I’m curious how other P-car owners “enjoy” their daily drivers in metropolitan areas (excluding track). Twisties, back roads, exit ramps, deserted Autobahn-like highways, etc?
Between deer jumping out behind every tree & instant on radar and general overcrowding of the roads it’s getting harder & harder for a guy to have a little fun with his car every once in a while.

 

i totally understand what you're getting at:

having lived in socal for the last 8 yrs now, i'm home for the summer to be with my family in mill valley (marin county, norcal) and i can tell you -- i've totally forgotten what the driving conditions are like up here: in a word, miserable.

whereas in LA, for instance, i'd go for a drive down sunset or up pch every single weekend at least, always to find myself literally refreshed, relaxed, and totally destressed, up here i find myself MORE stressed during and after a drive: speed limits are BRUTALLY enforced around here; roads are small, cramped, and overcrowded; there's really only one road to get from Point A to Point B; and, in the words of a CHP officer to whom I spoke the other day at Starbucks, there's about 2 CHP officers per 5 miles of highway up here.

As an aside, I really do find the traffic more unmanagable up here: in LA you always have an infinite number of choices for driving from A --> B; up here, when the primary road is blocked up ... you really have no other (viable) options.

Long story short, I totally understand where you're coming from: LA and SD are really the only places where I still feel comfortable going for a spirited drive -- LA for wilshire, sunset, pch, sepulveda (north of wilshire); SD for it's massive sprawling 85 mph freeways. I just find it stressful to actually need to keep the speed around +/- 5 mph of the speed limit knowing that it WILL be enforced.

Ah, how I can't wait to get back to LA .......

 

I decided to park my 02 tt on the weekdays,and bought a ford explorer to drive to and from work. I do my spirited driving at nights and on the weekends. Pch is great for weekend driving. At nights i get on 405n to the 101n exit las virgines , to pch and back to the 405. It's great fun.

 

haha i do that too

 

You LA dudes make me sooooooooo homesick!!! I live in south Fl now and really miss my jaunts up PCH to Las Flores Canon road, up the canyon and over ridge to Tuna Canyon and back down to PCH, then back up Las Flores and up Rambla Pacifica over the other side to the Valley. I could spend the entire day up there. In fact, I had a house at the top of Las Flores for a while. That 9 miles up and down got tattooed in my brain. 2nd gear all the way and lots of smiles!!

But, my all time favorite was going out to Pasadena and up Angeles Crest Highway to Angeles Forest Highway, make a right and follow it back to Angeles Crest. Mid day, mid week, and there is no one else there. You can do pretty much whatever you want with little chance of reprisal. If there is an Angelino on this board that hasn’t done that rout, call in sick tomorrow, take everything out of your car, check the tire pressure, fill’er up, and have at it. You will come back a different person.……

Now all I have are on ramps at night….

 

wow... why have i never done that

 

You have to start Angeles Crest from the 210 and go all the way through to the 138. That's a ride!

 

alright you've got me convinced, I'm going to plan a drive.

 

you guys all make me sick!!

Driving in LA is like driving on a red carpet compared to Manhattan... You rarely pass 40mph here unless you want a serious dent to your rims... I'm so jealous when I hear "cruising" stories. I intentially go to work-out on the weekends 30 mins away just to get some decent road.

 

decent road- .................... lol

 

I thought this was another "happy ending" thread. Sorry, back on topic fellas.

 

Take pictures!!

 

I thought it was supposed to be "impossible to drive in LA"? I'm in Atlanta and they tell us that we have the 3rd (or 5th or something like that) worst traffic in the USA. We have a lot of traffic bottlenecks where avg speed is 30 mph for miles. And LA is ranked worse than us.

 

Jon,

Go north from New York City up the Bronx River to the Sprain Brook to the Taconic Parkway. About 30 mins from the city, it gets curvy and fast. Usually, the cops are light and there's not a lot of spaces for them to hide, though there are a few. But the pavement is very smooth and it's gorgeous out there. I loath to even type the speeds I have attained out there.

 

I only live 5 minutes from work. It sucks some days because I have no time to unwind before getting home to my screaming kids.