How fast is yours?

[crinklystarfish]

When on the motorway network at home, or indeed abroad, I tend to settle into a cruising speed of about 55-60mph - given appropriate conditions. At this speed I rarely overtake other motorhomes but am frequently overtaken by them. I was passed yesterday by someone in a low profile coachbuilt who must have been doing 80+mph.

 

Am I a dawdler? How fast do you cruise, and would it be different if speed limits didn't apply?

 

[michele]

Mines fast but I don't floor it ! takes me time like it that way..

[davenewellhome]

We too cruise at 55-60 (cruise control is actually set for a true 57MPH) as we find it a happy compromise between getting there and a reasonable journey time. We also save a load on fuel at that speed and arrive in a more relaxed frame of mind. To round off the good points of travelling at a slightly reduced rate wear and tear on the vehicle is less meaning it should last longer and have fewer mechanical problems.

 

I often wonder why the motorhome that just passed us at some ridiculous speed is in such a hurry.

 

D.

[olley]

hi same here, set the cruise between 55-60, according to the manual its speed limited to 80mph. So I won't be coming past you at 85 unless its downhill. (lol)

 

Olley

[kelly58]

Hi we usually run around 50/55 why tear about just relax and watch the world go by , when I was lorry driving it was all hell and tear trying to meat delivery deadlines and keep one step in front of the law and the taco checkers , now we have retired its just chill chill and chill again highly recomended.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Afraid I'm one of the type that constantly overtake. normally cruise (on cruise) @ 75mph.

 

Trying to get out of habit with new van as its nicer @ 65mph ish.

 

but one of the problems of being cash rich & time poor is that we are normally in a rush to get somewhere.

 

are you a dawdler? I would say @ 55 yes - @ 60 no (on a motorway)

 

Obviously when we retire we will be able to consider slower more interesting routes...

 

Friday week off on summer jaunt - and will dash over to Trier on the Mosel river - then hopefully slowly work our way south to Italy....

[Hymer C 9.]

We travel about 55-60 like to see where were going part of the fun but on motorways, I'm told she (the hymer) likes to strech her legs, who am I to argue, so more like 70.mph. Cheers Carol.

[peterjl]

Hi

 

on the auto routes through Europe - generally 70 ish- often there's a long way to go and only so much holiday to fit it all in!

 

It wasn't so bad in the early days, 20+ years ago, when all of France and N Spain was new to us, but we prefer not to return to same place too often, so over the years and decades the journey times out and back get longer as we go further East or South! Mind you just been back to Royan area for a short break - we had forgotten how nice it was so wllll be going back to w france again in next year or so.

 

I seldom travel in UK - just down to ports or rail terminal and back - no speeding there. The other week on friday evening it took 4 hrs to travel 108 miles & we missed our train - again!

 

Peter

[ROND]

I like to cruise along on motorways around the 55/60 mark thats comfortable on a long trip. I recently drove the car up from Taunton towards Bristol on the motorway and it was pretty busy, we were doing a steady 70 when this motorhome passed on the outside lane up the backside of a jaguar he must have been doing 80/85 and a woman was walking around in the back, I thought to myself then I hope to god they dont have to brake fast or have a blow out because they wouldnt have stood a chance of stopping quickly and the woman wandering in the back would have been through that windscreen no problem.

[tp002c784tp002c784tp]

I am also one of those 55/60 mph I like to see whats going on around me I also try and keep off motorways as much as posiable away from the Juggernauts which suck you in and blow you out when they have passed.

 

The wife knows when I speed up if shes not watching its quite often to get passed a caravan some of them scare me when you see them swaying all over the motorway.

 

But I do beleive it can do your motor a bit of good to open it up once in a while

 

Terry

[Ralph]

No cruise control but my satnav is set to remind me if I go over 65. Usually cruise at around 60. Main reason is that I've found this to be the most economical speed and fuel consumption seems to rise at higher speeds. Also I can still hear the radio...

 

I once made a mistake and filled my tank just before going to trade in a van. I then drove 150 miles at high speed and used most of the tankful!

[carioca]

guilty of speeding im afraid on motorways at home or abroad quite often run at 70 or above. on A roads or route nationals i will quite happily dawdle at around 50 watching what is going on around us, but on mways she just wants to stretch her legs. this is probably why i only get around 20 to the gallon :-( (2.3 fiat overcab) :$ ;-)

[John Keats]

I'm another 55-60mph and prefer dual roads and M/ways.

