real-world performance

[Joe Yakubik <75363.2524@compuserve.com>]

Last week I had the unfortunate task of driving several hundred miles of
Autobahn.  First and foremost:  if you are driving on a Friday/pre-holiday in
Germany you might as well be in a Yugo, you ain't going nowhere fast.  Next,
avoid the Autobahn around Stuttgart.  The huge tunnel project is STILL going on.

Thursday/May Day/Labor Day was a different story.  It seems the europeans have a
neat idea for preventing traffic jams on holidays:  ban truck traffic.  No
intentional marque bashing here, but I was only passed by BMW's and Mercedes'
when there were speed limits or in construction areas.  Any guesses as to who
was breaking the law?

I checked out a partial sampling of new US cars at the US base in
Kaiserslautern.  The Aurora had mold growing in the center console.  The
conversion vans were waaaaay overdone.  The 30th anniversary Z28, white w/orange
stripes and badging, 5.7 liter w/6-speed, was attractive in a tacky, raw power
sort of way; but with a speedo that only goes to 150 mph, what's the point?

I saw an interesting ad in a car mag extolling the virtues of "passing
performance" and disparaging "0-60 times".  I think it was for a Pontiac.  I
tested this theory on the way home.  A Volvo 850 GLT and I "played tag" on the
way home.  He would lead in the 130-140 mph ballpark and I would hang back until
traffic slowed him down.  I have H-rated tires and 70k miles on my suspension so
I didn't push too often. 

 We eventually cam to a wide open stretch of Autobahn, 3 lanes, scattered
traffic, 3-4% uphill grade.  We had been going around 100 mph waiting for
traffic to clear.  We were both in the middle lane and simultaneously
accelerated.  I expected similar acceleration and stayed behind him in the
middle lane until it became obvious that he wasn't making much headway.  The
20v 200 walked away from 100 to 130 and maintained the distance until I had to
slow down for traffic.  I would be interested to see where the Pontiac stands in
the 100-130 mph "real world" passing test.   

To be fair, I have no idea what load the Volvo had in the back of the wagon.  I
had 3/4 tank of gas and maybe 200 pounds of stuff in the rear.  There was
nothing visible, but he may have been hauling a load of Swedish bricks....

Joe Yakubik
didn't get to test against my doctor's Ferrari, maybe next time