The joy of the German Autobahn

[cptsideways]

Just back from a trip to Oschersleben, (Berlin direction) unless you've been out there & done it its difficult to explain just how GOOD the standard of driving is. The average speed appears to be 85mph for most people in the deristricted zones, like many others we cruised the journey at about a ton most of the way, 500 miles each way was pretty effortless & stress free. Not a single bit of tailgaiting, no-one closed the door, everyone moved over, totally as driving should be. Cruising passed the odd Polizei at 100mph without bother.

I then return to a totally empty M3/A303 at 2am & get clocked by the unmarked 5 Series (I saw him coming a long way off) driving perfectly safely but the same driving conditions as in Deuthchland could get you banned over here - ridiculous is'nt it.

Anyway the Golf 130 tdi managed an average of 50mpg over 1600 miles & 14 hours Oschersleben to Dorset to door each way with the ferry aint bad

Edited by cptsideways on Monday 7th June 10:31

[soad]

cptsideways said:

Not a single bit of tailgaiting, no-one closed the door, everyone moved over, totally as driving should be. Cruising passed the odd Polizei at 100mph without bother.

If only that was the case over here.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, be hard not to...

[marcosgt]

soad said:

cptsideways said:

Not a single bit of tailgaiting, no-one closed the door, everyone moved over, totally as driving should be. Cruising passed the odd Polizei at 100mph without bother.

If only that was the case over here.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, be hard not to...

You were lucky (or driving VERY fast) - Tailgating was always a much bigger problem in Germany when I lived there than it ever is in the UK.

M

[zx10ben]

There is tailgating over here in Germany, the difference is when someone wants to get past they come up your chuff and you pull over, they go past and that's it! No flicking the finger, no angry flashing etc. In Blighty we seem to have this unwritten right to hog whatever lane were in for how ever long we want and if someone heaven forbid, wants to get past at a speed that is perhaps above the speed were doing and were at the speed limit, then they can just wait till were good and ready to pull over!

Almost akin to the 2 into 1 lane at roadworks! In Blighty we do it the correct way, we all queue up for say 2 or 3 miles in one lane before the actual roadworks and leave the other lane entirely empty. If someone does happen to use that single lane, we go mad and won't let them in. If we drive a larger vehicle we will even teach them a proper lesson by blocking the lane by straddling the centre line! We then all sit for a good 30 mins in the jam weve proudly created!
The muppets over in Germany only use both lanes, right upto the roadworks and then.....Wait for it..They use the zipper effect and let one car from each lane in succession, this clearly doesn't work as the delays are minimal and no-one gets to sit in a jam!

p.s. there is a hint of sarcasm in the above replies.

[cptsideways]

marcosgt said:

soad said:

cptsideways said:

Not a single bit of tailgaiting, no-one closed the door, everyone moved over, totally as driving should be. Cruising passed the odd Polizei at 100mph without bother.

If only that was the case over here.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, be hard not to...

You were lucky (or driving VERY fast) - Tailgating was always a much bigger problem in Germany when I lived there than it ever is in the UK.

M

Nope none at all (except in Belgium I might add) and we were'nt going fast just cruising at 100mph ish maybe 15 mph above the average speed, plenty were faster still.

And I hasten to add in the entire 1600 mile journey we did'nt get stuck in any significant traffic at roadwroks of which there were quite a few, until we got back to the M20 which they'd closed down to one lane

[Zod]

There are two kinds of tailgater in Germany: the very fast car that doesn't really tailgate, but comes up behind you at a surprising rate; and the Passat estate.

The latter kind is a menace. You will pass him without noticing at your cruise speed of 220 km/h and much, much later, when he has would his Passat up to 230, he will finally catch you and sit on your tail until you either speed up or move over. If you move over, you will overtake him the next time you both have to slow down significantly, because you can accelerate back up to cruise speed in under 20 seconds. It takes him much longer. Then the process can repeat itself.

[matt21]

I was on the autobahn last week in going round a tight (at 100+) corner concentrating hard at 110mph overtaking lorries. I had a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see an Opel Zafira which ad come from nowhere right on my bumper. When it was safe I pulled in and he passed me with a little wave.

Mad those Germans.

[Jasandjules]

zx10ben said:

There is tailgating over here in Germany, the difference is when someone wants to get past they come up your chuff and you pull over, they go past and that's it!

In my (limited) experience of German Driving, a flashing of the lights a few times when 100ft or so away IS a "if you could excuse me old boy, I wish to go faster than you" and therefore most people just pull out of the way, and off you go. Not very much tailgating at all, because they are already moving out of the way of the faster cars.

[Original Poster]

I really do want to have a good drive on an unrestricted section of the Autobahn.

Sounds fantastic fun!

[zip929]

I had the joy of the M20 near J8 on Saturday morning.
Unmarked Blue Volvo S60 gave me a ticket for 91mph.
Several other cars driving at the same speed as me, but I won the yellow ticket.
Favouritism I guess as the copper did say that he would like an RS6 himself.

[Red&WhiteMonkey]

The standard of German driving is generally good but tailgating is a huge problem on the autobahn, especially on the older two lane sections. In my experience the worst cuplrits tend to be black Audi A6 estates.

