Thom

German concrete Autobahn are anything but smooth. Some sections are ****-poor and feel dangerous to drive above certain speeds. They do require maintenance, as showed by many of them being plagued with compulsory road works that badly affect the flow of traffic.

Peckster

Cement surfaced highways are very rare in Canada, I doubt they hold up well to freeze/thaw cycles as well as asphalt and the expansion joints are a pain.

special tool

Take it from a guy ho's been pouring and finishing concrete for 20 years - concrete is NOT the best, it is the WORST.
I can't believe any country north of Italy would use it on a road. It is ridiculously expensive to work (I live in a 6000 square foot house ) and the freeze is very bad, unless you overengineer the hell out of it - more expense.
Asphalt is cheap and flexible, nice stuff.

SimonK

You have a mix of everything on GA. Some sections are concrete = not good, some sections are superb tarmac - smooth and full of grip - but mostly they have a lot of bloody roadworks on them presently...

hinch951

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT, MY SPEECH WENT OFF AS A SUCCESS, AND THANKS AGAIN!!!

German-Driver

german Autobahn is very good - at the left lane. at the right lane it is often destroyed by trucks. so you can see many cars driving at the middle or left lane with slower speed when the right lane is empty. a big problem is, if a car is at rainy weather driving with high speed at the left lane and another car with higher speed is coming behind him. it is not possible to change the lane with the same speed, because at the right lane the water is often 2 or 3 cm high.

some newer autobahns are very good. but not for a long time. so there are more and more speed limits along the autobahns.

i am german, live in germany and drive a bmw with 250 hp, high speed is ~ 250 kmh. at the night it is possible to drive with high speed over a long a distance but not at the day, everywhere are lots of trucks and many cars, so a average maximum speed of 120-130 is possible.

but, of all motorways, which I know in europe, the germans are the best.

note: the story of the senator or governor, written here at site 1, is an urban legend and not true. may be 30 or 40 years ago it is possible, that the picture of an other person in the car is shown at the speed-ticket. since 25 years only the driver is shown on the pictures.

sorry for my bad english

Greetings from Germany

sportfreund

hi,

this thread is being linked in a german speaking bmw board (www.bmw-treff.de) - that's why I'm here

just like german-driver i live in germany and drive a 321 hp BMW.

all german cars are limited to 250 km/h by factory (exept porsche). this is voluntarily and should keep the autobahn without speed limits.

every car has to go to the TÜV once every two years. everything that is relevant for security is checked: brakes, light, shock absorber, tire tread, ... just everything. even if your car looses oil you have to fix it. otherwise it will be shut down.

in germany you can easily loose your driver license. there is a complicated "point system". speeding +20 more than allowed will not only cost $50 but will also give you 3 points (they will be deleted in 2 years if you don't get any additional).
driving under the influence of alcohol (> 0.5 promille) or drugs will give you 5 points or more, $200, minimum 4 weeks without driver license, 5 points or more.

if you reach 18 points your driver license is gone "forever" - will say: hard to get it back. (*really* hard and *really* expensive).

my highest level were 6 points (2x 3 for speeding) but the were fallen under the statute of limitations. now i got my 0-status back 8-)

if you got any more questionts (well, your report is over...): just drop me a line

sportfreund

Zero10

You should come out to Calgary and drive the Deerfoot Trail. What were they thinking?!
It's probably one of the few cement highways in Canada, and it's one of the worst. There's nothing like a big bump every 8 feet or whatever the seperation is. They also come out and grind it smooth once a year, which lasts for about 2 weeks.
And for whatever reason, every time they expand it, they continue using cement.

hinch951

Thanks alot for the other information too... I am always wanting to learn more great information...Thank you!!

Dilberto

Lets' see....wide, marble-smooth road surfaces, make traveling at 125mph feel like 55mph- except the landscape is only an artful smearing of color. The fastest I gone there was on the A6 Brenner Autobahn, near Munchen(Munich). It was early morning, and I was taking-in pavement at 171mph, in a 450hp 1985 Audi Sport Quattro. The deep, low drone of the engine at that speed is almost mesmerizing. Yet, the Autobahn is statisctically the safest in the world. Remember- speed IS a stimulant.....any way you look at it! Despite being jet-lag tired- not once did I crack a yawn.

Further down, a BMW M6 is on the fast side of the road....stopped. Passing the M6 at about 120km/hr - I see the driver frantically pouring fuel in his tank, while looking around for Polizei. My German friend says he apparently ran out of gas on the fastest part of that stretch, and could land him in jail, because it is illegal to run out of fuel on the Autobahn. Good to know that one! Then, a cluster of high-intensity lights illuminate the road as a very large, fast-moving object rapidly closes in on me. Our Audi gets rocked by the compressed air wake of an enormous MAN Turbo-Diesel 16-wheeler as it pulls its 40ft trailer. It literally blows by us, doing 140mph. We feel like we are standing still- even at 110mph! I could spend days describing the experience there...and I absolutely enjoyed every kilometer I traveled on it...but the night drive is by far the BEST because NO TRAFFIC! Otherwise, during the onset of the workday on....speed limits pop up everywhere just like good ole' US of A. I dont admire Adolf Hitler- but I can honestly say the transit system for his "New Society" back then, should be the model of most countries with expansive road travel.

