Favorite Places for High Cruising Speeds

[nikh23]

The lack of higher speed limits has more to do with emissions than anything else. Your cars gearing is optimized to get the highest mpg at about 70 mph. I unscientifically put it to the test when I drove 3400 miles cross country in a RAV4 with a 4 banger, driving 80+ mph yielded a significantly lower mpg than if I was cruising at 65-70


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[agentrnge]

There are stretches of 287 in north jersey that are ok to open it up occasionally, but vigilance is required. I'm in it for the twisties though. Opening up to ~90 is still snoooze going straight.

I seem to get peak mpg cruising at 75-80 mph in the 540 and 740iL.
Revs I think are a little too low at ~55-65. Also unscientific, because I've never been able to stay at 55-65 unless there was traffic, or 100 other things that would prevent me from getting max mpg. Momentary mpg and short term computed avg seems better at 75-85 compared to 55-65 though.

[FelixEsq]

The lack of higher speed limits has more to do with emissions than anything else. Your cars gearing is optimized to get the highest mpg at about 70 mph. I unscientifically put it to the test when I drove 3400 miles cross country in a RAV4 with a 4 banger, driving 80+ mph yielded a significantly lower mpg than if I was cruising at 65-70

If fuel efficiency is the goal, the libertarian in me says increase speed limits and put signs up saying "your car is cleaner and more efficient at 70." Otherwise, the speed limit acts only as an arbitrary way to control/tax people, and I am already being penalized by paying more for my fuel bill.

The original 55 mph speed limit of the seventies was designed specifically to save fuel during the oil crisis. I don't know anybody that obeyed that speed limit, which means that it did not achieve its stated purpose. Even though I also have anecdotal proof that my car is at its most efficient at lower speeds, I still prefer to go faster than 70 and reach my destination earlier. Especially out here, where a trip to LA is 6.5 hours, a trip to San Diego is 8.5 hours, a trip to Salt Lake City is 9 hours, and a trip to Seattle (where my parents and brother live) is about 12 hours.

But back on topic: another favorite place to really let it go is I-76 in western Colorado, between Denver and Sterling.

So far as twisty sections are concerned, most of my favorites were spoiled by a combination of increased traffic and enforcement. Really old favorites are all around the Central Coast of California: Highway 41 west of Atascadero, Highway 58 east of San Luis Obispo, Highway 17 north of Santa Cruz, Old Creek Road from Cayucos to highway 46: all were places of misspent reckless youth.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

Although I live in West London/UK , I've got a fairly significant amount of time within the USA and over the last 10-12 years or so, quite a lot of visits where I've driven extensively in specific areas. These include NYC, Las Vegas, LA and various drives between them along with Cincinnati, Toronto/Canada, Buffalo, Rochester/Upstate NY, A little also in Calgary/Vancouver Canada, a very short time of a couple days in San Francisco, a week or so in Pennsylvania, a few weeks in Detroit/Muskegon.

Here's some of my favourite pictures I managed to take and how I wish I could have had been driving my car when taking them !






This was around 11am on a weekday driving into NYC from the Tannersville area of PA;




Apologies for the blurry'ness of this pic, I've driven on this stretch quite a lot of times and only once I had my camera within easy reach! one day/evening I'll get a much clearer shot !




LA area - very few pics of when I've been driving





These lumbering great big double decker freight trains are crazy to see!


When I got to the actual exit, I was just about to turn off, then I said 'naaahhh' and pulled the wheel back so that I missed the exit !!!



I also now know all about the ludicrous thing that is LA traffic.. it .. is ... insane !

Las Vegas

One of my fave pics - It still amazes me every time I drive out from Vegas to LA and see this stretch before me - a 11/12 mile straight !




A late late night, early morning run back to Vegas from LA - For this pic, I wish that the lights of the small town weren't as blurred as they are!



Others along the I-15






I need to improve my picture taking skills when in a moving car!

One of my visits included a NYC>Cincinnati>Toronto>Detroit>NYC round of driving over about 10-12 days. I got stopped 6 times by the Cops all for speeding and 5 tickets ! One I kinda talked my way out of as the Blonde girl cop wanted to know more about the UK/England! The highest fine was $275 for 83 in a 55 and that 5 foot high 5 foot wide donut eating copper was a real jerk for sure! the one who got me in Detroit when I was just joining Telegraph, I'd still like to buy him a beer or two, he was quite cool !

