Text 2680, 108 rader
Skriven 2010-01-06 12:17:07 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
   Kommentar till text 2609 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Misconceptions
======================
06 Jan 10 08:01, Robert Bashe wrote to Roy Witt:

 RB>>> I normally drive anywhere from 130-170 km/h (81-106 mph) on the
 RB>>> Autobahn, but a VW bus has a top speed of around 110 km/h (68 mph).

 RW>> Which limits where it can be driven, as I understand the Autobahn.
 RW>> i.e. it can't obstruct the flow of traffic and would do so at 68mph.

 RB> No, on the Autobahn your car must be _capable_ of driving at more
 RB> than 60 km/h on a level stretch.

In otherwords, it must be capable of maintaining the minimum speed limit
or better. Here, that's 72km/hr.

 RB> That doesn't mean you must drive that fast regardless of conditions,
 RB> and in fact under hazardous conditions driving that fast could be
 RB> reckless and thus illegal.

Here that would mean that you cannot drive on that particular road if you
cannot maintain the minimum speed limit. You could drive on it, but you
would be subject to a ticket for obstructing the flow of traffic. Rush
hour traffic not withstanding.

 RB> But a VW bus can easily travel more than 100 km/h on a level stretch
 RB> and thus has no problems on the Autobahn.

That's too slow, even for a two lane highway with a max speed limit of
100km/hr because everyone will be going faster than that. Not to mention
that the VW bus will be obstructing traffic when it comes to any of the
not so small hills that we have here.

 RB>>> But we don't differ too much, as you can see. The VW bus wasn't
 RB>>> made to be a racing car, you know. It was made to haul goods and
 RB>>> was often (in my case too) converted into a camping bus.

 RW>> And as you loaded it up, it got even slower.

 RB> Roy, the vehicle isn't a racing car, but it is a normal road vehicle
 RB> and is used as such. I don't know why you keep harping on the speed,
 RB> given the low speed limits in the States.

Because the vehicle cannot maintain enough speed to not obstruct the flow
of traffic. The more load you put on it, the less power it has to not
obstruct faster moving traffic. Two lane roads here have a maximum speed
limit of 100km/hr, which would tax that 36hp engine to maintain the speed
on an incline even more and especially if you load it with camping gear.
If and when it got to the hills on Interstate 10, west of here, the
minimum speed is 100km/hr, which it couldn't maintain on any of the
inclines required to get over the hill country into west Texas.

 RW>> Driving east of San Diego or north and east of LA, you must drive up
 RW>> an incline of 5000 feet or more. In the days before Interstate 80
 RW>> was a divided four lane super highway, it was a two lane road with
 RW>> no turnouts to speak of (one that I recall stands out in my mind).
 RW>> Following a VW bus, or a VW beetle for that matter, up that grade
 RW>> was a PIA as they couldn't get up any speed to speak of. After
 RW>> driving up the 'grapevine' north of LA in a VW beetle in 3rd gear
 RW>> (it bogged in 4th) and not being able to gain any speed over 40mph
 RW>> (70mph speed limit), I figured out why - they were greatly
 RW>> underpowered.

 RB> For such an extreme situation, quite probably. But you can't build a
 RB> car that will perform ideally under _all_ concieveable conditions.

Designing one that can climb a hill without losing speed isn't all that
hard.

 RB> Remember the Beetle and the bus were designed for Germany, and
 RB> although there are considerable grades in the mountains there too,
 RB> much of the country is relatively flat.

Which is why they're no longer sold here. Although they're still being
made in Mexico and you see them here every once in a while.

 RB> Here, an American car of the pre-1970 variety would also have had
 RB> problems. It used far too much gas and was much too wide and
 RB> unmaneuverable for the narrow streets in many old towns, such as
 RB> Heidelberg.

They didn't have that problem here. Even when driven thru Jerome, AZ,
where the streets are probably as narrow as they are in Heidelberg. Most
of them are one way and just a bit wider than the car.

 RB> Perfect for American roads, such cars were impracticable
 RB> here, and were rarely sold. The fact that the VW Beetle was sold
 RB> quite often in the States indicates to me that it couldn't have been
 RB> totally unsuited for the intended use - but I would have thought it
 RB> more suitable for city traffic (in those wide-ranging American
 RB> cities) than overland use.

The VW I drove over the grapevine belonged to a gal I met in Los
Angeles, CA and I was driving her home to San Jose'...She wasn't very
happy with it either, but it was all she had at the time.

 RB> At any rate, all this is history, as the cars built nowadays are (at
 RB> least for my way of thinking) more over- than underpowered (little
 RB> rollerskate-size cars with 70-100 HP), even in Germany.

I don't own nor would I ever buy any rollerskates, mine are all medium to
large vehicles with V8 power. The Z28 (the smallest vehicle) has 305hp and
with the .5:1 overdrive, gets reasonably good mileage (26mpg) with plenty
of power to pull those mountain grades in that gear.

                R\%/itt

    You can put lipstick on a pig, but the pig still stinks!
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