Even though your old do you still drive fast? (move, cartoon, best)

[MG120]

I drive fast and have the car to do it. But knowing when and were is the important thing. I am usually about 15 over. Fastest I have ever done is:

Motorcycle 162 mph
Vette 155 mph

Any car, anywhere, 187 mph on the autobahn.

I like speed.

[GeoffD]

My driving speed is influenced by the likelihood of getting a ticket and the cost of the insurance surcharges. As the police in my driving pattern started using speeding tickets as a revenue source, I had no choice but to dial back the speed. I'm now speed limit + 9 mph with adaptive cruise control on divided highways and a couple mph over on secondary roads. I bought a new car in March. I live in New England where 75 mph in northern Maine on I-95 is the highest posted speed limit. On that road, I would set cruise control to 84 and double check with the GPS on my smartphone. I doubt my car will ever see 90 mph. This is all about opportunity cost. If a ticket were $10.00 and I didn't have to worry about points or insurance surcharges, I'd drive 100 mph all the time on empty highways. I've driven rental cars 200 kph on the Autobahn. It's not like a modern car on a straight divided highway has any kind of safety problem at that speed.

[ReachTheBeach]

Originally Posted by Stripes17

I am pre-retirement, but something has come over me lately in that I am now a speed limit driver.

I used to normally roll at 5-15 over the posted limit. Lately, I've been about optimizing gas mileage (for no reason other than to see where I can max out MPG's without being one of those hypermiling drivers). I just find it relaxing to be the guy in the right lane that doesn't have to keep switching lanes to pass the slower cars. I just set cruise control, sit back, and enjoy the roads and my music playing on the stereo.

Heck, I even do 5 mph under on some local, rural roads with no shoulders.

Maybe I am finally "growing up".

Oddly enough, in my V8 Dakota I get the best mileage around 70 mph. That's about 1800 rpm in overdrive, which seems to be the most efficient it runs (low 20s). At 55-60, the mileage is in the teens. I would be a speed limit driver if it were safer to do the speed limit. But as I noted earlier, statistically it isn't as safe here to go the speed limit as it is to go a few mph over. Too many people swerving around you and it causes you to stay in the slow land that people are merging into.

[fumbling]

I see a v8 sportscar in my future but I plan on having fun accelerating to legal speed limits in safe areas without much traffic or at freeway on ramps, not so much cruising at high speeds. In town I drive much slower these days than in the past. I don't need the headaches of getting into an at fault accident as I ease into retirement.

[davebarnes]

1. I hate to drive.
2. My longest typical trip is 7.2 miles in 100% urban environment.
3. What is the point of driving "fast"? Shorten the trip by 23 seconds?

[StealthRabbit]

My 94 yr old friend drove his Mustang cobra till the day he died (and he got a few speeding tickets while doing so)


Holding a CDL and needing to keep it, moderates my behavior. (along with liability risk, which I seem to understand better as an 'old' person).

I still ride my fleet of racing motorcycles from the 70's, most are street legal, so I can take them to the store.

my 52 HP VW's are not too fast, but fast enough to bring home a ticket. They all have suspension mods for the 'downhill' run through mtn switchbacks on the way to the store, so I still like to go fast!

[SoCalCpl2]

Depends on what you consider old and fast???

[LivingDeadGirl]

Originally Posted by ReachTheBeach

BTW, AAA of the Carolinas did a report a little while back and in our region the safest speed was roughly 7 miles over the speed limit on highways. The criteria for safest was the smallest % chance you would be involved in an accident. Most traffic here is going a few miles an hour over the speed limit and you limit the number of encounters (cars you pass or cars that pass you) if you are going close to the average speed and the relative speed of most cars you pass or pass you is not that great so things don't happen too fast. The least safe speed was at or just below the speed limit, but traffic going way over the speed limit was not statistically significant.
I tend to drive about the same as traffic. I really wish they would adjust the limit to what they really let people drive at and then enforce it with radar and cameras and automated tickets. It really scares me with my kids on the road that we don't take driving more seriously.

Yes! As a former police officer, I have a bit of knowledge and experience in this field. Drive with the traffic! It's those vehicles going faster or slower that contribute to wrecks. If you can't run with the traffic, then don't drive.

[snowtired14]

Yeah, I was wondering why nobody asked what you consider old. I'm in my early 60's and still confident with my reflexes and situational awareness. I live in Connecticut, on 95 the slow lane could be going 55 mph or less and the fast lane could be 80+, and sudden traffic jams at any time, so you have to be constantly on your toes. The cars today are a lot easier to handle compared to the 60's and 70's cars, the V-8's sounded good, and rear wheel drive was great for burn outs, but today's cars are balanced well, hold the road better, have more responsive control and better brakes. In my younger years I owned a '70 340 Duster, it had the 340 cid high performance engine in it which was good for about 300 HP I had a 780 Holley double pumper on it and got about 8-9 mpg, I had a great time with that car but at speeds it was a handful. Today I have a '15 Optima with a 4 cyl. direct injection engine putting out about 200 HP and gets ~27- 34 mpg and can put you back in your seat, not as much character as my old Duster but it could run circles around it.

[animalcrazy]

I can't drive 55 and if you're not going 70 to 80 on the Eisenhower you might get shot or run over. No seriously it's a blast being in a sports car driving fast.