Haven't been back over there since 2012, so very very long overdue! Will take more pics of when I find nice roads !

Cheers, Dennis!

[computiNATEor]

^ Some great shots in there. And yes, LA traffic is nutso.

[Mach540]

The lack of higher speed limits has more to do with emissions than anything else. Your cars gearing is optimized to get the highest mpg at about 70 mph. I unscientifically put it to the test when I drove 3400 miles cross country in a RAV4 with a 4 banger, driving 80+ mph yielded a significantly lower mpg than if I was cruising at 65-70

Unscientific indeed..... Not gonna happen.

It takes energy to travel fast..... Wind resistance increases exponentially with speed, so energy use increases exponentially also. No way to fool physics, no matter what gears you have.

[Jay M.]

Recently moved to LA from Central NJ and made a very scenic road trip (35 days) across the country in my 540. The most surprisingly fast section of road was I-70 across Kansas. I sat at 90-95 for the entire state and was going with the flow of traffic. Those folks know how to get places.

The non-divided highways across central Colorado (Hwy 125), Wyoming (230, 130, 287), and Nevada (Hwy 50, loneliest road in the country!) were also fantastic for opening it up with great visibility for miles. I was kept in check not for fear of police but the inevitable large mammal that would jump out of the scrub brush in front of the vehicle. I slammed on the brakes and went from 100 to 40 mph in hurry in Nevada when a pronghorn jumped in front of the car. A lucky brush with reality had be grateful for changing the brakes before my trip. Stay safe out there... its not just cops you need to watch out for.

[geargrinder]

they won't even let you pump your own gas.

Same thing in stupid Jersey. I always manage my tanks to painstakingly avoid buying gas in NJ just out of principle. Always top off in NY/CT or PA/DE when I'm passing through. Eff those states forcing you to wait for some neanderthal stoned kid to pump your gas and take your card and crap... I hate it. Stupid archaic 'safety' excuse that's ridiculous obviously since the entire world self-pumps and cars never randomly blow up because the driver didn't know the elaborate special procedure required to pump gas into a car.

http://abc7ny.com/news/police-man-an...orker/2027673/

the speed limit acts only as an arbitrary way to control/tax people, and I am already being penalized by paying more for my fuel bill.

The original 55 mph speed limit of the seventies was designed specifically to save fuel during the oil crisis. I don't know anybody that obeyed that speed limit, which means that it did not achieve its stated purpose.

So true. When an academically dreamed up incentivization/penalty system totally fails then indeed it becomes a random-taxation-penalty system.

What's ironic is, from what I see around here, its not the dedicated car enthusiasts like the people posting here that suffer, its the 'innocent laymen' who get pulled over the most. The cars I see getting tickets are mostly soccer moms and grandmas and grandpas etc. who don't know how to use Waze and don't watch for cops carefully and so they get nailed for innocently and safely going say 82mph on a fairly wide open highway... While the actual dangerous toolbag wanker kid in a WRX who's weaving through dense traffic at 95mph doesn't come close to getting caught because he's watching Waze and looking way ahead on medians and has a detector etc

[Mach540]

Stupid archaic 'safety' excuse that's ridiculous obviously since the entire world self-pumps and cars never randomly blow up because the driver didn't know the elaborate special procedure required to pump gas into a car.

You should see the way the military thinks all its soldiers are complete idiots.
In Iraq, here's the procedure for filling up.
A) drive onto large plastic tarp designed to catch any spills. It's Iraq, after all, don't want to get any fuel on its pristine sand.

B) A local national or some contractor hired from some other backwards ass nation comes out wearing full rain suit, rubber gloves, and respirator to pump the fuel (ok, fair enough, the stuff aint exactly non toxic)

C) Make everybody get out of the vehicle and stand aside.

D) Attach a GROUNDING WIRE to the vehicle. This is for pumping diesel!! Gasoline, maybe. But DIESEL? It's hard to light that stuff with a blow torch.

E) Make sure to use a rag on the nozzle when it's removed to catch any potential drops. And throw rag into a hazmat marked barrel for "proper" disposal.

The government has lots of ideas for making life a pain in the ass.

