Different world in the east. 75 mph is tops in most places, and 65-70
is more standard. I recently took I-70 from DC to Chicago and the
turnpikes back to DC. If I cranked it up to 80mph  I was passing
everything in sight. Most of the time I kept it around 70 mph
(slightly faster than most of the rest of the traffic). After all I
was pulling a trailer...

Same was true on I-81 north to Canada and on the highways between
Toronto and Quebec City. Less lanes, less people (paradoxically) and
slower speeds than Southern California.

I remember taking the 15 from San Diego up to San Bernadino and
nearly getting run over for "only" doing 75mph. I stayed in the
rightmost lane and was passed by everything.

On the other paw, driving in the Seattle area, I was nearly pulled
over by a cop when I was doing 58 mph in a 55 zone. He followed me
for about 3 miles, before pulling off and turning around to look for
other prey. In Tacoma/Seattle, anybody doing more than 60 mph stands
out like a sore thumb.

On Nov 2, 2007, at 1:25 AM, Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:

> I just drove that the other day in a fast car.
> I remembered powering up those hills in my 1.9TD vanagon ....which
> did ok.
> I will say, it's another world when hills are not even an issue.
>
> And I'm thinking of maybe getting a diesel vanagon going here for a
> veggy
> oil system, but only for in town.  Not for long distance, or high
> speeds or
> big hills.  Just for rattling around town at very low cost.
>
> In California, the whole Bay area to Tahoe, and all points
> south....typical
> driving is 3 or more lanes, all packed with cars, going 80, and
> even faster.
> 90 easily at times. Ideally you need a car that will go up any hill
> in the
> state at 85 mph, with AC on, if you want to be 'current' with the
> driving
> conditions there.    Lots of places like that actually......actual
> speeds on
> many interstates these days are a solid 80 and above, including
> uphill.
> Fun !
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> mike
> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 10:01 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: That recent post bashing Tiico..one on Yahoo subaru too.
>
> Depends on the Freeway and the hill, try it on I 80 up Donner Pass
>
>
> On 11/1/07 6:51 PM, "Mike" <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET> wrote:
>
>>   My stock,original, low miles, '87 Westy has 2.1 and an
>> automatic. It
>> doesn't perform as poorly as you say yours does.  I guess your
>> engine must
>> be very tired, and is obviously lacking power, if it can't even
>> maintain
> 45
>> mph up a long freeway hill.  It sounds like it's time for a
>> rebuild.......talk to Boston Bob for the real answers to your
>> problems.
>>
>> Mike B.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Scott Daniel - Shazam" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 9:15 PM
>> Subject: Re: That recent post bashing Tiico..one on Yahoo subaru too.
>>
>>
>> Stock waterboxers....yup, can be real reliable.
>> Seriously lacking in decent power in many situations however...
>> Like my 85 weekender with 2.1 wbxr engine and fuel system, and auto
>> trans....
>> The best it can do on some freeway hills is 45 and sometimes even
>> only
>> 40.....
>> And all the other ( too numerous in California ) cars are going
>> 70 or 80
> up
>> that same hill.  Like it's a safety issue even.
>>   You combine that with the joke head gasket system, and old tech
>> engine
>> management system, and fuel mileage that could be better......
>> and lots
> of
>> things are hard to work on too, on stock waterboxer engines, like
>> a water
>> pump job with the engine in the van - a pure knuckle ripper of a job.
>> Consider all that, and the search for a better engine becomes
>> obvious.
>> Scott
>> www.turbovans.com
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>> Behalf Of
>> Zeitgeist
>> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 5:14 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: That recent post bashing Tiico..one on Yahoo subaru too.
>>
>> My WBX is too damn reliable.  I feel cheated of my shot at vocal
>> malcontentedness.  My old '87 GL was too reliable, as well.  I
>> feel doubly
>> cheated.   My anger and remorse is palpable.
>>
>> Just thought I'd share my story of woe and misery with my factory
>> conversion...
>>
>> On 11/1/07, Rob <becida@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> That made your day didn't it?
>>>
>>> Rob
>>>