07530d

I conveniently hit the magic 1200 miles today when (fully loaded with family and holiday junk) and was getting annoyed with a mad man tailgating me in a Toyota whilst eating, drinking, smoking and on the hand held phone. I just hit the DS mode (for the first time) and left him standing. He eventually caught me up as my wife saw the speedo when I hit 130mph and told me to get back to 70 (kids in the car). He kept trying to get by with aggressive driving so I kept annoying him when he got near me.

What class of car should I avoid doing this too (obviously M5, Ferrari Enzo etc)

I saw some pretty quick well driven boring family Ford or VW 2 litre diesel saloons passing me when running in (diesel smoke being blown out of the horrible down facing exhausts) not like my shiny twin pipe with particulate filter

Or should I just let the 370 lb of torque thrill me on my own

JWBMW

All depends on the age of the oppositions vehicle as well as model. An old B reg ferrari (1982?) was behind me on the A5 the other day and when I overtook a caravan I expected him to be breathing my exhaust fumes before flying past. No such thing, the diesel torque left him behind (got several car lengths ahead), though I accept he might have been in the wrong gear and have a worn engine. Boy did it annoy him

Chris Harris who is a regular contributor to Autocar wrote recently about how the modern diesel engine is making life hell for drivers of performance petrol cars. He recalled a recent journey home in his 911 carrera where a sedate Honda Accord driver had him beat because whilst the accord cornered slowly the mid range pull out of the corners and into the shortish straights was far to much for him to overtake as normal!


You will hammer almost anything pre 2003 except exotic cars. I would however be warry of the latest turbo diesel and turbo petrol hot hatches in the UK. Other recednt top end models speak for themselves

needforspeed

It depends on your approach to speed limits

On the motorway - there is hardly ANYTHING that you won't be able to keep up with between say 60 and 100mph.

Pulling away from the lights though - you may find yourself being embarassed by all sorts of little hot hatches - in theory the 530d 0-60 is as good as the latest pocket rockets - but the 0-30 bit - which is what you will see as you floor it away from the lights - weight is a BIG factor - as is an auto box.

Personally - I spend a lot of time on the motorway and like to cruise at a steady fast speed.

I say if someone wants past - let them by - nothing annoys me more than someone who speeds up just to try to avoid a faster driver passing them - cause you just pass them again eventually.

I often stick the cruise control on at 90 mph and it is amazing how many drivers you pass, who then pass you again after couple of miles, then you pass them again and on and on and on ....... all the time I am just doing a steady 90

What I do find fun though is - if a porsche (for instance) is ahead of you and has been held back by a smaller car - then he will usually floor it once his way is clear. If I floor it as well (up to my cruising speed) I always find it funny when they are surprised.

Like I say though - if they wanted to do a 100 then I'd let them past every time.

My other fun past time is to use the cruise to gently encourage slow drivers out of the fast lane.

The technique is as follows :

1. Continue at you cruising speed without braking until you are close to the slower car (you can cover the brake pedal while doing this so it is very safe).

2. If necessary brake and hold at a safe distance (usually though - the site of a big car looming quickly in their rear view mirror will encourage them to pull over).

3. Once they are past - hit the resume button on the cruise and the car will waft you back up to your chosen velocity - super cool

Ricracing

What has a Toyota Avensis to do with a E60

If I where a Jap copycat enginer...

BetterMakeWay

My new E60 blew away a nissan micra. What should i do?

jet190rs

you make it sound as if drivers of more expensive cars have the right of way on the road or have the right to annoy other motorists. just chill out.

Allymunro

Whatever stretch of motorway in the UK could you possibly find that was clear enough to travel at anywhere near 130 m.p.h.?

It must have been 3:00 am

ScottishBimmer

well it could have been 3 am or he could have come up to scotland and get empty motorways pretty much all the time. Plus theirs hardly any police

07530d

It was the A66 in Cumbria at 5pm - road was clear for miles as the slow moving stuff I passed had been doing the usual - lets take 1/2 an hour to pass each other- big lorries love winding up the car drivers by taking ages to pass each other. Maybe they knew I wanted a long stretch of clear road

07530d

I think your advice is good and I feel a bit daft trying to race a crap car - It was the 1200 miles thing that got the better of me. I can't afford any more points so I will probably not do it again - unless I get chipped