KEY08

100 degrees out, flying down the road at 130mph on cruise control and snapping photos of the dash.

kajtek1

Nevada HP generally "let the drivers drive" and I see 100's.
Still on I15 the California "left lane huggers" will slow down the traffic below 80 mph.
The pictures when I could have CC at 100 mph for 1 hr were taken in Nebraska few years ago. Drove there couple years ago and even I80 t has 75 limit, the revenue seekers start setting radars on it.

jahquan3

Either that or my nagging wife has made me a grandpa overnight with my driving habits Lol. She used to be fun on long trips now 3 kids later I can't even stop light drag race with her in the car Sheesh

jahquan3

That would be awesome to have that type of lee way here. Typically if your with the flow you can do 80-85 without HP giving you much of a problem. However, if you're alone they'll really only give you that 5mph cushion. So it's go 70 or so to be safe.

I have to find my spots or just link up with a few cars all moving at a good speed.

kajtek1

Driving habits are the biggest turn-off in USA and it is culture that needs to be develop by generation.
Driving in Germany, I crossed the country in 4 hr 10 minutes and I was not going straight lane across.
Going from Venice to Cieszyn I crossed 3 borders on 9 hr drive.

homeyclaus

There is a huge difference between drivers in North America and Europe. For one, people in Europe learn to drink before they drive, and pay a lot of money for the training for their driver's licenses. In Germany I still had to take first aid, how to put on a spare tire, and how to deal with a broken fan/serpentine belt. I hear that's changing though. The driver's education class also has a skid pad and a fair amount of talk about vehicle stability, maintenance, and other things I have never heard mentioned in a North American class.

So there you tend to (in a gross overgeneralization kind of way) drivers who drive. Here you have people that slow down to read road signs while in the left lane, and heaven help you if there is some sort of blinking light around.

In Germany the fines are super high for things like speeding in a school zone as well as doing really stupid stuff like passing someone on the right on a highway. Here, it's expected you will pass on the right, and the accidents just get written off as, well, accidents. And Germany's first response is big fine + driver's license suspension where you get to mail your driver's license to Flensburg for a few months.

And then there are the roads, especially in the US. Don't tell Americans this, but a great many third world sh**holes have better roads (and more reliable electricity).

So yes, it's different here. But you can turn right on a red light. Former East Germany stopped that in 1996 or so. Not sure about anything East of that.

jahquan3

This part here had me rolling but I don't think you meant what I think you did.

As if they teach them how to drink alcohol and still be able to drive lol. What did you mean exactly though?

kajtek1

"Learn to drink before they drive" means legal drinking age in most countries is 18 and lot of cultures don't make a big deal when 15 yo will try something at family party.
Driving age in most countries is 16, but you can start taking lessons sooner.
On my Polish lessons I had tens of hr of classes, where I had to know how the combustion engine works, how to change spark plug and wheel. Than I had to have over 20 hr of driving with professional instructor.
Driving test alone took 1/2 hr.
At the time Poland had no freeways, so it was several years later, when I was in Germany when I had to learn that entering the freeway with small car you have to push the pedal to the floor and pray.
How different from common US practice ,when towing I observe average driver entering freeway
- roll slowly, while chatting, tuning the radio or texting
-come to the end of merging lane before taking a look at freeway traffic
-cut sharply towards the shoulder when you see truck wheel 2 feet left to your arm.

homeyclaus

For one, most kids will have had experience with alcohol prior to getting a learner's license. This means they have developed some degree of judgment about how they react to alcohol and more importantly, can talk about it without a constellation of opinions and stigma around it.

The experience is generally supervised, but it's not like the police would come and arrest the grownups and write a lot of tickets and call social workers if a 13 year old had a can of beer in their hand at some backyard party. It's also not customary there to let your kids drive your car all over the place, or heaven forbid, buy them one. So two things happen: people respect the privilege of driving a lot more because it costs more, and is easier to lose. And people have enough experience with alcohol prior to constant access to a car to realize that drinking is the best way to go about losing that privilege at a minimum. There are other things about that individual responsibility thing the kids there learn differently because they're still allowed to go places with no supervision and learn lessons the hard way, rather than having parents or some adult helicoptering over them and tying their shoes until they're 12.

In terms of driving, it means that given the hours of training, the drivers there are actually qualified to drive the speeds that they do. They're aware of the actual rules, and have enough training time to develop judgment for bad driving situations.

A car is the one place where American children have the least amount of adult supervision, which is ironic given the reality that it's considered a CPS reportable event to see a child under 12 walking to school alone or a 13 year old home alone after 9 pm in most jurisdictions in the USA.


Europe:
America:
You have to wonder why the US leads the developed world in alcohol-related car accidents, speed fatalities, and teen pregnancy. You can add drug addiction and incarceration rates there too - in one country it's a taboo subject with non-violent offenses having mandatory minimum sentences longer than child rape, and in the others it's a medical problem considered a factor in the causes of crime.

Okay, off my soapbox. Sorry 'bout that.

homeyclaus

Oh, and OP, I wonder about why you worry about the road trip. I for one bought my 2010 E550 this year because it was cheap, really nice, can fix it myself, and with the specific intent of driving the wheels off it.

Granted, competent maintenance is a requirement and a tall order, but besides that it's a pretty straightforward machine.

I do get 26 mpg+ in mine on long trips, but it sounds like you have high performance tires, whereas I chose the grand touring, low rolling resistance (i.e. low dry traction) route which limits hoonage. Mileage like yours, driving style and external accessories aside, is likely wheel alignment, PCV filter (choppy idle?), and dirty air filters.

jahquan3

Great explanation. I figured that might have been what the overall point was at first. It just read so funny the other way.

Diesel #2

Well i thought i made a good bet but to be honest even if the guy was wrong i was not going to take his money. I had won over 10k that night in 3 Card Poker so i was feeling generous

belarus27

no im actually pretty good with maintenance , i did change air filter filters about half a year ago or around there , what a PCV filter? no idling is good.
wheel alignment has been done recently also.

im thinking maybe because of the wrong oil that indy shop was putting in up until around 90k miles. 5w30 when 0w40 is the right now (maybe it had done some damage)

C280 Sport

Same here. My home is in Sarasota. For a while in my old W210 E320 we drove a couple times a year from NY to FL with over 150,000 miles. My C240 went to Florida with 250,000 miles.

homeyclaus

No damage, even in the heat, really. Contrary to what most people believe, thinner oil doesn't really matter unless it shears further or oxidizes. If the indy shop put in quality oil it's really not a factor.

Some cars have additional filters and valves - the positive crankcase/circulation valve takes the blowby gases and puts it back into the intake air flow. This reduces fuel dilution of the engine oil, increases engine seal life because of lower crankcase pressures, and reduces emissions. Sometimes there is a filter in there, worth checking, and it's important that the valve actually works - it should be closed at idle and open under throttle, based on intake vacuum.