About twenty years ago it was possible to drive flat out in Europe for
up to a couple of hours. European engines were designed for it. I drove
from Rome to Frankfurt in one day back in the early 80's. Never-the-less my
Opel
1.5L rental car had a leaking valve when I started it up the next morning
in Frankfurt. Those days are gone forever and the engines are now designed
for American driving conditions. Way back in the 60's you could run a VW at
72 MPH
at max 36 HP all day. Then VW started adding power, the top speed increased
and
you could no longer run it flat out with out having engine problems.

Paul Lamar

John Tami wrote:
You have forgotten the Autobahn! Maybe not as traffic free as it was back
then, but the speeds are still there. And few engines are designed for the
USA any longer. Chassis setting yes. Porsche started it first when in the
late 80's/early 90's USA bound Porsches had more HP then Euro ones. Since
then 90% are the same (even BMW with the M3 finally relented!) though of
course over there due to tax brackets and higher fuel cost's they have more
options mostly on the lower end and of course the high tech diesels that we
wont have until the US Fuel Companies roll over dead! But my engine is
exactly the same as the Euro Passats!

Cheers!

Been over many times since and I am struck by the extremely heavy traffic
and even some speed limits.

Paul Lamar

I drove from Frankfurt to Munich on the autobahn.
Other than no speed limit between towns it's no different
than here.  Everytime the autobahn goes through a small
town you have to slow down to 80kph, or about 55mph.

--
Perry Mick
Duckt N7XR
http://www.ductedfan.com

 
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