Within this group there seems a prevalent attitude that you need a large, powerful car
to travel far or fast.
I wish I had saved some of the articles to quote but the attitude is mostly to be found
in people from the U.S.A. who seem to be of the opinion that 80 mph is a speed which
only ‘fast’ cars can travel at. And also that you cannot merge into a motorway easily
without a huge run up in a slower car.
I own a 1.2L Lada Riva, and even when carrying 4 other people and towing a trailer tent,
I have no trouble merging onto Motorways. Also this combination would still quite
happily do 80mph (not that I would travel at 80mph whilst towing).
I think this misconception is due to the typical large engined, low revving automatic
cars prevealent in the U.S.A. which make people over there somewhat wary of pushing
cars harder in lower gears. (as is commonplace in England).
I have yet to come accross a car incapable of cruising at 70mph safely and there are
only a few that won’t cruise at 80mph (Minis!).
Robin.
In article <Ctp2Mx….@tigadmin.ml.com> Robin Tew, robin….@lonnds.ml.com
writes in part:
>Within this group there seems a prevalent attitude that you need a large,
>powerful car to travel far or fast.
>I think this misconception is due to the typical large engined, low revving
>automatic cars prevealent in the U.S.A. which make people over there somewhat
>wary of pushing cars harder in lower gears. (as is commonplace in England).
Our cars *are* quite different. When I was in working Europe, I rented a
different type of car for each trip, just to try them out. I noticed that cars
there are "long-legged" I could run even the little Fiesta 1.1l wide open all
day long if I wanted, and it didn’ seem to care. Many US cars, on the other
hand, seem to be engineered for low-end torque and more snap off of the line,
but seem to feel strained at sustained high speeds. This was more valid in the
70′s and early 80′s than it is now. But I dare say that most drivers (except
the enlightened souls of r.a.* <grin>) seem to still drive as if the
capabilities of their cars were ’70s vintage. It is a real pain, and the bane
of those of us who are driving enthusiasts.
—ssc
——–
Steve Cutchen Don’t you hate it when people use a preposition
scutc…@arco.com to end a sentence with?
Robin Tew (robin….@lonnds.ml.com) wrote:
: I wish I had saved some of the articles to quote but the attitude is mostly to be found
: in people from the U.S.A. who seem to be of the opinion that 80 mph is a speed which
: only ‘fast’ cars can travel at. And also that you cannot merge into a motorway easily
: without a huge run up in a slower car.
: I own a 1.2L Lada Riva, and even when carrying 4 other people and towing a trailer tent,
: I have no trouble merging onto Motorways. Also this combination would still quite
: happily do 80mph (not that I would travel at 80mph whilst towing).
: I think this misconception is due to the typical large engined, low revving automatic
: cars prevealent in the U.S.A. which make people over there somewhat wary of pushing
: cars harder in lower gears. (as is commonplace in England).
Well not really. The cops here are very effective. Also thinking about
your insurance rates when you’re cruising @80mph makes your ease off the
gas pedal a little. Hence 80mph in the US feels fast because if you get
pulled over by the cops while you’re travelling @80mph in a 55mph zone
you could get your licence revoked, and pay for it through your
insurance premium for the next 3 years. Sure, we have all these neat
state of the art radar dectectors, but even those do not give you ample
time to slow down rapidly from 90mph -> 65mph in a matter of seconds.
hence, you can speed here if you have a radar/laser detector, but you
still can’t speed that fast cos you can;t slow down fast enough when the
dector beeps like crazy.
I was in England last year and driving an rental Vauxhal Cavalier 1.8i
from Sheffield towards the lake district at almost constant 100-110mph
on the motorways. Didn;t feel that fast or risky cos most of the
traffic was doing bout 80mph. I even got passed by a testerrossa (sp?)
while doing approx 110mph. Also cars outside the US seem more peppy.
Perhaps less emmissions restrictions = more powerful cars .. or maybe
the type of fuel. I know that in parts of Asia, cars run on 98octane
leaded/unleaded w/o catalytic converters, the cars get an additional
10-15hp compared to cars in the US.
–
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