And SO WHAT if Porsche supported the **** party? Their arms were all twisted. Porsche had no real alternative ...but to dissolve the newly-funded car company. Now- are we glad they didnt?

Zach

sweanders

No.

special tool

140 mph??? Dude. You know that Audi's speedometer was in KPH, not MPH, don't you?

Gibgummi

Hello from Germany!

I owned a lot of fast cars ( VW Golf MK2 with 2,9 Vr6, Golf G60, GTI, BMW 750i, BMW E36 325i, BMW E30 M3, Golf IV GTI 1,8 Turbo, etc ) and had to understand, that you could not drive in Germany with high speed on the left lane. The right lane is full of Trucks and older people, who think, that 100 km/h is the max speed for them.
Following situation was typical for German Autobahn:

You drive on the left lane with 200 km/h...you want to accerlate up to 230/ 240 km/h and then comes a girl with a little car with 50 PS on the left lane to overtake another slow vehicle. Her speed is now on the left lane on 120 km/h....So i can brake every 2 miles from 220 to 120 km/h, because now one uses the mirror to look back, who comes on the left lane...it´s not interesting for some people, if there comes an Alpina B12 with 295 km/h or a "SMART" with 135 km/h......that´s the problem of the german TURBO ROLF, too....... There was a young girl at 5:00 in the morning alone on the road on the LEFT LANE with 120 km/h.......the right lane was FREE.....he came with his Mercedes CL 600 on the left lane and had more than 230 km/h on his speedo...She saw him in the mirror and drove on the right lane...she did it too fast and lost control of her car...she died with her little child in her car...
If anyone wants to visit Germany ( i have also an Autobahn with NO SPEED LIMIT near my town, where you could drive to the maxxx ) then contact me....i also want to visit the U.S....:-D

Bye

Frank from Germany

( www.autobahntuning.de ) you can see some cars of me

Joe Anstett

That's why we love these cars.

Think about it... The "target market" determines how a car evolves. Americans want(ed) floaty boats that isolate the driver from the road, comfortable, large, and powerful. Driving is something to be tolerated to get from point A to point B. Thus the cupholders, radios, DVD players, etc. The distractions add up. Then add in the idiots on cell phones, women applying make-up, etc.

But the German cars, they are tools designed to be driven with the driver's full attention, and they reward the driver when driven this way.

That's the scary trend that I see in import cars -- that they are becoming Americanized to sell to Americans and are losing the characteristics that made them unique in the first place.

DJ Doena

German autobahns. (I have to admit, I find it kinda funny to read this german word in an american forum ).

To correct some missunderstandings: Concretes are no longer used in building new autobahns or repairing olders. In the mid-90s all east german autobahns were completely renewed and widened (from 2 to 3 lanes in each direction). These autobahns were mostly build of concretes (build in the ****-time and barely repaired in the GDR). The western autobahns were renewed erlier. Unfortunately most of the german autobahns are as fast as damaged as they are being repaired. The reason are the many trucks, which drive from north to south and from east to west. That's the disadvantage to be nearly in the centre of europe. And unlike many other countries we have no working range fee system, neither for trucks nor any other car. But our glorious companies T-Systems and Siemens are building up a satellite/GPS-based fee system (please don't miss the sarcasm in my voice). The system should be ready 2 years ago and is not yet working.


I have my drivers license since June this year and bought me a car (a 1997 Ford Probe). The drivers license cost me $1500. Included were driving at cities, driving at autobahns, driving at night, the theory and all exam fees. Since then I drove 2200 miles. My personal top speed in this car were 130mph. But usually I drive 100mph on free lanes and 70mph at rush hour on autobahns.

Unfortunatly german drivers are not as disciplined as described here. We have a "Rechtsfahrgebot" - you have to drive on the most right lane if possible. But often the right lane is free but the middle lane is filled with cars driven by "Opa mit Hut" ("grandfather with hat"). To pass such a driver you have to go to the most left lane. But then there is the next problem: If you pass a couple of cars you have nearly always a driver behind you who is very much faster (or wants to be). He drives that close, that I cannot see his lights anymore, even if I drive 110mph myself and I can't change the lane because the right one is full of cars.

Another point is the gas price. Currently you pay $1.48/l (sorry, I do not know how many litres a galleon are). The Ford Probe is an american product and therefore not really economical (no offense!). He needs on a hundred kilometers (~62 miles) 9l, which makes in total $13/100km.

Nethertheless, driving in germany is not that bad.