Adrian

Dear Anthony,
Massive amounts of trucks on the autobahn. Running east to west the autobahns are clogged with them Monday to Friday. There were quite few out this weekend. Many countires like Austria and Switzerland do not allow trucks to cross their borders on weekends anymore so this has reduced the numbers.
So this weekend. Big snowstorm that was the first thing we had to drive through. The A81 between Singen and Stuttgart is now heavily speed limited. In fact the whole route now has only a few unlimited sections. Many parts around Stuttgart and Karlsrufe have been reduced to 80 kph and there is no road work.
Mind you we still did the 400 Km in 3.5 hours going (snow storm slowed us down) and 3 hours coming back. Icy road around Singen and all the way home from there were a bit of a bummer but did not slow me down too much.
Ciao,
Adrian

cobalt

Well, glad to here that there is at least some salvation on the weekends, although speed limited in Switzerland. 80 kph must be brutally slow. That is even slower than most posted speed limits here in the states. (not like anyone obays them) I have to admit that 400 Km in 3 hours is not much better then I can do here in the states, although that would be on clean dry roads and there it is legal.

Glad to hear you made it without incident, no crazy Hungarians this drive .

Adrian

That 80 kph was on the German Autobahn between Stuttgatt and Karlsruhe. Quite a bit more was 100 kph.
This occurred just after the seriously chewed up bit as you leave Stuttgart.
The speed limit in Switzerland is 120 kph.
A lot of the German autobahn is now 120 kph. Unlimited areas account for only 20% and the % is reducing. More and more is speed limited every year.
I was in an Audi not the Porsche(s). In the 911s I do it a tad quicker. My record door to door from Walldorf to my place is 2 hours and 5 mins. However that was in summer.
No mad Hungarians but I was reminded of this discussion when I had my nose cut off by a Polish guy driving a Ford Transit van just before Heidelberg.
Ciao,
Adrian

phantomias33

I'm living in Germany now and I can definitely confirm what some of you have already said- The Autobahn is far from what most people have imagined it. At least the possibility of responsible faster driving exists, but the equation rarely works out such that you have true, unoccupied and safe roads. Oh well.

Sounds like some of you are familiar with Landstuhl and the area, living here too?


p.s. My wife's only had her TT up to ~ 160 mph. We're less top speed giddy and more into the twisty turns and torque. We need to plan a trip to the Nurnbergering, now that would be fun.

jhunt@huntinter

I grew up in K-town. My Dad was a HS teacher at KAHS in Vogelweh. Left in '84 for college, met my wife, and ended up settling down in the Seattle area.

Great place to live over there. I'll bet you have had pizza at that Italian rest. in Ensiedlerhoff (spelling). Ahh great pizza.

Adrian

I visit Heidelberg once a year for a christmas party. It used to be as part of a car club but I am not legally allowed to mention their name anymore. This year it was the members of the former car club region whose name we cannot mention getting together to see what we can do about creating a new car club whose name we can mention
The autobahn is not the high speed dream driving it used to be. You can still drive as fast as you want but it is a lot more dangerous now and the autobahn condition varies from brilliant and speed limited to very bad and even lower limits applied.
There are some good unlimited sections left especially in the far southern areas but you have to know where they are and you still have to pick your times.
The 50 years has passed and money is tight. There are still parts of the autobahn which run out and then have 40 km of single lane road and then autobahn again.
Of course this time of year is not the time to even try hurtling deon the fast lane at 300 kph but people still do it and sometimes leave a trail a carnage as we saw on Saturday between Karlsruhe and Heidelberg.
Ciao,
Adrian

phantomias33

I think the best stretch is still between Hamburg and Hannover, great 5 lane long stretch. But I'm not living up there anymore, stuck down here by Ramstein.
Germany's great, make's you appreciate America even more.

JHunt-

Interesting, I grew up in Steilacoom (Tacoma), own a home in Utah, but live in Germany. We're looking to settle down for good up near Seattle. I'd love to hear of any suggestions you may have as I have been away for ~15 years and don't know which areas are better developed than others.

I probably shouldn't direct those questions to you via a this public forum.