Category Archives: Automobiles

Automobiles, Germany, Project BMW, Technology, Travel

What if you don’t have enough gas, can you still get there?

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I HAD TO MAKE a 335km trip today. I forgot to get gas last night. The car has a computer that indicates how far you can drive until the tank is empty. The computer said 277km. Not enough gas. I can only buy prepaid, tax-free gas at Esso stations, so traveling takes some planning. (Unlike American freeways with multiple gas stations every few miles, the Autobahn will only have one station every 50km (31mi) or so. (Yes, I can buy gas anywhere if I have to, but who wants to pay $8/gallon?)

The “distance to empty” calculation is based on the recent average fuel consumption. As I drive on the Autobahn, the average increases, and I am getting closer to the destination. About 75km into the trip, the “distance to empty” is 318km. This means I can make the trip w/o stopping for gas. But should I?

About the time I have all this calculated, I see an Esso station. Should I stop? Oh, I can’t stop. The exit is closed by a permanent construction site (“Dauerbaustelle” for those of you working on German vocab.)

No problem. Too early for gas. The math looks good. The kilometers-driven are increasing ever so slightly faster than the “distance to empty” is decreasing. Ninety minutes later, there is another Esso station. I still have a 50km cushion. The math looks good. Keep going. Uh oh. Big hill. Well, it turns out going down the far side recaptures most of the loss going up. Still have 50km extra.

At 125km “distance to empty” the little yellow warning light comes on. Hmmm. 125-50 is 75. How far is it actually until I get there? The iPhone shows I’m right at 75km to the destination. Good. The needle keeps falling. And falling. The computer is still reassuring me. Until…

The Autobahn is again hilly and full of curves. The needle is now almost touching the bottom of the markings. Hmmm. The math looks good. Can I trust the computer? Hmmm again.

I decide that I will stop at the next gas station. It’s better to be safe than sorry. I can always claim “I was pretty sure I’d make it, but just wanted to play it safe.” Sign says next gas station in 5km. Next sign says my exit is in 3km. No, it’s not the same exit.

I leave the Autobahn without buying gas. The needle is moving “below empty.” Hmmm. Maybe I should not have done this. It’s illegal to run out of gas in Germany. OK, next gas station it is. There isn’t a next gas station…

Every time the transmission shifts or there is a bump in the road I feel like the engine is about to quit from fuel starvation. Oh, why did I do this? The needle is so far below empty that I don’t know what’s going to happen. The computer says 44km of gas. The iPhone says 20km to the destination. What happened to my 50km cushion?

A crossroads ahead. GPS says go straight and the iPhone says turn right. Hmmm. The GPS is 20 years old. The iPhone is not. Turn right. Where the heck am I?

I get to the back gate of Tower Barracks (Grafenwöhr, Germany) and ask for directions to the gas station. When I get there, the computer shows 18km to empty. I put 56 liters in my 60-liter tank.

Average fuel economy: 31.3 miles per gallon or for Germans 7.9l/100km. I drove that tank of gas ever so carefully!

Automobiles, Family, Germany, Project BMW

Saturdate with Gretel

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YOU MIGHT be wondering who Gretel is. I do too; It’s confusing. Hmmm. Perhaps I should start at the beginning…

The summer of 2009, Melissa, Sean and I were in the rental car parking garage at the Munich airport. I had reserved a car with GPS (Navi or SatNav depending on which country my friends are from). Everyone knows what the GPS looks like, right? I was feeling pretty stupid because I couldn’t find it. I asked for help. The GPS was the size of a postage stamp and located in the rear view mirror. Yes, in the mirror. It turns out that she only spoke German. I was OK with “Die Route wird berechnet” but most people wouldn’t know what was going on. Eight years later Melissa still say “Rechts abbiegen” but I’m not entirely sure it’s actually part of her German vocabulary.

We listened to this German voice telling us “turn left” and “turn right” for several days. We eventually started referring to the voice as “Gretel.” Spring forward a few years to 2011. A friend at EUCOM found an abandoned GPS, used it for a short time, then gave it to me. It was made in 1996. The most recent maps are several years out of date. (OK for city-to-city trips, but when downtown has become a pedestrian zone, “she” goes crazy. Ask me how I know!) This little black box took on the Gretel name. Gretel was useful in the gold 1992 BMW station wagon (Combi, Touring, Estate Car depending on where you live). She returned to the US in 2013.

Gretel is on the way back from a Christmas 2015 trip to see one of my bothers and his family in Bavaria.
Gretel is on the way back from a Christmas 2015 trip to see one of my bothers and his family in Bavaria.

Gretel served faithfully in the US until heading back to Europe late in 2015. Gretel’s new car was a blue 1999 BMW station wagon (Same alternate vocab for the rest of the world). Somehow, Gretel’s name migrated from the GPS to the car itself. As most of my friends know, that car was replaced by a silver 2003 BMW station wagon several months ago. The name has moved on so the current car has become known as Gretel 2.0.

Yesterday, I spent five hours replacing the parking brakes (who thought it was a good idea to put drum brakes inside disk brakes just to park a car?) and rotors and pads on all four axles. The car stops. The parking brake is firmer. I’m happy.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my Saturdate with Gretel. The next installment in the continuing saga will be replacing the valve cover gasket because 1) oil leaks are not allowed in Germany and 2) that occasional bit of oil on the exhaust manifold does not smell good.

Gretel 1.0's hood emblem was old and faded. I bought her a new one. Later, I was offered a really nice used one. When G 2.0 joined the family, the new one replaced her awful one, and the good used on went on G 1.0; those things are too expensive to leave on a car when it's sold!
Gretel 1.0’s hood emblem was old and faded. I bought her a new one. Later, I was offered a really nice used one. When G 2.0 joined the family, the new one replaced her awful one, and the good used on went on G 1.0; those things are too expensive to leave on a car when it’s sold!