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Post by michael on Apr 20, 2017 6:53:50 GMT
I had to take Louisa to Manchester airport yesterday morning for a 6am flight which meant leaving home at 2:30am. I was expecting the roads to be deserted but they were more busy than I expected, almost entirely trucks. Even so, it was nice to be able make smooth progress and set the cruise control to travel miles without needing to touch the peddles.
For peace of mind I was also able to put to rest the nagging question of "what is the top speed you can set the cruise control on an XC70?"
125.
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Post by Alex on Apr 20, 2017 8:29:39 GMT
Don't let Stu read that!
I'm not a fan of doing motorway drives at night, after 9pm they have a habit of closing chunks of them for roadworks. The M1 is especially bad for this.
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Post by michael on Apr 20, 2017 8:35:57 GMT
It didn't get to that speed I was just able to see how far you could tap it up too. It would have taken about four days for the accelerator to catch up with the setting.
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Post by Martin on Apr 20, 2017 12:02:58 GMT
I drove down from Paris Orly airport to Orleans last night, leaving the airport just before 10pm and it was unually quiet, just a few trucks. That was until I hit the roadworks which reduced it from 3 lanes to 1, which really shouldn't have been an issue based on the light trafffic, but everything ground to a halt and my 75min journey took over 2 hours which meant I got to the hotel after midnight......rubbish.
I've had to get to Birmingham Airport for 6:30 a few times recently and the only good thing about that is how quiet the A14 / M6 is.
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Post by Tim on Apr 20, 2017 13:04:18 GMT
10 years ago I commuted from north of Perth to Dunfermline and it was a joy - I clearly travelled the opposite direction to most of the traffic.
If you wanted to you could've cruised at a nice round 100 and barely had to leave the left hand lane for the majority of the journey.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 20, 2017 13:44:58 GMT
This year as we are taking The Shed, we are going to Portsmouth for the overnight crossing; I imagine the M25 to the M3 won't feel quite the same mid-afternoon! Take the A3 to Pompey. There'll be a bit of traffic on the Guildford flyover but that's pretty much it since the Hindhead tunnel opened. The M3 has a massive section of roadworks at present plus the Winchester bit is busy, coming into Pompey from that side on the M27 is busier and the A3 was designed specifically to be the road to Pompey. Wave at my dad and his dead shipmates as you sail through the Solent  Back on the OP, my step-dad was always attempting to set the cruise at 230+kph when we lived in Germany. Mentaler. |
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Post by Alex on Apr 22, 2017 16:32:22 GMT
Take the A3 to Pompey. There'll be a bit of traffic on the Guildford flyover but that's pretty much it since the Hindhead tunnel opened. The M3 has a massive section of roadworks at present plus the Winchester bit is busy, coming into Pompey from that side on the M27 is busier and the A3 was designed specifically to be the road to Pompey. Wave at my dad and his dead shipmates as you sail through the Solent Back on the OP, my step-dad was always attempting to set the cruise at 230+kph when we lived in Germany. Mentaler. I had wondered if this would be easier and also whether it would become a horror show around Guildford but it has to be preferable to the 50mph section of the M3, I'll probably use it - thank you! It will be a pain around Guildford at that time of day but shouldn't delay you massively although it is a longer way round so I reckon the journey time will be the same either way. It will just be a smoother journey along the A3 especially now the Hindhead tunnel has been completed. |
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Post by PG on Apr 22, 2017 20:27:50 GMT
It's a sad indictment of our motorways and main roads (or our population density) that in most areas at 5am they are sensibly busy. After that, it's the road to hell.
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Post by ChrisM on Apr 22, 2017 20:33:36 GMT
^
It's a sad indictment of our society that so many people have to travel so far just to earn a decent living, causing all this road congestion.
I'd much rather work 2 miles fom home that 20, but all the local factories have now gone to be replaced by offices, an indoor go-kart arena etc etc. Nothing much being manufactured nearby anymore.
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Post by michael on Apr 22, 2017 21:26:58 GMT
Then move.
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Post by Roadsterstu on Apr 24, 2017 8:22:58 GMT
I wonder if the cruise on mine goes that far or higher? A test for another time, maybe. Michael, does your cruise initially allow you to set 1mph increments but after a few seconds only allow 5mph jumps up or down?
Driving back from Paris to the Eurotunnel terminal at around 10pm, 2 summers ago, the autoroute was deserted. We saw only a handful of cars the whole way back once out of the suburbs. Coupled with a good road surface, it was a delight. Then we got back to the UK. Traffic and clattery, rutted surfaces returned with a vengeance.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 24, 2017 9:18:44 GMT
^ It's a sad indictment of our society that so many people have to travel so far just to earn a decent living, causing all this road congestion. I'd much rather work 2 miles fom home that 20, but all the local factories have now gone to be replaced by offices, an indoor go-kart arena etc etc. Nothing much being manufactured nearby anymore. It's the intransigence of the population to move home to follow the work that causes the issue, allied to the very strong regional house pricing fluctuations. I'm in no doubt a German factory / engineering worker in a Danube-based city in Bavaria could sell up and move to a Rhine-based city in Westphalia without panicking over whether their house price would never enable them to return to the south, so they do it. This lack of willingness to move is also why there are so many foreign nationals doing work in the south of the UK whilst other regions have higher unemployment of locals: they've come away from home to work. |
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Post by ChrisM on Apr 24, 2017 12:38:29 GMT
I'm OK for now, mercifully my 20 minute drive takes around 30 minutes as most of it is on the M3. It's the tens of thousands of others that concern me; quite often on Monday mornings the M3 is 3 lines of solid stop-start traffic from south of Fleet services heading up to the M25 and/or London (and this is just one example of commuter hell-on-the-roads) |
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Post by Roadsterstu on Apr 24, 2017 19:57:14 GMT
If you're OK then I wouldn't worry too much about their commute, Chris.
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