[geargrinder]

My buddy in the army used to describe "milspec" this way:

"Milspec means it's a piece of crap that barely works, but you can drop it out of an airplane in -30F temps, and it will still work just as shitty as it did before"

[computiNATEor]

Hahaha!

[FelixEsq]

Las Vegas

One of my fave pics - It still amazes me every time I drive out from Vegas to LA and see this stretch before me - a 11/12 mile straight !

Roads like this are everywhere in the (far) western United States, starting around Kansas. This photo shows exactly what I think justifies high speed limits out here: hundreds of miles of open country.

I don't think Germany is "better than" the US, or I would move there. But they certainly got the Autobahn right. Here's a snippet from Wikipedia about it: "German autobahns have no federally mandated speed limit for some classes of vehicles. However limits are posted (and enforced) in areas that are urbanized, substandard, accident-prone, or under construction. On speed-unrestricted stretches, an advisory speed limit (Richtgeschwindigkeit) of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph) applies. While going faster is not illegal as such in the absence of a speed limit, it can cause an increased liability in the case of an accident."

What is it that stops us from having certain interstate highways designated as no-speed-limit expressways?

And before you say, "lawyers," look at the quoted section from Wikipedia.

[Santaclaus4]

What stops us from having higher speed limits in the Unites States is the way American cars handle at high speeds and our poor (very poor) drivers training. In addition, you have people driving in the "fast lane" not moving over for overtaking traffic. They have the attitude that they are "going the speed limit" and shouldn't have to move over.

[auaq]

What stops us from having higher speed limits in the Unites States is the way American cars handle at high speeds and our poor (very poor) drivers training. In addition, you have people driving in the "fast lane" not moving over for overtaking traffic. They have the attitude that they are "going the speed limit" and shouldn't have to move over.

This!!! I. Hate. The. Most.

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Cannot tell you how many times I had to move over 2 lanes to the right to overtake and then get back to the fast lane.

[computiNATEor]

My personal pet peeve is people who drive for miles and miles and miles directly next to another car.

[douglawrence42]

This!!! I. Hate. The. Most.

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Cannot tell you how many times I had to move over 2 lanes to the right to overtake and then get back to the fast lane.

The commute from my previous house had a long section of rural 4 lane. It should have been smooth sailing but every morning there was a clueless chick in a tempo driving 5 under in the left lane. It was such a regular occurrence I made a sign. "The left lane is for passing you bi**h". The next time I caught her, I matched speed, honked my horn, and showed her my handiwork. She screamed, flipped me off, the works. Next time I caught her, she was in the proper lane. I count that as a win


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[computiNATEor]

^ Too many people do that here. You'd have to show the sign to 1 out of every 5 drivers.

[dannyzabolotny]

If the police actually enforced the left lane rules instead of busting people for stupid stuff, we'd have a much smoother traffic low overall. That would be a good way to make driving better in the short term, without even touching the speed limits.

[Mach540]

Lexus has the greatest idea ever.

https://youtu.be/Tzqio8ig6Gk

[JimLev]

Lexus has the greatest idea ever.

https://youtu.be/Tzqio8ig6Gk

I like it. Every car should have that.

[auaq]

Lexus has the greatest idea ever.

https://youtu.be/Tzqio8ig6Gk

Yaaassss!

[computiNATEor]

Haha, I recognize all of the roads in that. Angeles Crest Highway and CA 2 south towards LA. Neat.

[Santaclaus4]

I want one of those really, really bad! I'd find a way to retrofit it to my 540i.
Dammit, that makes me have "hope"!!!
That might be even more satisfying than a rocket launcher mounted to my car.

[FelixEsq]

My personal pet peeve is people who drive for miles and miles and miles directly next to another car.

My kids make fun of me when we're on road trips. They growl out, "TRUCKS PASSING TRUCKS! BOILS MY BLOOD!!" whenever we have a semi truck in the left lane passing another semi truck, with a speed difference of about 1 mph.

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Lexus has the greatest idea ever.

https://youtu.be/Tzqio8ig6Gk

Very interesting gadget. Too bad that's on a Lexus. (Not a fan of glorified Toyotas).

[dannyzabolotny]

Dunno if any of y'all noticed, but that's an April Fool's video. Aka not a real feature, as much as I wish it was. All the soccer moms and Prius drivers would throw a fit if that were a real system.