Reply to: Driving in Italy

[JohntheBike]

Ha, what fantastic little cars.

It is Peugeot Partners and Citroen Berlingos these days.
Had trouble keeping up with one on a country road in Laure Minervois a few weeks ago. I was in a frickin 540i

I had trouble keeping up with a deux chevaux in the early 70's when motoring in France. I had an S version of the BMC Land Crab, which wasn't any slouch, but I couldn't emulate the lean angle of the 2CV!

[clearedforlanding]

and Citroen deux chevaux in France!

Ha, what fantastic little cars.

It is Peugeot Partners and Citroen Berlingos these days.
Had trouble keeping up with one on a country road in Laure Minervois a few weeks ago. I was in a frickin 540i

[JohntheBike]

Bonus points for the nerds that recognise the reference

some are yellow!

[JohntheBike]

Depends what you are driving. Floor anything above 500bhp and you will be treated like you were driving in the Pope himself by the police. Drive in a Mondeo with Dutch plates and they might not be as charitable. Probably because you have a caravan on the back.

Special points if you wait for them to take selfies at the next fuel station. Just concede that whatever you are driving is not as good as a Ferrari (in my case a AMG GTS) and they will cheer you off with a smile.

That said, the fastest things on the road seem to be Fiat Unos.

and Citroen deux chevaux in France!

[JohntheBike]

Oh my eyes. The unending tedium.

well, I didn't raise the issue of rusting Lancia's.

[darmstadt]

Personally I have never had any problems driving in Italy...maybe I'm just as bad as them

[northernladuk]

Oh my eyes. The unending tedium.

[JohntheBike]

They indicate the distance, in kilometres, to the next known longest distance traveled by a Lancia before it rusted into oblivion.

Quick exit...

I had such an example. Bought new in 1978 and was in the scrap yard by 1984. When new, it was the same price as a BL Maxi, but was infinitely better. The paint finish was superb. Lancia were using base coat and lacquer when BL were still using straight metallic. The fit of the doors was superb and it was much quicker and had better road holding than a Maxi, even though it was a 1600, when the Maxi was an 1800. It's a pity that they used poor quality Russian steel to make them. The episode resulted in Lancia's sales collapsing at a time when they were greater than BMW's in the UK.

[Halo Jones]

Fastest thing is always a RED car .

Bonus points for the nerds that recognise the reference

[Old Greg]

You don't have a helicopter? What sort of contractor are you?

A fighter aircraft and a bowl of spag bol is the done thing in Italy.

[BrilloPad]

You don't have a driver? What kind of contractor are you?

You don't have a helicopter? What sort of contractor are you?

[WTFH]

Depends what you are driving. Floor anything above 500bhp and you will be treated like you were driving in the Pope himself by the police. Drive in a Mondeo with Dutch plates and they might not be as charitable. Probably because you have a caravan on the back.

Special points if you wait for them to take selfies at the next fuel station. Just concede that whatever you are driving is not as good as a Ferrari (in my case a AMG GTS) and they will cheer you off with a smile.

That said, the fastest things on the road seem to be Fiat Unos.

Fastest thing is always a rental car, but yes, the cops out there do like watching performance cars being driven well.

[DaveB]

Then one thing I learned from visiting Italy is that if you want to cross the road in Rome, wait for a Nun crossing the same road, then follow them.

[clearedforlanding]

Depends what you are driving. Floor anything above 500bhp and you will be treated like you were driving in the Pope himself by the police. Drive in a Mondeo with Dutch plates and they might not be as charitable. Probably because you have a caravan on the back.

Special points if you wait for them to take selfies at the next fuel station. Just concede that whatever you are driving is not as good as a Ferrari (in my case a AMG GTS) and they will cheer you off with a smile.

That said, the fastest things on the road seem to be Fiat Unos.

[WTFH]

one doesn't drive in italy, one aims, floors the throttle, and puts his faith in whatever deity suits.

deity? No, faith in the people who built the steering and brakes on the car, and hope it wasn't a Friday afternoon build.