In a cool to moderate climate it should be fine. I wouldn't be driving in death valley or participating in any sustained high speed or high load driving. There's certainly a buffer built into the cooling efficiency with respect to air flow, all this would do is make you reach that upper limit faster. Should be fine.

A common mod people do to the older BMW 3 Series automatic is switch from the mechanical belt driven fan to the manual trans electric cooling fan. Their cars run fine but there's a reason why the mechanical fan was installed in that application. The manufacture decided the car needed a certain amount of air. But a good system is designed to be overbuilt. So you can block the grill but to a point. A popular thing to do in the eco modding community. Block grills for aero but at the expense of maximum cooling capacity when needed.

If anything I'd relocate it to the center where it's supposed to be just for pure looks. I always think it looks like people are trying too hard when the plate is on the windshield or to the left or right. In this case, it just simply looks weird since it's so low to the ground.

Did you move your car to germany?

 

 

was it a chore to ship and register your car in a different country? wonder how that works. i bet your car is pretty rare there

 

 

So you switched to the German military?

lol jk.. (maybe?) haha..

and you got a dog already. that was fast.

 

 

I have my plate where yours is. I had no issues this past summer in the Texas heat (10 days at 100+ temps).
I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I assume you're in Southern Germany as it was the US zone and that's where the major bases are. I was in the North as a student in the early 90s. All stretches of the A7 up there are regulated. They were 160 km/h, so still kind of hailing ***, but not wide open.

 

With CAFE standards and fuel economy/efficiency in general, manufacturers would not specify a certain opening without good reason. If they could cover all conditions AND decrease the grill opening size, they would do so in the name of better fuel mileage.

Also keep in mind because you experience "no issues" aka "my temp gauge doesn't say my car is overheating", remember that temp gauges are buffered. So 95c and 115c on most modern cars would register the same position on the gauge. In short, your car could be "uncomfortable" and you wouldn't realize it. You could also be taxing the thermostat and fan operation to stay in operation longer.

Again... you wouldn't know. Your car wouldn't tell you. These things go on in the background.

So you'd likely not "experience" any "issues," but as said, be operating in the upper tolerance range of the intended comfortable "spectrum" the system is designed for. How would this translate in the real world? increased wear due to increased temperatures. Fans running longer than they would have otherwise. Also keep in mind the transmission also relies on the heat exchanger behind the grill. A lot more is riding on this than the engine.

I think OP already made his choice but for anyone else reading... safest bet is to let the car operate as designed and intended. Everything is designed as a package and as a system.

 

 

That's another aspect. Triple digit speeds is where you really need that extra air. Cars get REALLY hot at those speeds.

 

Same here. Even though once mounted it would probably never be removed (unless I sell it back to a non-front plate jurisdiction), I just cannot purposely put holes right in the middle of my grill. FWIW, someone told me of rumblings they might change it here, then it would be really disappointing. Hopefully I'll just get used to the look, otherwise there are other options, although not all that cheap.

 

I hear what you're saying, but, if I'm sitting in traffic and not moving, what difference does it make where the license plate is? If it's hot outside and I'm not moving, there is no airflow. At least when the car is in motion there is air movement.
Plus, there is still 9" x 5" of open space on either side of the (US) plate.
If my car starts to have major issues due to the placement of my plate, there are bigger issues involved.
I'm not putting holes in my bumper. If my cars blows up because of this - I will have learned a lesson......and buy a new car.

 

It's not about your car blowing up, or drastic changes. It's about a lot of little changes adding up over time. Kind of like plaque on your teeth. It's not the end of the world for most scenarios as many cars use active shutters from the factory (see BMW) but those cars also have the ability to actively open up that space when sensors tell the car it's needed. In the case of a permanently fixed plate, that option isn't there.

Having the opening fully exposed as intended just allows options. That's all this is about.