 

The secret here in maintaing that speed is that most others will want to pass by which means that for a very large part of any journey there wiil always be a large space ahead therefore producing a less stressfull situation.

 

And of course one can always go faster if neccesary whereas the faster drivers have no safety margin

 

Adjustments can easily be made to fit in with the large trucks so as not to interfere with their journey times.

 

Those who rush about are not journey organisers.

[Champstar]

must say I must be a doodler I try to stick to 2500rpm or between 50-60mph when travelling a distance say down south on the m/way. Up in Scotland esp the highlands it is difficult to get over 50 and still be safe on the road.

I dont really care when I get there part of the fun of motorhoming is the travel otherwise we would all be tuggers!!! (lol)

No offence meant to anyone *-)

[Clive]

In the UK cruise 60 / 65 but it has been up to 90 when someone gets up my nose!!

In France much more relaxed at 56. Everything slows down, pace of life, metabolism, heart rate etc. "After you", "No After you". Just like London Taxi drivers Hi.

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

You'll niggle a lot of European HGV drivers if you cruise just below their regulated maximum of 100KPH (62MPH).  They have enough trouble with each other, trying to ease past with only 2KPH advantage, and then finding their's won't get up the next hill so fast! 

I tend to stay above 65MPH on motorways mainly for that reason.  But then, I only rarely use motorways.

[Tony Jones]

There's a bit in the driving test (or at least there was in 1970!!) which requires you to "make reasonable progress to suit road and traffic conditions." To me, that includes the common courtesy of not unnecessarily holding other people up.

If your van will only comfortably cruise at 55+, fair enough, but in a vehicle which will easily keep up with the prevailing traffic, it seems inconsiderate not to do so.

Even on dual carriageways, making someone else change course (ie to an outer lane) always increases the total danger on the road. The closer we are to doing the same speed, the safer it all is - which is one reason I've never understood different limits for different vehicles on the same road!

 

Tony

[Dave Newell]

Surely in this day and age of world pollution problems and the need to save fossil fuels it makes sense to travel at 55-60 MPH which is widely accepted as the best compromise speed for a decent travelling time and fuel economy. Once you get above 50 MPH the fuel required to increase and maintain speed goes up by a disproprtionate amount. For example my motorhome gives an average of 23MPG at a steady 57MPH cruising speed but if I push it up to 70MPH then fuel consumption increases to around 18-19 MPG. That's a huge difference. When I'm in the motorhome I'm on holiday and that means relaxing so why on Earth would I want to speed everywhere?

 

Not saying anyones wrong here, this is just my way of thinking.

D.

[Mel E]

Brian,

 

Are you absolutely sure about that 100kph limit for continental HGVs? I ask having just returned from France and on Autoroutes I always set the cruise control to 64 or 65mph which gives me exactly 100kph on the flat, as measured by the GPS (it also gives me around 32mpg).

 

At this speed, I pass all HGVs with a very comfortable margin - typically about 4 or 5 mph.

 

In the UK trucks are governed to a max of 60mph but many are voluntarily governed to 56mph. From next year, all vehicles over 3.5 tonnes MAM will come out of the factory governed to 60mph and be banned from the outside lane of 3-or-more lane motorways. This will not apply to motorhomes, so I hope the governer is a deletable option! Current vans will have to be retrofitted within a defined time period.

 

At long last that will keep 7.5 tonne trucks out of the 3rd lane!

 

Mel E

====

[johnsandywhite]

B-) On our Newmar I set the Cruise Control to 55-60mph. I have had it up to around 85mph in the USA when running almost empty.

Our Fiat 1.9 Dethleffs. I have my foot FLAT to the floor trying to maintain 40-50mph. (lol) (lol) (lol)

[Rodders]

I usually set cruise to 70 in the Master. This is probably a true 68 (according to the satnav).

At that speed the 150 hp Renault is at 33mpg so not ruining the planet too much, I think- or less than Madonna anyhow !

[crinklystarfish]

Tony Jones - 2007-07-10 11:50 AM

 

...If your van will only comfortably cruise at 55+, fair enough, but in a vehicle which will easily keep up with the prevailing traffic, it seems inconsiderate not to do so. Even on dual carriageways, making someone else change course (ie to an outer lane) always increases the total danger on the road. The closer we are to doing the same speed, the safer it all is - which is one reason I've never understood different limits for different vehicles on the same road!

 

I drive / have driven all sorts of things from bonkers superbikes to HGVs. 40mph on some unrestricted roads in an HGV is too fast. On the same road on a superbike, 70+mph is pedestrian.