[Lost soul]

Jasandjules said:

zx10ben said:

There is tailgating over here in Germany, the difference is when someone wants to get past they come up your chuff and you pull over, they go past and that's it!

In my (limited) experience of German Driving, a flashing of the lights a few times when 100ft or so away IS a "if you could excuse me old boy, I wish to go faster than you" and therefore most people just pull out of the way, and off you go. Not very much tailgating at all, because they are already moving out of the way of the faster cars.

I beeive there is now a fine for such behaviour

[frosted]

Just came back from a two week holiday in Europe and I done 800 miles in 9 hours . Good stuff


I have noticed that there are tts in 1.2 polos in the fast lane who think they have the right to overtake at 1 mph faster than the slower car . Most fast cars on the autobahn are the audis with just a handfull of BMW merc drivers going more than 100

[dcb]

matt21 said:

I was on the autobahn last week in going round a tight (at 100+) corner concentrating hard at 110mph overtaking lorries. I had a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see an Opel Zafira which ad come from nowhere right on my bumper. When it was safe I pulled in and he passed me with a little wave.

Mad those Germans.

"Come out of nowhere" tends to imply you weren't watching
the traffic around you.

In Germany, I suggest you stop bothering about what
the speedo is saying and drive the road according
to the conditions and the traffic.

Of course, in the UK, the rule is the opposite.
Drive like an idiot, just don't go too fast.

Am I correct in thinking a top end Zafira can
have a three litre engine and so, even given the
brick like aerodynamics, can probably manage a
little bit over 200 kmh ?

Certainly, I've seen people carriers fully loaded and
sitting at 220 kmh

[matt21]

dcb said:

matt21 said:

I was on the autobahn last week in going round a tight (at 100+) corner concentrating hard at 110mph overtaking lorries. I had a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see an Opel Zafira which ad come from nowhere right on my bumper. When it was safe I pulled in and he passed me with a little wave.

Mad those Germans.

"Come out of nowhere" tends to imply you weren't watching
the traffic around you.

In Germany, I suggest you stop bothering about what
the speedo is saying and drive the road according
to the conditions and the traffic.

Of course, in the UK, the rule is the opposite.
Drive like an idiot, just don't go too fast.

Am I correct in thinking a top end Zafira can
have a three litre engine and so, even given the
brick like aerodynamics, can probably manage a
little bit over 200 kmh ?

Certainly, I've seen people carriers fully loaded and
sitting at 220 kmh

correct, I hadn't spotted it, it was my mistake as I was concentrating infront not expecting a car to approach. On a windy section a car doing 20mph more can soon creep up.

And yep, you probably can get a 3.0 Zafira, but this was a diesel.

[GaryST220]

The standard of driving is good, there are still idiots out there, but yes, generally speaking, driving in Germany is stress free and good for your health.

Edited by GaryST220 on Monday 7th June 22:32

[davepoth]

Yeah, on the Autobahn once you get out into the outside lane in anything this side of an RS Audi you do tend to spend all the time looking behind you for approaching traffic. The fear of death instils great lane discipline...

[Deranged Granny]

dcb said:

matt21 said:

I was on the autobahn last week in going round a tight (at 100+) corner concentrating hard at 110mph overtaking lorries. I had a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see an Opel Zafira which ad come from nowhere right on my bumper. When it was safe I pulled in and he passed me with a little wave.

Mad those Germans.

"Come out of nowhere" tends to imply you weren't watching
the traffic around you.

In Germany, I suggest you stop bothering about what
the speedo is saying and drive the road according
to the conditions and the traffic.

Of course, in the UK, the rule is the opposite.
Drive like an idiot, just don't go too fast.

Am I correct in thinking a top end Zafira can
have a three litre engine and so, even given the
brick like aerodynamics, can probably manage a
little bit over 200 kmh ?

Certainly, I've seen people carriers fully loaded and
sitting at 220 kmh

No you're not, the biggest engine they make is the 2.2, though the 2.0 VXR is fastest at 144 mph/231 km/h.

dcb said:

In Germany, I suggest you stop bothering about what
the speedo is saying and drive the road according
to the conditions and the traffic.

This coming from someone who proudly states on their profile: "I drive a BMW 530i SE Auto. Personal best of 154 mph just south of Frankfurt".

Edited by Deranged Granny on Monday 7th June 22:47

[marcosgt]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

The standard of German driving is generally good but tailgating is a huge problem on the autobahn, especially on the older two lane sections. In my experience the worst cuplrits tend to be black Audi A6 estates.

I must admit (aside from it being Mercedes back in the day) that was exactly my experience.

Sure when it's quiet, all works well, but if you're in the outside lane (inside?) behind 20 other cars doing 120MPH passing a middle lane doing 100, having some weasel in a Merc mouthing obscenities at you as he flashes his lights repeatedly sounds like bloody awful tailgating to me - Far worse than I've ever encountered in the UK, where (I find) it tends to just be people driving a bit too close to you for the speed involved.

What made it even worse was when the traffic all cleared a bit and I let the prick past, he then dropped his speed to 110, but stuck religiously to the outside lane...

OK that's the worst example (and one that still annoys me ), but it wasn't unique by any stretch - Quite a few Germans seem to think that because they've caught you up means you have to disappear, regardless of what may be in front of you...

M.

Edited by marcosgt on Tuesday 8th June 09:38