Eastern Europe gives me the creeps. I went over there just after The Wall came down. I was in a hurry to get back ... West

Well, let me tell you, I've had this a few times. Off the top of my head, I remember one of the first V12 Beamers (750i) muscleing himself past me more or less on the left shoulder, while I was going close to 200km/h. Once he managed to get by, with little more than a handwhith of space to the railguard, he was off and gone. Wow, he just disappeared in the distance.

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I was posted to Heidelberg in the late 90s. Bought a used BMW 5 series and enjoyed driving there. Germans were wary of the USAEUR plates, as it almost always meant an American who was not as disciplined in driving as the natives were. Got lots of glares. When I drove a rental and dressed the part, all was cool. Great highway system and I LOVE how in some areas, big trucks are forced to stay in the right lane......

I lived and worked in Germany between 93 & 95. I lived in Aachen, a town very close to both the Dutch and Belgian borders. The first time i drove on the autobahns was dropping my boss off to Duesseldorf airport (we got a trip home one weekend a month). I was averaging 90-95mph on the way back, at night...i can tell you i nearly had to unclamp my arm from the wheel. But like anything you do on a regular basis, you become accustomed to it. We had long term rentals, usually VW Golfs (Rabbit) or Opel Vectras, normally 1.8litre. However, due to some mix-up, i found myself with a VW Golf VR6 for a month,
practically brand new, and boy could that car move - i maxed at a shade over 135mph (215kph).
During my time there i took advantage of travelling around quite a bit - got to see quite a bit of Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and a bit of France. I loved it, its a fantastic country to tour, great roads, beautiful towns & villages.

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'82 W123 280E

You need to do the A-7 Kassel to Wurtzburg if you want nice scenery.

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

Wellll, back in '89 the boarder opened up. NOW? thing I-95 south of DC and you have a similar idiot factor in most places.

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

In many places the autobahns are just as congested as your average 6 laner here. The fastest I ever got up to was 120 KPH.

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1984 300TD

Er, unless you are competent at regularly driving at 150 mph, you would be considered one of the idiots.

I used to drive as a chaufeur for the military in the late 70's. Big Benz and Opel Diplomat mostly. We where given the time to do our travels at 100KPH. We would drive with the gas pedal 1/4" from full, whatever that was. You'd get there in half the time and have a nice rest.

Jorg

I was there for Oktoberfest.... waiting patiently for speeding tickets in the mail

Hehe.... I'm somewhat biased, as I grew up along the B-38 (Ausfahrt Weinheim), in the Odenwald.

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

I've never been so fortunate as to drive on the Autobahns, but I must point out that there are some places in the United States (most with good scenery-provided you like deserts) where you can drive very fast with low chances of negative consequences. Long stretches of I-80 through Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming have enough open space around the road that you aren't going to get caught except by aircraft, and they don't seem to do much enforcement in the rural areas. US 50 in Utah and Nevada is much the same. Parts of I-16 in Georgia are also pretty open and have many people doing top-end runs.

Of course, if you're in a 240D, you can run at top speed pretty much anywhere. Heck, you can race a state trooper and he won't even notice

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

So, you took a ride on the "Geisterbahn"!?

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Diplomats were fine automobiles, besides the 'pimp flair'.

A nice rarity here:
Diplomat A Coupe. Super sweet and Super rare!

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Agreed. Just because your car CAN does not mean that you SHOULD.



It takes much experience and training to handle a vehicle - ANY VEHICLE - at 120+ MPH. Nothing more ignorant than someone supposing that the driver's ability is automatically equal to the car's ability.