What car to buy in Europe? (Some Audi content)

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

At 08:26 AM 7/27/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>OK.  Here's the real deal.  He's clarified some areas in which I was flat
>out wrong.  He does NOT plan to bring a car home.  Too much trouble!  That
>opens up the field.  He's living in Barcelona, not Madrid ( I hate him
>already!), and can only keep a new car tax free in Spain for 6 months.  He's
>also looking at used but fairly recent cars.  He really appreciates all the
>advice so far, and thanks you all.  He is leaving 08/17 and welcomes any
>further comments right up 'til the very end.

...........when he gets there, he will meet other Americans who have been
there for awhile, some for several years. This American community (which
includes the US Embassy) will have discovered all sorts of adaptations and
work-arounds that will help him interface with the local culture. Suggest
that he allow about a month to go by before taking any action that will be
difficult to reverse. We used taxis and public transportation for weeks,
and then shared rides with other Americans-in-residence for more weeks,
until we discovered all the options available and their relative strengths
and weaknesses, costs, risks, etc.  It is not the USA and things are
different than most would expect...parking problems, fuel costs, etc.  We
found that public transportation and a motorized bike were very useful and
both inexpensive and convenient for our particular circumstances initially.
Then we bought a series of cars, and a travel trailer with which we
explored every part of Europe for several years. Fine adventure.

..........Other members of the overseas community steered us to auto
brokers that specialized in providing transportation to business people who
were from other countries. The brokers smoothed out a lot of potential
rough spots connected with vehicle ownership in a foreign
country......drivers license, vehicle registration, insurance, taxes, etc.
They turned out to be totally honest and very helpful. Hope your friend has
a similar experience.

Doyt Echelberger
Glad to have gone, happy to be home again


>  It will, BTW, have to be a car
>available in Spain, as I understand it.  He's gone to both the Skoda and
>Seat websites per my (well, your) suggestion, and I pointed him to the
>various RS2 and RS4 sites.  (Just to inflict a little torture!)  Keep 'em
>coming!  Thanks to all, John