I have just spent a couple of weeks in the US and thought I would report back on how relaxed the whole experience of driving there is , certainly down in the South.
Thanks to Cardews recommendation I ended up with a 4.6 litre Cadillac De Ville Northstar V8, 0-60 in 5.8 seconds, 295 HP and only 2900 miles when we got it. Lovely leather armchairs and electric everything ( including a seat cooler as well as heater)for the equivalent of £37 a day including full tank of fuel and three drivers. Did over 1000 miles in a week.
I was pleasantly surprised by the handling, it was virtually silent at 70 mph and after the fun of playing with all the toys wore off I just set the cruise control and steered it - a seven hour drive from Memphis to New Orleans and we arrived fresh as daisies.
The Yanks are moaning bitterly that a gallon costs over two dollars ( an american gallon is around 3.85 litres ) so Gordons tax levy means we pay nearly four times more for our fuel than they do. Just as well its so cheap there as we averaged 24 mpg.
My question is why can't we allow overtaking both sides on the motorways as they do in the states ? It saves all the frustration of the middle lane hogger which is most people on this forums pet hate.
It does sharpen you up when you see one of those huge American rigs in your mirror and gaining when you are pushing 80mph and others passing you each side....
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That's exactly the motor I got in California in February. A real hoot, and 1800 miles in 6 days. They should bring them over here, preferably at the actual prices the Americans pay!
The seat air conditioning felt strangely...strange. Quite unnerving having cold air blowing around down there.
O
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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I worked the past week in Milwaukee, my first trip to the US having travelled to much of the rest of the world.
What horrified me was the sheer wanton gluttony and devil may care approach to excess from such a massive population. Not just food (never mind the quality, feel the width), but everything. One of my colleagues wanted a town car (she does most of her driving within a ten mile radius and her husband already has two cars of his own), so she did some research and suggested a Toyota Corolla to him. He just laughed, and bought her a Ford F150, America's most popular behemoth!
Another colleague just purchased an even bigger truck, and came in to the office all smiles because "I went for the diesel baby, and with tooo bucks ta tha gaallon, the l'il lovely'll do fifteeeen miles t'one"... Gulp!
Turning to driving law, the one thing I *really* wish we could do in the UK (I didn't like overtaking on both sides one bit, with the dodging and diving that was going on) was turn (in our case left) on a red stop light. Really helps keep rush hour traffic flowing.
BTW - I read in America Today that one city (I forget which) is just about to allow motorists to pay to use dual occupancy lanes when one-up. Why? Because they've invested a squillion bucks in the scheme, nobody is using pubic transport (which in my epxerience is even worse than the UK), and very few people are sharing. The result is a loss on investment of massive proportions!
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What horrified me was the sheer wanton gluttony and devil may care approach to excess from such a massive population. Not just food (never mind the quality, feel the width), but everything. One of my colleagues wanted a town car (she does most of her driving within a ten mile radius and her husband already has two cars of his own), so she did some research and suggested a Toyota Corolla to him. He just laughed, and bought her a Ford F150, America's most popular behemoth! Another colleague just purchased an even bigger truck, and came in to the office all smiles because "I went for the diesel baby, and with tooo bucks ta tha gaallon, the l'il lovely'll do fifteeeen miles t'one"... Gulp!
It's the American way, you some sort of commy pinko no good hippy beatnic?
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Glad you enjoyed the car Helicopter.
I have to disagree with you on one point, and that is overtaking on the right - undertaking.
Firstly it is technically against the law - but rarely enforced.
As you know I spend a lot of time in the States and driving is generally relaxed as there are not such speed differentials between vehicles.
However leave more than a couple of feet from the car in front and you will be undertaken and cut up. The jockying for a one car lengths advantage in heavy traffic is unbelievable at times. It leads to tailgating the like of which we rarely see in UK. In any lane, at any speed, and you will have a huge truck or SUV(with the driver inevitably on their mobile) sitting a couple of feet from your back bumper - sorry fender.
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Exactly what I experienced, Cardew.
