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Thread ID: 120328	2011-09-04 04:15:00	Texas Raises Speed Limit To 85 (137KPH)	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1228600	2011-09-04 15:04:00	A certain few states told the Feds to stuff it and just went their own way with the economy speed limits even during the 55= Arrive Alive days around 1985 or so, IIRC . The '89 Isuzu isn't really happy over 85 MPH, the '86 Blazer will do over 120 - but I rarely attempt it as it's build for towing and not speed . The 2001 Astro Van on the other hand is much happier at 100 MPH and that's where the fuel mileage really comes in . At 55 MPH, the Astro gets 18 . 8 miles-per-gallon - pitiful . Higher speeds like 100 it goes up to 23+ MPG . We had a '95 Chevy G20 (Heavy-Half) custom van with exactly the same engine/transmission as the Astro Van - but it was a rolling box that had no rounded corners at all . It got 24 MPG city, and 28 MPG highway and yet a newer, sleeker and lighter version of the same vehicle with the same engine and transmission gets 18 . 8 MPG . Something stinks . Maybe the aerodynamics kick in at the century mark - I dunnow . I'm taking a trip during the last week of September and maybe the first two weeks of October to visit my son in Montana, stepdaughter in Idaho and to close the house for the season in Arizona in that Astro Van . For a round trip total of about 3,500 miles in a relative gas hog - but it's gonna have a lot of room in it for gear and presents to the grandkids . Lessee: Jeremy has five kids and Sarah has four - better bring a bigger vehicle I think . Some of the states I'll go through are California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon and if I can't help it: Utah . Maybe we'll (the wife and me) hit Colorado on a spur-of-the-moment too to see her sister if she's back from the Italian Alps on a ski trip . That might take us through Wyoming then too . <sigh> But I hate Utah and will avoid it as well as I can --- for the smog in Smog Lake City extends from Nephi, Utah at the very southern part of The Great Salt Lake all the way up to Malad, City Idaho, starting the crawl up to The Continental Divide . The smog there is worse than any I every felt or experienced in LA or Pasadena in the mid 1960s . Two years ago (gads! THAT long ago?) on approximately the same trip - I got very sick from the smog in SL City and it ruined the whole trip for me; coughing and peeing blood the rest of the time . This time I'll make a pix album and set the link up here at F1 if any of youse guys wanna see it when I get back . Actually, I'll upload the pixs as I can at motels and campgrounds along the way from my Eee-PC to YouTube and my Picasa Online Albums . WIFI is all over the larger cities and some camping areas .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1228601	2011-09-04 22:37:00	No worries for SJ though ... don't think that ol' truck of his will go over 30mph ... downhill with a tail wind ... :lol: :lol	GameJunkie (72)
1228602	2011-09-05 03:14:00	If only New Zealand would do the same!	george12 (7)
1228603	2011-09-05 03:26:00	85MPH, that would be nice. We don't need that fast here though, 120kph on the open road and 130khp on motorways would be quite adequate IMO. :drool	wratterus (105)
1228604	2011-09-05 04:35:00	Cripes, at 137Km/h my car loses what I call the "120 shakes", but since it only has four forward gears, it sits on about 4000RPM, so it gets awful mileage at those speeds. Once I managed to use 1/4 of a tank in less than 30Km's. IIRC cruising speed was about 165...	ubergeek85 (131)
1228605	2011-09-05 04:55:00	New Zealand roads are for the most part not good enough for such speeds to be safe, too narrow, too windy, too uneven a surface, no barrier between lanes, etc, etc. A lot of people consider themselves to be fantastic drivers capable of handling much higher speeds than the limit, I was like that myself when I was younger (it's a minor miracle I never had a major accident). The truth is though we aren't. If you're thinking you are the exception, news flash, you're not. The limit is conservative by necessity, it has to allow for all road conditions, traffic volumes, vehicle types, weather, etc. Sure in a good vehicle in good conditions you can go faster in theory, but you can't set limits based on the best possible case. I think 120-130 on major highways would be nice, but in practice it would only be for certain sections and get people in the habit of driving faster than most roads are safe at. I'm getting old, starting to sound like a grumpy old man :) but I have to set the annoying beeper on my cars computer to 110 to avoid accidentally speeding myself	dugimodo (138)
1228606	2011-09-05 05:00:00	<snip> I'm getting old, starting to sound like a grumpy old man :) but I have to set the annoying beeper on my cars computer to 110 to avoid accidentally speeding myself You have an annoying beeper? I have an annoying wife who performs pretty much the same function.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1228607	2011-09-05 06:26:00	Now they're hell bent on using up the world's oil supply before anyone else gets control of it :( But they will get there faster	Gobe1 (6290)
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