Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Best designed German Cars

Germans are known for making some of the most boring, ugliest and dullest cars, yet through it all they have made a couple of pretty ones [even though some of them were designed by Italians] Here is my top ten list of the best looking German built road cars

10) Mercedes-Benz CLS

Built to be a 4 door coupe. As it was built; BMW, Audi and VW pulled up their own interpretations of the 4 door coupe. This is the first picture [just released today] of the 2011 CLS.


9) VW Scirocco [Mk3]

Based on the Golf Mk5, this was built to be an upscale, less practical and more expensive Golf. Built to be sold on good looks alone, Jeremy Clarkson justified buying one by saying "you didn't marry your wife because she was easy to wipe down?" It is by far one of the best designed hatchbacks of all time.



8) BMW Z4 [E89]

BMWs have always had a controversial look to them especially the Z series. When BMW finally brought out the redesigned Z4 I went all gasp and awe. It also gets a hard top, first in the Z series, which made it look good top up or down.



7) DKW Monza

DKW is one of the 4 companies that formed the 4 rings of Auto Union [now Audi]. This was built as a high speed aerodynamic runner hence its name [Monza is a high speed track in Italy]. It broke some speed records at Monza btw, I don't know the specifics either, but I know its pretty.



6) Porsche 550 Spyder
Another race car built for the road [it was road legal but not intentional]. Really simple design and built for lightweight and aerodynamics. Most famous for being the last car that James Dean drove.



5) Veritas RS3

The design is similar to #4 although this was released first. The engine is from a BMW M3, the handling is a bit off and its named after a German F1 team.



4) Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss

The SLR was released as a homage to the 50s gullwing racers and Benz were releasing back to back "special editions" for them. None really stood out that much, except for the last one, the Stirling Moss, which went all out. Named after the 1955 Mille Miglia winner [yup thats him] its a wonder how something so extreme looking is road legal.



3) VW Karmann Ghia [Type 14]

Italian design and German build quality was a winning formula for this. Most people were distracted from the underpowered Beetle engine by its gorgeous looks. It looked good in both convertible and coupe.



2) BMW 507

Built to be a competitor to the #1 car, it was a honestly good car but had an insane price tag. Despite being owned by people like Elvis, it really was a financial blow to BMW.



1) Mercedes-Benz 300SL "Gullwing"

Built first as a race car then modified for the road, even the doors were a result of this. Despite its function follows form shape, it has been mimicked, copied and lent inspiration to numerous cars from all over the world. It was the first to receive fuel injection and the fastest car in the world.

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