JohnBu
16th May 2009, 05:45 PM
I have been on, and still am on my european vacation.
for 2 weeks we hired a car and drove in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Monarco, Italy & Austria.
Has been quite an experience, especially for the first day or two driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.
We ended up getting new shape Audi A4 with a TDI engine. It was auto, which helps in the cities.
first question people ask is what speed did you get up to in Germany's unlimited roads. 215kmh - the car could not give anymore haha.
fuel consumption was woeful at 200+kmh, instant consumption was approx 13L/100km.
The car was rock steady at those speeds with 4 ppl and 70kg of luggage.
Bugs on the windscreen were hard to wash off.
Another thing is, when you're doing 200kph, make sure you check your rear vision mirrors. Faster cars arrive behind you very quick.
The good thing about european freeways are, regardless what the speed limit are, people in the fast lanes always give way to faster cars.
Germany has excellent roads, well designed, wide numerous lanes, unlimited speed.
French and Italian city roads were a shocker to drive in. tailgating, lane changes, pushing in, I won't be missing that. oh the car parking spots are tiny, that's why all their cars are in shit condition, not has shit as Cairo.
Manarco roads are very tight, I was there when they were setting up the Grand Prix track, I drove part of track, better than Albert Park. Absolutely rich city/country. Police were friendy, ended up finding a parking spot 40 metres from the casino- near impossible to find any street parking in Europe.
Ferraris (inc 430 scud) lambos, McLaren SLRs, Bentleys, Rolls, driving around the streets and parked outside the casino.
have pics will post once I return to Aust.
Cairo, for anyone who has been there, freaken hell, this place is a driver's nightmare. words cannot described the drivers and cars there. every single car is damaged in some way. 1950s cars are still used as taxis. during one 7km taxi trip, I was involved in more near accidents than in my whole life in Australia. every second, all you hear in beep beep all the freaken time. traffic is terrible here 24hrs a day. not sure why there are so many people around.
taxis are also stripped of radios, seat belts, interior lights, window winders, door handles?????
oh, they also like to drive fast and some don't like to use their headlights at night!!! WTF.
We were going 100kms in a 70 zone, no seat belt, no headlight, 1am in the morning, the only time the headlight was used was when the driver wanted to overtake someone.
thats it for now.
for 2 weeks we hired a car and drove in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Monarco, Italy & Austria.
Has been quite an experience, especially for the first day or two driving on the 'wrong' side of the road.
We ended up getting new shape Audi A4 with a TDI engine. It was auto, which helps in the cities.
first question people ask is what speed did you get up to in Germany's unlimited roads. 215kmh - the car could not give anymore haha.
fuel consumption was woeful at 200+kmh, instant consumption was approx 13L/100km.
The car was rock steady at those speeds with 4 ppl and 70kg of luggage.
Bugs on the windscreen were hard to wash off.
Another thing is, when you're doing 200kph, make sure you check your rear vision mirrors. Faster cars arrive behind you very quick.
The good thing about european freeways are, regardless what the speed limit are, people in the fast lanes always give way to faster cars.
Germany has excellent roads, well designed, wide numerous lanes, unlimited speed.
French and Italian city roads were a shocker to drive in. tailgating, lane changes, pushing in, I won't be missing that. oh the car parking spots are tiny, that's why all their cars are in shit condition, not has shit as Cairo.
Manarco roads are very tight, I was there when they were setting up the Grand Prix track, I drove part of track, better than Albert Park. Absolutely rich city/country. Police were friendy, ended up finding a parking spot 40 metres from the casino- near impossible to find any street parking in Europe.
Ferraris (inc 430 scud) lambos, McLaren SLRs, Bentleys, Rolls, driving around the streets and parked outside the casino.
have pics will post once I return to Aust.
Cairo, for anyone who has been there, freaken hell, this place is a driver's nightmare. words cannot described the drivers and cars there. every single car is damaged in some way. 1950s cars are still used as taxis. during one 7km taxi trip, I was involved in more near accidents than in my whole life in Australia. every second, all you hear in beep beep all the freaken time. traffic is terrible here 24hrs a day. not sure why there are so many people around.
taxis are also stripped of radios, seat belts, interior lights, window winders, door handles?????
oh, they also like to drive fast and some don't like to use their headlights at night!!! WTF.
We were going 100kms in a 70 zone, no seat belt, no headlight, 1am in the morning, the only time the headlight was used was when the driver wanted to overtake someone.
thats it for now.