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My one Autobahn experience was a blast. I drove from Frankfurt-am-Main into Switzerland in a rented Ford Focus wagon (5-speed diesel, thank you). There was a
by gamache 7y ago
My one Autobahn experience was a blast. I drove from Frankfurt-am-Main into Switzerland in a rented Ford Focus wagon (5-speed diesel, thank you). There was a period of about an hour when I didn't go below 120mph, and there wasn't a single moment when I felt unsafe. Just stay to the right and keep it between the lines.
It's striking what a well-built road the Autobahn is. You could put a full martini glass on the dashboard, and even above 100mph you wouldn't see it spill. Back in my younger days I went similar speeds on American roads, and the construction quality just isn't the same.
- rootusrootus 7y agoTo be fair, Germany is a tiny country and the autobahn spends a lot of time under construction. It's dug much deeper than typical American highways. Nobody in the US wants to pay that much for road construction.
- DanBC 7y agoI had no idea how big Germany is, or how it compares to US states. Germany is a bit bigger than New Mexico, but a bit smaller than Montana. If it was a US state it'd be 5th by size.
- sib 7y agoWhile Germany would be the 5th state by size, it is only 3.6% of the area of the United States. (Those of us who grew up when there were two Germanies knew it as even smaller - only 2.5% of the US' area...) I learned this when being berated by my German hosts about the fact that you could at that time mail a letter "anywhere in the country by 4pm" and have it delivered the very next day, as an example of how efficient the Deutsche Post was. We'd usually make up by drinking some good Weizenbier, so it was all good.
- heeen2 7y agoOnly 3.6% of area but 25% of population