I know the Euro tag for a station wagon is ’shooting brake’ but can someone tell me what the origion of that term is?

what else would a German car enthusiast do?

It doesnt get any better than Audi

The cars used to be called “shooting brakes” because the extra space in the back was enough to hold equipment for a hunting trip – in some cases it would hold the hunters themselves. “Brake” was an older term for a carriage.

The concepts you see from Audi and their kind are kinda-sorta shooting brakes: there were coupes in the past that had the extra capacity and were called shooting brakes, but without the passenger space you’d hope for. A lot of current-day luxury wagons (also known as estates) are closer to the concept in spirit, I think.

The term shooting brake is arguably the most ill defined in the car world. I’ve seen five page arguments on what constitutes a shooting brake. I’d argue that most estates are too big to be shooting brakes, as they where often 2 doors and as Commodus said more coupe like than sedan like.

Does anyone have the list of cars considered for this award? I’m curious what the TT was up against.

Why not the Caliber – didn”t DCX sell a few in Europe?

“Most Beautiful” – as in more beautiful than anything else regularly available in the German market (no custom jobs)

The TT? It looks decent, but hardly beautiful. Most of it looks the same as last year’s model. Beautiful is Mercedes CLS, BMW M6, Audi R8, that sort of thing.

I’d say the most beautiful for the 2007 MY would be the new S550. Style meets powwer meets luxury.

Nah … I agree with MM … decent but nowhere near beautiful …. oh and Maverick… it gets better than Audi … a lot better

tt does not impress me as most beautiful. i would pick the mercedes slk55 amg.
yes, audi cars are pretty good. very good interiors and smooth engines. they even have good power if you pay enough.
but all audis, tt included, rs4 included, have a major flaw: nose heavy. most of them have 60% of the weight on the front wheels. that means 1000+ kg weight on the front axle. not good for turning and brake effort distribution.

Most beautiful car of THIS year- Aston Martin AMV8.

Besides, Audi has its own name for station wagon: Avant

And don’t forget about BMW’s Touring!

Germans love giving creative names to cars that they don’t want to call station wagon!

(I like Avant better tho)

BMW 335i Coupe…. that’s a beauty!

The TT looks impressive, and so do many other new german cars, but the all new 2007 Mercedes CL63 has the most eye-bleeding look. But this is totally subjective.

The TT looks nice, I haven’t seen it in person but IMO, the 335i coupe is the best car in the world right now, and I’m pretty serious about that.

Bimmer 335i? Ha ha… the thing looks old already. Can’t they get more inspiration than the old school tail lights?

Thats what I thought until I saw it in person, and the first time I got behind one was at night and I was pretty impressed

^^^
Do you only like Audis?

I can see the argument. Regardless of whether or not it was subject to German cars only, there’s probably a bit of nationalism (watch out, Poland!) at play in the decision. I mean, if you took the same survey in America the winner would most likely be the Corvette or the Mustang.

That being said, I think the greatest achievement of the redesigned TT is its departure from the old TT. That car was not only ugly, but was also ugly in a way that communicated it was trying hard to be beautiful, but failing miserably. The new TT actually looks good.

This car is the “pretty ugly girl” in teen movies, and when she shows up to the prom, it’s a jaw-dropping moment.

/no

I haven’t seen a new TT in person yet, but from photos I would have to say I prefer the R8. But I mean, I don’t know. Though something tells me that when I see them both in person, I’ll still think the R8 is better looking… cuz its just so badass.

TT, nice car…….hardly beautiful.

A8, now that is good looking Audi.

3 Series Coupe is very good looking as well.

New X5 works.

That is about it for the German cars looks, they’re still great though.

Angelo: now you’re talking dude! Beauty is subjective though, so go with whatever car makes you happy.

Hey Renton, I think you forgot about Mercedes, oh, and just maybe that little company called PORSCHE! since when are they not german. Plus the TT has great clean lines, other companies need to follow the clean lines, but I have to admit, the new SLR McLaren 722 is the most beautiful car I can dream of seeing

from a pure asthetics perspective I prefer the CLS

Oh Audi, how ye wish you could stun as hard as Aston… *hugs*

gumby,

No current Porsche does it for me in the beauty dept, niether does any Benz. The Cayman needs to get rid of the vanes in the side intakes, then it will be a contender.

Just that one little thing, throws it all off.

hell, it’s from GERMANY’S magazine.. and the vote is from GERMANS for THEIR cars, so either we don’t know what they know or we don’t got what they got.
besides, their culture and how they look at cars must be different. i like the new TT, but i would NOT pick it as the MOST beautiful.
there are many other cars i’d pick.. R8 being one of them.

AuDub,

I think that the R8 is funny looking. It may be great, but there is something wrong in the style dept.

well yeah it’s def. not gallardo, but i like it.. and looks are always subjective