Dr Dave

in some (most) of england if a car is coming the other way, you need to pull over and mount the kerb.
our roads have not changed since the 14th century.
over a 1 mile stretch, we have 97 bends, 4 roundabouts, 3 speed humps, and 7 speed cameras, the only time i can get any speed up is when im coming out of my drive.

Ricracing

Been driving in the south of UK (100 km radius of London) and it ain't that bad,
fun I would say.

For a real racer the Finnish dirt roads give a challenge (no track racing).

US is a vast county and I know there's a lot of nice freeways, but also a lot of
shitty county roads.

DD_545i

That reminds me of Jersey and Guernsey. Not so much of the England I lived in though. I lived in Surrey, Dorset, North-East, London and also in Perth and Dundee in Scotland. Such narrow roads are pretty rare in the places I frequented.

My experience of the quality of British roads is that they're excellent. Certainly the match of German roads. As for America, I've driven about 25 states and found the NY tri-state area to be the worst. They just can't close any lanes to repair them as it would cause gridlock, so they get worse and worse. It's no wonder we poke fun at the bouncy bouncy suspension of American cars, but hell they need it. If you've got > 18" rims on your car in the NY/NJ area, you run the risk of smashing them to pieces every day. I can't remember what they were like in LA, but I imagine they have the same problem - not being able to repair the roads.

stimpy9226

Despite living in Helsinki, I grew up in Dallas, and my father drove one of those Oldsmobile Diesels. It was a soot-spewing lemon, absolutely hopeless. Filling out the 80's nightmare was the Chevy Suburban I drove to school in with a 6.2 litre diesel; it never managed more than 100hp (no, that is not a typo, that is one hundred horsepower), with a top speed of, ooh... maybe 70mph downhill. After that kind of diesel abuse, it is no wonder we Yanks are oil-burner averse.

So, what glowing joy my compact little Euro 2-litre Beemer Diesel gives me, 177hp of fun and more than 40mpg. I find the E60 chassis to be so superb, it is clear it would benefit from much greater power - something not true of my last motor, the 2005 Passat and the 150 hp its 2.0 FSI gave me. Alas, Finland's consumption-based car taxation means the 2.0l is all the E60 I can afford for now. I am sure the 535d would be a lovely, efficient motor, if the Yanks could just swallow 'Diesel.'

Cheers, Stimpy

JSpira

Thanks, Stimpy, for confirming what I wrote in the article.

jcatral14

Watchutalkinbout Willis? You just need to know which roads to avoid

raepart

I traded a 3.0 Z4 to a 530d. I know which one has the greater open road performance, hands down it's the E60.
The overtaking performance is fantastic, its unfortunate that I cannot (legally) exceed 110 kmh in Australia (65mph).
Tne top end acceleration and effortless cruising would be a great advantage in the USA, having driven both on the East and West Coasts. Freeway driving in an E60 diesel might even not be a chore, given the relaxed engine performance but instant acceleration available from the massive torque reserves.
Just test drive with an open mind, you may be surprised.

DD_545i

Well all the Americans over on an Audi forum I was on for the last year or so seemed to think they were bad too.

dubbers

You ozzie's must be the most fuel efficient drivers in the world with a legal limit of 65mph...

dubbers

Not just that but from the looks of it

A great big tax credit from the govt. Nice. Wish our leader was this enlightened.