cicerone imposter wrote:My wife drives a 1994 Honda Accord. She talks about buying another car, but won't make the committment. I stopped looking for her. She likes smaller cars, so I told her she should get a Lexus IS300.
IS300 is a pretty sweet car. Interior is very cool. Keep in mind it's rear-wheel drive, if that matters to your wife. I personally like RWD better than FWD.
i don't drive in germany any more when we are visiting. i actually don't find that the autobahn is the major problem - you can always stick to the right lane -, but it's the city and suburban driving that gets to me; my reflexes are not up-to-snuff any more. some years ago we had rented a little opel (1300 cc engine i believe) in amsterdam and crossed in to germany. after driving behind some army vehicles - the last vehicle displayed a flag; i didn't attach any meaning to that - i decided it was time to pass. at about 120-130 km the engine started to wheeze and the car started to wobble. what to do ? cars where coming up my tail ... so i decided it would be best to cut into the army convey ! hey, our car had dutch license plates, so nothing to worry. i did notice some surprised looks from the army driver following us when i loked into the rear-view mirror ... after returning to canada i met a german army colonel who told me it was a no-no to cut into a convoy ! he laughed and said that the german driver probably thought that it was a dutch general and his driver who had cut into the convoy (a little dig at the dutch army ?). hbg
The only time I was a passenger in a car going 140mph was back in the late fifties when I was stationed at Walker AFB. Russell Cowles (of Cowles Publishing) was in our squadron, and he owned one of those winged-doors MBZ sports car. He invited me to go on a ride with him, and zooooommmm..... we were flying on the ground!
I was reading that chinese tourists are vacationing
in Germany for the sole purpose of speeding on the
Autobahn.
Quote:The Chinese love cars, they love to travel as fast as possible, they love modern technology," said Brettschneider, adding the Chinese love the idea of the unrestricted speed limits on Germany's famous Autobahn.
TUI is planning to make the most of this passion for speed and modern technology, and from next year they will offer their tourists the chance to zip along the highways for themselves. It's clever seduction for visitors who are used to stubborn inner-city traffic jams and highway tolls and strict speed limits.
That should be interesting having them on the Autobahn
as well, as if they Autobahns aren't crowded enough already,
they promote "vacation on the Autobahn".
If hbg doesn't drive in Germany, I'm not about to even give it a try; I value my life as well as all others. I couldn't handle that kind of excitement at my age anywhos. LOL
c.i. : at your 'young' age i had no hesitation in zipping along the autobahn ! in the late 80's we rented a car in frankfurt intending to go to the black forest. near coblenz/rhine i mistakenly stayed in the exit lane and we spend the first week of our vacation in cochem on the moselle ! so just be flexible; you may see parts of germany you never intendet to visit (heh, heh, heh - try to cut into an army convoy and move along with it). hbg
I can promise, c.i., to give you another ride with more than 140 mph - as a passenger on the autobahn
:wink:
Walter, don't transmit a delusional picture of german
Autobahns being virtually free to travel.
Actually cicerone, you'll be glad if you don't get caught
in a 20 mile traffic jam. German highways are extremely
congested.
That's the A 44 - we would use it. And it's honestly the only place, I'm quite certain (at certain "time windows", though) to be able to speed up my car nearly to it's limit
(Done already a couple of times :wink: )
Don't worry cicerone, Walter's FIATconvertible doesn't get to 140 m/h
A few years back I went on a cross-country trip in the States with some of my family. Rented an almost new van in Florida for one month for something like $280 bucks (paying by time rather than mileage). We brought it back to them with about 10,000 miles added to the odometer.
That was fun...
i put 5178 miles on my ...
c.i. : i should have kept my
IMME MOTORCYCLE and i could have invited you for a fast trip on the autbahn. had a passenger seat installed when courting (the later) mrs. h - she was not to be deterred. never had a picture taken when we were riding the IMME - would have just been a cloud of dust anyway. btw you can rent a brawny BMW motorcycle in germany - wouldn't that be fun ? hbg
hbg, Never trusted motorcycles after a classmate in the 8th or 9th grade got killed in one after he received one for his birthday. Did ride on a scooter several times when my brother bought one to go to work with in our late teens. Otherwise the most scary rides were at the amusement parks. Even rode on those parachute rides.
I am at over 210,000. k's in my 98 Rav 4.
This has been an absolutely awesome vehicle.
I have replaced the starter motor once and now
the muffler is about to fall off. It is time for
a new, and bigger vehicle with more cargo
space, but I will be very sad to say bye bye!
Over 210,000 ks is not bad for a seven year run. That translates to about 18,000 miles per year.
Our newest car is an '04 Chrysler Pacifica. First twelve months of driving? -- 27,000 mmiles.
We love it! This, after a string of mini-vans and diesel cars.
What we like about the Pacifica is the handling. There is very little leaning in curves. Understand the rear suspension is adapted/copied/inflluenced/ by Mercedes. No matter, it works. We're retired and wanted a more luxurious and comfortable car. Never thought heated seats would be as great as they are.
What don't we like about the Pacifica? MilesPerGallon. But we bought knowing it would be no diesel.
The pride and joy of all the cars I've owned? It has to be our 1996 VW Passat turbo diesel. 250,000 miles and still starting at 10 below zero.
I believe that the hydrogen fueled car is a long way off from reality. Diesel engines will fill the gap between the present systems and hydrogin.
250,000 miles? ? ? Yup. and still no sign of quitting. At 100,000 miles, I switched to fully synthetic 5-30 weight oil - year round. Changed oil and filter about every ten thousand miles.
Also, once owned a 1965 Porsche 356C. Pristine. 90,000 miles. Show room condtion. Sold it for $2,600. Today's ticket? Somewhere around $30,000. It's the only car story that makes me cry.
Billy, You owned a Porsche too? My admiration; I've always wanted one of those MBZ sports car, so I told my kids when they make their first million...
Actually, I slightly underestimated....230,000.
I wanted an economical, amazingly reliable runabout and I got it in the Rav 4! However on the Transcanada highway, I feel like I could be flattened anytime by all the transport trucks.
I've put 16,000 miles on my car in 6 months. Hellifino how.
