wears down faster under summer temps, creates more resistance to rolling (friction), thus cost more fuel per 100 km and mostly those tyres aren't suitable for speeds >160 km/h. Oh, ... and under summer conditions the distance you need to for your car to stop is worse (longer) than with the regular ones .... back in the 70's we even had 'spikes' in the winter tyres which even gave grip on ice .... but wore the streets down extremely fast ...
Ive grown up in Bulgaria and lived 15 years in Czech Rep. and now the last 12 years in Germany.I had never used water or bidet in the toilet but the years in Germany I started to use naturally and intuitively the shower for my ass after each N2 in my toilet(I live alone and the shower is next to my toilet and Im naked at home most of the time-even in winter so I dont have problem washing myself).It became a bit of a habit for me and I use toilet paper only when Im outside of my home.The water is definitely better and we need more of this in Europe.
you wouldn't be able to drive on winter tires in the summer...they are much softer and you would drive like plasticine - that's the basis of why there are winter and summer tires
I (German) think that one point is that we enjoy driving our cars . We love to drive in a sporting way. With an automatic drive it would be boring. Another point is that with a manual drive with a clutch you have a much better control of the car. Some safe fuel by shifting earlier (not possible with an Automatic) or in winter times when the streets are slippery due to snow or ice.
@@wallerwolf6930 Nun... Mein Bayerischer Fahrzeughersteller, hat schon seit den frühen 80er Jahren, immer einen aktuellen Verbrauchsanzeiger im Kombigerät verbaut, lange bevor der Job regulär von einem Bordcomputer ermittelt wurde. Zudem, habe ich meinen Verbrauch, "analog" nachgerechnet. Durch diese Kontrolle konnte ich ermitteln, dass mein Durschnittsverbrauch, noch 10% unter den eh schon schwer zu erreichenden Werksangaben liegt. Segeln ist genial, wenn man es richtig betreibt...
There are 2 reasons for using summer and winter tyres. Due to snow and ice in winter times it would be dangerous to drive with summer tyres in winter. Furthermore if you cause an accident due to the use of sommer tyres in winter it could happen that your insurance would't pay the repair costs. Last not least driving winter tyres in summer the tyres would wear and you have to buy new tyres.
the statistics with manual cars must be ancient. Currently the proportion of automatic cars is over 50%-60%, depending on which statistics you look at. So 90% manual was once decades ago
There are also all-year tires. I live in the Niederrhein region in NRW where we have really mild winters, and many people here use all-year tires that do not have to be changed. The winter tires are more important in the mountainous south or the south east where the winters are really cold and snowy and the landscape requires a good grip.
Bicycles in Germany After the war, cars were still a thing for the rich. A bicycle was a popular way to enhance your radius and get things done. In the 1960s, the car got democratisised. Everybody got a car and loved the new family member. Urban planning followed the needs of the car with extra wide lanes. It became an odd thing to ride a bike. My parents paraphrased this mindset with: "Do you want to be poor again and ride a bike?" In the late 1970s, rebellious youth tried to find their own way and do things differently as their parents. And there a trend from our dutch neighbours came in handy: a dutch bicycle type "Hollandrad", which describes a certain popular, usuable and fancy bike. Cycling became a fresh, healthy, sportive thing. Space was given for bicycles typically on the expense of pedestrians' space. I recall that in the 1980s, I first saw strange folks on good, fast, reliable bikes with strange kinds of huge saddle bags and helmets cycling our roads. And it turned out to be danish people cycling all the way through their country and even on through my area of Germany. That's where the first time it occurred to me, that you could use a bike not only to cycle to school or to your friends but to travel for several days using these bags to carry your belongings for overnight stays. Even tents and sleeping bags. I got inspired by my danish neighbours and a few years later, I got such a bike, wiyh two racks, also over the front wheel, two of these saddle bags and all the gear to cycled through all of Denmark up to cape Skågen with tent, airmatress and sleeping bag. It was a time without the Internet, smartphone, and GPS. Still all paper maps and the sun to navigate after. Our dutch neighbours are even more ahead pro bike than our danish neighbours and we. I point that out to show how Europe works. Some of the merits credited to Germany, actually are a european thing, that came to us by our creative neighbours. Today, with e-bikes, there is even a european bicycle infrastructure growing with transeuropean bicycle tracks. A famous one gets you from Amsterdam through the Netherlands and Germany to Switzerland all along river rhine. Nice track. I cycled, there, too. A medium sized trip 300 km to Mainz. And you will meet the same people on the track several times during such a journey from different countries, like dutch people on their way to France. You even can get organised tours, where your luggage is carried forward to the next hotel for you. Also recently the german automobile club ADAC (which might be another german thing thst should be covered in such videos) the vast majority of germans are a member of do not only offer support in case of a car breakdown, they come to fix your bike where ever you got stuck with a puncture or what ever problem you got. They can even pick you up with your bike and bring you to the next bike service station. But I think, this service is a german thing again. Finally, some germans (and others, too, of course) literally cycled around the world. There are several videos available on youtube.
On the subject of toilet paper: Most (mainly women) use dry toilet paper to clean themselves after urinating because a wet vagina is uncomfortable. For the "big business" there is moist toilet paper, which is soaked in a mostly scented lotion. This can be thrown into the toilet. Not to be confused with baby wipes, which should NOT be thrown into the toilet.
Winter tires are not that expensive. You rather don´t use them in the summer for two main reasons. Firstly, they slightly increase the fuel consumption of the car. And secondly, the rubber is much softer and gets even softer, when it is hot. That increases the breaking distance under those conditions. However, therer are "all season tires" and winter tires are not so bad in summer, that they are illegal then. I am currently driving winter tires all year for a reason. My car is very old and when it is done, I will most likely buy some other used old car of a random brand. The winter tires will outlive the car, and it would not have made sense to keep the additional summer tires (which came with the car), Also: I tend to drive to the arctic.
Winter tires are only for temperatures below 7°C. When it is warmer, they become very soft. I just experienced driving with winter tires at 27°C, and it felt like I was riding a boat. I felt like I was losing control in steering, and it was very loud due to the heavy friction.
Manuals are way better in my opinion, because they give you more control over the car, but unfortunately they are dying out, even here in Germany. Many manufacturers have stopped producing manual cars or will do so in the near future. I really don’t think that 90% of Germans still drive manual.
everything you say about Germany is in all of Europe - we have the same culture ... driving on the highway, bathrooms, houses, school system, winter tires, recycling, shopping baskets in supermarkets, etc etc... everything is 95% Europe is exactly the same as in Germany... the differences are only in certain quality, but the system is identical
