Editing Autobahn (album) (section)

===Retrospective reviews===
{{Album ratings
|title = Retrospective ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Erlewine}}

| rev2 = ''[[Drowned in Sound]]''
| rev2score = 9/10{{sfn|Power|2009}}

| rev3 = ''[[The Irish Times]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Clayton-Lea|2009}}

| rev4 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Snow|2009}}

| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{sfn|Coleman|Randall|2004|pp=468–69}}

| rev6 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev6score = 9/10{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=215}}

| rev7 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev7score = {{rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Cavanagh}}
}}

In 1985, Simon Witter wrote in the ''[[NME]]'' ''Autobahn'' is not as strong as Kraftwerk's four subsequent albums but that it has "enormous historical significance".{{sfn|Witter|1985}} Witter said: "In the glam era of glitter and guitars, Kraftwerk were four besuited squares playing keyboards", and that the group was "Mentally and sonically decades ahead of their contemporaries", noting their unique rhythms, textures and melodies.{{sfn|Witter|1985}} [[Simon Reynolds]] wrote in the ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]'' (1995): "Esoterics will claim they prefer the first three albums: they're excellent, but truthfully ''Autobahn'' is when Kraftwerk's muzak-of-the-sphere starts to matter".{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=216}} Reynolds said the title track "sounds like a pastoral symphony, even as it hymns the exhilaration of cruising down the freeway".{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=216}}

[[David Cavanagh]] gave the 2009 remaster of ''Autobahn'' a five-star rating in ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', saying the title track is its main attraction and called the tracks "freckled with warmth: sunny vocal harmonies ("...mit Glitzerstrahl"), a carefree flute solo (Schneider) and clever modulations (denoting gear-changes) to break the tension", Cavanagh called the remastering of the album a fiasco, and said it is worse than the compact discs previously released by EMI.{{sfn|Cavanagh}} [[Mat Snow]] wrote in ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' the album is a "pop landmark" and a "blueprint for their entire enterprise".{{sfn|Snow|2009}} Tom Ewing of [[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] commented positively on the album in their review of ''[[The Catalogue]]'', noting tracks on the album are a showcase for Kraftwerk's "gift for simple, wistful melodies" but said the themes explored on the album were done better on ''[[Trans-Europe Express (album)|Trans-Europe Express]]''.{{sfn|Ewing|2009}} Other later album reviews, such as a four-star rating from ''[[The Irish Times]]'' and a three-and-a-half star rating in  ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'', were generally positive with no specific details on ''Autobahn'' {{sfn|Coleman|Randall|2004|pp=468–69}} Christgau upgraded his initial ranking of C+ for ''Autobahn'' to a B−.{{sfn|Christgau|1975}} In the 2005 book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'', Stephen Dalton called ''Autobahn'' "...a landmark in avant-garde pop minimalism".{{sfn|Dalton|2005|p=318}}