European impressions; I must vent my frustration

[P. Stegawski]

Jenny wrote:
>As to your European impressions Ed, I agree it's a bummer that "classic"
>Audis
>aren't appreciated in their homeland.  I think part of it is that it's
>rare to
>see older cars on the road in Europe, period.  I don't know why.

I don't think they are not appreciated in Europe, but the cost of
ownership, especially in Germany is too high for older cars. Your
insurence, and registration increases as the car ages, so why not buy a
new car and pay less. It used to be that the older cars out of western
Europe would make it to central europe and Russia. I lived in Poland for
10 years and there used to be a lot of used cars being brought over from
the west. This changed years ago as the Polish government passed laws that
prohibit registering older imported cars. This was done in order to help
new car dealers/manufacturers in Poland. Older cars in Poland have to pass
mechanical inspection, and not just emissions like it is in most parts of
USA, which is another reason people buy new cars. The general trend, as
far as I know, in that part of europe is now similar to western europe -
just buy new cars, and forget the older ones.

Peter
'90 200TQ