 

I agree that intentionally not keeping up with the flow may be deemed inconsiderate, with the huge proviso that you don't play dice with the laws of physics and have due regard for whatever you're driving. 55+mph in 'vans that are in the main circa 3.5 tonnes, and by their nature are effectively fully laden is, to me, getting a bit close to the raggedy edge of being able to deal with unexpected occurences.

 

Dave's take is the most logical for me, the journey time / economy / mechanical sympathy argument makes the most sense. Indeed I believe it's been demonstrated on our overcrowded motorways that a small reduction in the speed limit actually increases overall traffic flow? It certainly has net environmental benefits.

 

In any event a cruising 55-60mph range seems to have been independently arrived at by the experienced judgement of many of the posters. This empirical conclusion must be worth something?

[Fetch Carry]

We tend to cruise around 60ish on Motorways and Duel Carriageways, have occaisional sperts upto and over the 70mph limit to clear gaggles of lorries etc.

 

Can't see the point in trying to go any quicker these days as there is so much traffic on the roads, that trying to cruise at 70 is a waste of time as you realistically only gain around 5 miles in an hour if you are lucky so whats the point in getting your self stressed in trying to get there 10 minutes early on a 3 hour journey.

 

Example: going from Market Harborough to Hollands Wood, Brockenhurst, New Forest following my father with his dragging van, he cruises around 50-56mph, I was leaving ten minutes later than him as had to stop to fuel up and even though I was pushing to travel at 60-70 all the way, didn't actually catch him up until the camp site entrance 3 hours and twenty minutes later.

[Brian Kirby]

Mel E - 2007-07-10 12:01 PM Brian, Are you absolutely sure about that 100kph limit for continental HGVs? I ask having just returned from France and on Autoroutes I always set the cruise control to 64 or 65mph which gives me exactly 100kph on the flat, as measured by the GPS (it also gives me around 32mpg). At this speed, I pass all HGVs with a very comfortable margin - typically about 4 or 5 mph. In the UK trucks are governed to a max of 60mph but many are voluntarily governed to 56mph. From next year, all vehicles over 3.5 tonnes MAM will come out of the factory governed to 60mph and be banned from the outside lane of 3-or-more lane motorways. This will not apply to motorhomes, so I hope the governer is a deletable option! Current vans will have to be retrofitted within a defined time period. At long last that will keep 7.5 tonne trucks out of the 3rd lane! Mel E ====

No, I wasn't quite sure Mel: but I've now checked (French Wikipedia) and your instinct was correct - they are in fact limited to 90KPH (56MPH).  However, it has long seemed to me that Spanish and Portugese trucks go faster than French ones, and I know some exceed 100KPH - 'cos they've trodden on my tail doing so!  Perhaps, like me, they are still thinking in pre 1985 terms.  Hrrrmph!  Oh dear!

However, I am still inclined to think it better to keep motorhomes out from under their wheels whenever possible.  Problem is, we tend not to "play the game", of speeding up down hills and slowing down up hills; being more inclined to keep our speed steady (observable).  With a motorhome doing a more or less steady 55/60 up hill and down dale in the right hand lane, the truckers do get a bit phased about whether to overtake going down, in the almost certain knowledge they'll run out of puff on the next upgrade just before they've got in front.  Somehow, life's just too short, so I tend to aim at a higher cruising speed to keep out of their way!

There is another point to this, which is overall gearing.  What suits one van type with one engine/transmission combination, won't necessarily translate to another type or combination.  Ours was 146HP Fiat low profile, and the fuel consumption hardly fluctuated wherever, or at whatever speed, I drove it.  It never did less than 24mpg, nor better than 25mpg, in over 13,000 miles. 

It cruised comfortably on motorways at 2,500rpm, giving just over 65MPH, at 3,000rpm it was doing about 80MPH, and had a rev limited top speed of a bit over 100MPH.  This, I suspect is rather higher gearing than a 1.9JTD!

[marcob]

All lorries over 7.5 tonnes and larger coaches have had to have speed limiters fitted for several years.

Lorries should be set at 56mph (90kmph)

Coaches to be set at 62mph (100kmph)

From 1st January 2005, new goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, and coaches with more than 8 seats are limited to the above speeds. The above limits aply to all the EEC.

I try to drive at 55/58 to keep out of their way, but there is always some with the limiter set to high, or disconneted. If one creeps up behind me I go a little faster otherwise they drive about two feet behind.

 

Regards Marcob

 

PS None of the above are pemitted the travel in the outside lane of a 3 or more lane motorway