Motorway speed limit (what do you set your cruise control to)?

bladespin · 03-10-2020 06:27PM

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Yep on a motorway like the M8 you can sit in the inside lane and not see another car (on either side) for 5/10 minutes sometimes it's that quiet in parts

The M7 however is a different story. On that one Most can't even do the 120 it seems so I just overtake the lot of them rather than weaving in and out, and pull in then if a clear stretch opens up.

Head a little further on the M7, once you get past Portlaois it quitens down a good bit, even more after the Cork exit on the M8, travel it at least a couple of times each week, only really gets busy near the cities.

okane1 · 03-10-2020 07:17PM

134km/hr CC set on motorway

Isambard · 03-10-2020 09:16PM

what's surprising is how few cars pass you when cruising at 120 and how many you pass. There's a lot of slow drivers out there.

punisher5112 · 03-10-2020 09:40PM

Isambard wrote: »

what's surprising is how few cars pass you when cruising at 120 and how many you pass. There's a lot of slow drivers out there.

They want to save the planet or there are many that just can't drive

Stoolbend · 03-10-2020 10:28PM

My dashcam shows my GPS speed all the time. I set my cruise control to or just above the limit based on that speed.

Never set it more than 10km/hr over the limit.

murphyebass · 04-10-2020 08:58AM

I miss cruise control

rabbitinlights · 04-10-2020 11:55AM

The more interesting question is what’s the lowest speed anyone has been done for on the motorway?

I set mine at 132kmph (129 gps) and seems to be low enough to slip past them.

newmember2 · 04-10-2020 03:30PM

punisher5112 wrote: »

They want to save the planet or there are many that just can't drive

Unless you're actually about 12 years of age...there's no relationship between speed and ability to drive.

French Toast · 04-10-2020 04:55PM

I'd tip along at 140ish most of the time, especially if the road is quiet.

Have cruise control but rarely use it.

Clareman · 04-10-2020 05:03PM

I used to do a lot of motorway driving, Ennis to Dublin a few times every month, the amount of people who would bomb past me only for me to pass them again at the toll booths. I usually set mine for 125kmph, mainly because according to my GPS that's less than the 120 limit and also my car turns off all the economy stuff at 130 so no point in going above that.

Another point, chances are any motorway you're doing in Ireland isn't going to be much more than 240km, that's 2 hours at the limit of 120, going at 130 will just save you 10 minutes, 140 will save you 18 minutes, if you think 10 minutes is worth the additional risks go for it just hope you don't impact anyone else.

kirving · 05-10-2020 09:44AM

Clareman wrote: »

at 130 will just save you 10 minutes, 140 will save you 18 minutes, if you think 10 minutes is worth the additional risks go for it just hope you don't impact anyone else.

I do Dublin to Galway return every week, sometimes twice.

The speed I set my cruise control to has a little bearing on the overall journey time, unless the road is dead quiet. That one minute you lose at a set of lights takes 12 minutes of driving at 130km/h (instead of 120) to recover.

And that's before you get to toll bridges, trucks in the right lane, slow drivers, bad weather, road works and city driving on both ends.

On a busy motorway, accelerating up to 140km/h to bully the next car out of your way gains exactly zero time and wastes fuel. And yes, it is bullying when the other car is already doing 130+ and overtaking other traffic.

cpoh1 wrote: »

Doing 140kph on a motorway is far from lunacy.

Theres 30mins difference in travel time between me going 110kph and 140kph to Dublin from Cork, thats an hour if you are doing a day trip.

Nothing wrong with going 110kph and nothing wrong with going 140kph either.

On an empty motorway, its perfectly safe. In close proximity with one another, it's a problem IMO. Now people will blame the 110km/h driver pulling out in front of them doing 140km/h, but that would not be an issue if they were doing 120 instead.

I just don't experience that time saving in practice to be honest, for the reasons above. I find it far more relaxing, and I'd actually take the extra journey time happily (probably 10-15 mins in reality) to set the car to keep up with traffic and have some clear air, than constantly be overtaking which is more stressful.

Henry Ford III · 05-10-2020 10:14AM

I set mind to 120kph or a little less. I find there's a huge difference in economy between sat 115 and 125kph.

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 05-10-2020 10:22AM

murphyebass wrote: »

I miss cruise control

I hear ya Katie ...

Water2626262 · 05-10-2020 09:35PM

120-130 assuming that 130 has me at the mid 120s. Would have done 140 in the past but seems way excessive now.

Biggest pain with cruise control is passing by someone in the driving lane who is asleep doing 100. For some reason they don’t like you ahead of them so they wake up and eventually overtake you. Fast forward 5 minutes and they are back asleep doing 100 and the whole process is repeated again. The whole time my speed is constant with the cruise control on. Normally have to turn off the cruise control off because usually they slow down in the overtaking lane before I get past them again.

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 07-10-2020 01:28PM

^^ alot of these c0ckwombles out there

Larbre34 · 07-10-2020 03:10PM

Although for reasons mentioned above cruise control is a waste of time in Ireland, if I were on a quiet motorway in the evening or night I'd set the CC to 135. Never caused me an issue before.

But economy is a huge thing. I took a spin to Galway for match with a Garda buddy in his A4 TDi 190 and with the Cruise Control set to 160 on the return leg the economy was 25mpg equivalent V 35mpg equivalent keeping the same speed or higher by manual control on the way down.

07-10-2020 03:28PM

Clareman wrote: »

I used to do a lot of motorway driving, Ennis to Dublin a few times every month, the amount of people who would bomb past me only for me to pass them again at the toll booths. I usually set mine for 125kmph, mainly because according to my GPS that's less than the 120 limit and also my car turns off all the economy stuff at 130 so no point in going above that.

Another point, chances are any motorway you're doing in Ireland isn't going to be much more than 240km, that's 2 hours at the limit of 120, going at 130 will just save you 10 minutes, 140 will save you 18 minutes, if you think 10 minutes is worth the additional risks go for it just hope you don't impact anyone else.

Indeed. It’s a very good point.
I have been known to stop in a lay-by for literally a 3 minute stretch. All the cars and lorries i passed on my way over the previous 1/2 hours doing less than 120kph all flow past me then. That has stopped me doing excessive speeds like 140kph for a long time now as I’m gaining very little and risking fines, points and worse.
I set to 126kph these days - still pass more people than pass me on my journey and I get to where I’m going in good time

Motorway speed limit (what do you set your cruise control to)?

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