STEVE2.7T

I believe somebody was asking about highway cruising last week. I took a weekend trip from S.Florida to Orlando this weekend. Roud trip 400 miles, 80 to 100 on the turnpike gave 20.5 mpg. The car wafts from 80 to 100 like its on a giant elastic band. It settles down rock solid the faster you go and feels supremely comfortable at three figures. If you live in Montana or Germany then you can really appreciate a car like this.

pablo1

Cool Steve. Unfortunately, Montana now also has a speed limit of 75 MPH. Only Germany is left.

Dion

One more place, the Northern Territory in Australia has no speed limits. Not many roads though!

Bollinger

The population is so sparse, you aren't going to see many cops anyway. This whole Montana speed limit thing is completely overblown.

And the Autobahn has speed limits in many places, only in the sparse places between cities is there no speed limit. Much like I-5 in California.

bobby1_10018

IS THERE NO SPEED LIMIT ON THE I 5 IN CA ?

Audiablo

Heh, it sounds like that I suppose - but having travelled it, I can assure you it does have a limit. I think the comparison was that it has a lot of sparse stretches and few cops, and that was certainly my experience :-)

Bollinger

The alleged speed limit is 70mph, but you get run over if you do less than 80mph. Most people I know drive closer to 100. There's just nothing worth looking at or slowing down for.

There are occasional cop cars, but the area is so wide open they aren't going to take you by surprise. If the traffic in front of you slows to anything near the speed limit, then slow down. Otherwise, let 'er rip!

pablo1

in the I 5 to run over you if your going under 80. Don't drivers follow lane discipline if most are running at 100 MPH. The unfortunate truth is that, here in the US, we have the most unskilled and undisciplined drivers in the industrialized world. In Europe everyone stays right, uses signals, no one sits in the left lane refusing to move over, etc.

Bollinger

Lane discipline is impossible on I-5, since it is two lanes and the right hand lane is full of semi-trailers. For that matter, the left lane is chock full of semi-trailers too!

Semis don't drive as fast as the cars, so much of your trip on I-5 is popping out into the fast lane and around a truck. If you pop out to pass, and you aren't doing 80, you'll get another car up your butt real quick.

No, I don't like it, but it sure beats traffic flowing at 60mph!

As to US drivers sucking, I guess we aren't as good at lane discipline. But I find the other arguments questionable. I've even seen people from Europe arguing on boards that US drivers are much better.

I think people get their impressions of European driving from the European driving they do. Which isn't commuting twice a day during rush hour. Heck, if I only drove between cities in the US, I'd be jacked on US drivers also! (Except maybe in Ohio, there's that lane discipline again!)

pablo1

it every time I drive. In Europe, drivers are much more disciplined AND skilled. It feels great to drive on highways over there.