Unlike other films in this period that focused on the problems following reunification, Go Trabi Go sees the main characters, former citizens of East Germany, explore places in Europe outside the Eastern Bloc that they were not allowed to visit during the Communist era.

Their first stop on their journey southwards is Regensburg where Struutz's brother-in-law (Ottfried Fischer) lives, who are portrayed as extreme opposites to the East German family.

[3] Stephen Kinzer of The New York Times described the movie as a way for East Germans to laugh "not precisely at themselves, but at the absurdities of the system under which they lived until last year.

"[4] He likens the Trabi as a symbol for the people who built it, who "survive[d] through difficult times and ultimately triumph[ed]".

[6] Another reason for criticism was that the film paints the main characters in a humble, fair and nice way while their West German counterparts are depicted as vulgar, mean and shallow.