How do normal, average cars act at 150 mph/ 250kph like on the autobahn?

Question

Are you with your foot to the floor and holding on for dear life? Does it bounce all over the place?

Answer 1

your typical passenger car isnt desinged for that kind of speed. They shake and vibrate and are non-resposive  in curves.

Answer 2

I don't think average cars make it that fast. lol The rev-limited usually kicks in. Just from my personal experience.

Answer 3

The recommended speed of the German autobahn is 130 km/h (81 mph), but there is no speed limit. Austrian and Swiss autobahns have general speed limits of 130 km/h (81 mph) and 120 km/h (75 mph), respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn

Answer 4

i really don't know

Answer 5

Well as the said most do not go that fast,

many think that the Autobahn is ALL speedless. That is not true.

Their are many parts of the Autobahns that have speed limits.

Some areas do not.  The fastest I ever went their was about 200kph and it was pushing it. I told my friend to slow down too!!

Their cars are geared ratio to handle their style of cobble stone roads much differently than their US equivalants.

Answer 6

I worked for the U.S.Army in Germany back in the 90's and used to drive a Plymouth Reliant. 100 mph was the maximum speed I could go.

Answer 7

That depends entirely on the car, but your average non-German/ non-European made car will not handle 150 mph easily-- 120 mph is about as far as I would really recommend pushing any car that can't be classed as a "performance" car of some sort.  

Also, in my experience, the majority of the cars on the autobahn don't travel that fast.  Typical cruising speeds vary between 80 mph & 120 mph.  Higher speeds  are left for perfect weather conditions and certain cars-- mid to high-end sports tourers like Mercedes, Audis, BMWs, and of course, the rare pure sports cars like Porsche & Ferrari.

The fastest I've had a car up to was just around 100mph-- that said, this was in really lousy weather.  The car I was driving was certainly capable of more--it was the driver who wasn't.  I've ridden with my Dad, who got a VW Golf up to 120+ easily.  (However, he also had much more experience driving, including some club racing here in the US.)

If you go and plan on driving on the autobahn, a few words of advice:

  1.   When renting a car, spend a little more and get an autobahn-worthy car.   I could've gotten by fine with the next lower car class, but I went one level up for a sportier, more responsive car, and it was worth every penny.  Not just for the safetly, but for the fun level, too.

2.  Study up on your driving rules, especially right-of-way.  What we in the US tend to treat as suggestions, the Germans consider written in stone by the driving gods.

3.  Learn to drive a manual.  My Dad was German, so this was an expected and standard part of my driving training all along.  But if you've got a good, sporty car, you won't believe how much *fun* it is.  (Plus, the automatics the car rental companies have over  there are pretty much used exclusively by American tourists-- and they charge accordingly.)

Driving the autobahn can be a blast, but you've got to be prepared.  There is little to no room for error, and even the bast of cars isn't forgiving at 100+ mph.  You need an adequately prepared driver, and a car with not only a powerful engine, but one with the suspension, brakes, and steering that is up to dealing with all that horsepower.

Answer 8

Most Germans drive at 65-100 MPH on the Autobahn.  If you want speed, go to Italy.  I got used to 150 MPH speeds on the Autostrada with no problem, but them highways are designed for that kind of speed.  With gas prices double or triple of what we have here, good luck Diamond Jim!

Answer 9

Then I'm thinking...'Oh, I'm slow today'!;-)

Answer 10

your not goung to get a 4cyl. toyota corolla to 150. but for the sake of the question yes you will be hanging on for dear life

Answer 11

For starters, the average sedan can barely hit 100, maybe 110.

I've gotten my '96 Thunderbird up to 100 on a local interstate at about 2am.  It wasn't quite to the point of being *scary*, but it's definitely something you don't want to be casual with.  I kept my hands firmly rooted at the "10-and-2" position, which I generally don't do.

How rough the ride is depends on the road.  The interstate I was on was fairly new, so the road was pretty smooth with no sharp turns; I could still feel the variations in the road surface a lot more than at, say 60mph.  The Autobahn, by contrast, was designed specifically to be as flat and smooth as possible, but at 120mph, you'd still feel a fair bit of vibration from the road and the wind.

Answer 12

If you do reach that speed that means u have a good car with good tires, they would however wear off real fast at that speed and burst… now lets see at that speed.. Well the intense wind pressure would be pinning the car down so no you wouldn’t be bouncing around.. You would however be holding on for dear life as a slight jerk on the steering wheel could take you off course... The results would be disastrous.

Answer 13

"average" passenger cars were not designed for such driving situations. you immeadiately notice the car has a hard time staying in the center of the road, all roads have a crown (highest point is the center of the road) and minor adjustments to correct this, make it veer to the sides of the road, the smallest bumps and hills in the road surface make the car bounce up and down violently adding to the unstability. and when you press the brakes you will notice they are one step up from non existent because the temperatures being generated by the passenger car brakes is so hot the brakes fade because they are being heated at race car levels. lastly, it is down right scary to drive a car this fast, not because of the speed. but because of the loss of control in steering, suspension and brakes you feel, also this is often the first time someone has gone this fast and feeling this sudden loss of control makes you let off the gas very quickly as you should. the autobahn DOES have a lane for limitless speeds but cars do not enter this lane unless doing 100+mph and the autobanh is fairly straight. most average passenger cars do not go in that lane as they do have a hard time at such speeds. if you want to go this fast you should install performance springs, and performance brake pads and rotors at the very minimum and only try this on a closed road.

Answer 14

Normal cars, good condition, act normal.

I don't think I could say that about drivers in US.

Germans know how to drive at that speed.  No cutting in or out.  Plenty of distance between cars, and pass with ample room.

Few survive accidents at that speed.

Have ridden with cab drivers on the Autobahn.  140 MPH in Mercedes.

Answer 15

Average normal cars can't get to those speeds.

Answer 16

honestly I would not want to know

Answer 17

I used to to 220 kmh/ 130 mph regulary on my motorbike in Germany, awww happy times. All you can do in the UK is 75 mph, how fu****g boring.

Answer 18

The autobahn isn't exactly what everyone thinks its is... first off only certain parts of the autobahn don't have a speed limit, they have digital signs that post the speed in the area that you're in... they can change with traffic and construction and stuff... in the areas with no limit its still hard a lot of times to get a car to top speed because most if the autobahn is 2 lanes on each side, but its possible. Last year I was there with a friend and we rented a porsche for a day, when we were able to get the speed up (we got it to about 160 mph) the engine seemed fine, but the steering gets really touchy.

Answer 19

a normal/average car cant reach 150mph

Answer 20

Depends on the car but most american made cars cannot maintain that level of speed without major car damage

Answer 21

I once drove 230 km/h on a German autobahn; that was the car's limit. I had the pedal to the metal, and, no, the car didn't bounce. German autobahns are usually well maintained, and where they are not, there are speed limits. But speeding at 230, I knew how Einstein came to the idea of relativity: The left lane gets narrow in your vision, and I mean, really narrow, and parllels don't go parallel any more, but run into a single dot.

And, mind: The red dot you notice "far" in front of you MAY mean "road construction ahead".

I love Ford. They have ingenious gearboxes; it made a harsh sound when I pulled the car from fifth into third, but it worked. Because, there is one thing you must never ever do when you're on the fast lane: Hit the brake. Your rear lights will flash, and you'll almost immediately cause an accident. That's why we Germans drive cars with manual gears; the engine will do the braking for you.

Answer 22

i have driven 190kph in a ford focus..... and it wasn't to bad... but i did have this very scary feeling in my gut that the wheel where gana fall off or some dumby cut infront of me going 80 driving a 97 neon