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"nobody is using pubic transport"
Gee, sounds like fun.
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It does sharpen you up when you see one of those huge American rigs in your mirror and gaining when you are pushing 80mph and others passing you each side....
Pushing 80mph? I though the speed limits* were generally lower than the UK's and (fairly) strictly enforced - i.e. most people kept to them?
I do know that the limits can vary from state to state - i.e. some are low as 55mph and (Montana?) some have stretches of unrestricted roads.
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Some places the speed limit is 75 and I think in remote parts of e.g. Montana there is no official limit at all, and an unofficial one of around 85.
I have noticed big rigs go as fast as and often faster than the cars. They don't have speed governors on. This prevents the problems drivers have with lorries in the UK which is often discussed on this board!!
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Pushing 80mph? I though the speed limits* were generally lower than the UK's and (fairly) strictly enforced - i.e. most people kept to them? I do know that the limits can vary from state to state - i.e. some are low as 55mph and (Montana?) some have stretches of unrestricted roads.
The speed limits do vary but the Freeways are generally around 70mph. They are not strictly enforced on Freeways and 80mph is commonplace. Rarely see anyone doing much above 85mph though.
Different matter in residential streets where the speed limit is usually 25mph - and lower at certain times. These are policed by municipal police(City) and far more strictly enforced - they are revenue raising!
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When I set the cruise the speed limit was generally 70 mph on the interstate so I set to 75 mph to allow for error.
I would occasionally push it up to 80 rather than sit alongside a big rig on a two lane interstate and take forever to pass ---
Er Hum -- I would occasionally push it up to more when on a long clear stretch with no sign of the Highway Patrol - the car is capable of 150 mph + after all.
I did reach three figures on a few occasions just to alleviate the boredom.....
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Got a feeling its probably the Monaro?
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Last time I was over, I got rather fond of my uncles crown vic. not a very exciting car, as the locals would have you believe, but comfortable, well equipped and reliable. always found that people would be polite to me on the roads, but only later figured out that unmarked crown vics are popular with law enforcement! (Thats why uncle Derek bought it in the first place!)
WTM
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Crown Vics are the most common police car, but thats mostly because it doesn't have any real competition since the demise of the Cherolet Caprice. Civilian Crown Vics are pretty easy to differentiate from unmarked police Crown Vics though and if a police agency really wanted to operate covertly they would use another vehicle entirely.
Cardew already covered the legality of passing on either side, but I have yet to hear of anyone getting done for it. I have even "undertaken" marked police cars that were going less than the speed limit in the left lane without any problems. The feeling there is very much "use the lane of least resistance".
I have to admit that weaning myself from this practice was one of the harder things for me to do when I moved to the UK. I will be in left lane, approach a car in middle lane going slower than I am, so I now have to cross over middle lane to get to the right, pass the car legally then cross middle lane again to get back to the left lane. All that lane changing just seems like more potential for an error, when I could have just continued along in the left lane.
As for speed, most police agencies give you a 10% leeway, but don't try it in smaller towns or cities. These tend to have less serious crime for the police to deal with and as a result often have bored police officers looking to pass the time.
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- since the demise of the Chevrolet Caprice.---
They are not all dead Trancer, we got into one being used as a cab in New Orleans airport - 21 years old,no airconditiong except all open windows, no door handles and on its third engine according to our cab driver , a gum chewing young lady driving one handed at frightening speed and wearing a hat like an upturned chamber pot.
It seems that they don't have the same mechanical checks on cabs as we do in the UK....
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Should have been "the demise of new Chevrolet Caprices available to police fleets" 8-).
The US doesn't have the same mechanical checks on any car as you do in the UK. Some people still have a hard time believing me when I tell them that there was no such thing as an MOT where I lived in Florida.
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Is the Monaro VXR 6.0 available on Vauxhall's 3 day test drive offer? :)
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Is the Monaro VXR 6.0 available on Vauxhall's 3 day test drive offer? :)
Not unless the Monaro has a special edition called Breeze.
vauxhall.co.uk/offers/millionMileDrive.jhtml
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