America’s highways and Interstates are often untamed and sometimes lawless. Spend enough time on any highway and you’ll find motorcycles splitting traffic at triple-digit speeds, road rage at 80 mph, street racing, and all sorts of other shenanigans. The highest speed limit in America is a highway in Texas with an 85 mph speed limit, while most other regions in America pick a number between 55 mph and 80 mph. These highways are unkind to the slowest cars that you can drive, yet some people are daring enough to try, anyway. What’s the slowest car that you’d be willing to drive on a highway?
This question sounds straightforward, but there are some factors to consider. In my travels across America, I’ve noticed that the highways around certain cities have pretty much two settings: Parking lot and Indy 500. For example, the highways around Los Angeles are frequently like a parking lot, where only motorcyclists are making good forward progress. This would be fine for even the slowest cars. During the worst periods of LA traffic, even a microcar is fast enough to scoot between exits.
However, I’ve noticed that, at least in SoCal and often in Chicago, once traffic dies down, sometimes it’s like you’ve stumbled into a racetrack, as everyone is punching it. I remember driving my 2016 Smart Fortwo home eastward from Los Angeles and getting passed by a straight truck. I looked down, and my speedometer said 83 mph. Yet, the straight truck was getting passed by people going even faster. This would be dangerous for a car incapable of going faster than the speed limit, if that.
“Slow” also has different meanings in this context. There are vehicles that accelerate very slowly but have decent cruising speeds, like semi-tractors, buses, and vintage cars. There are also vehicles that have low top speeds, like Ford Model Ts, some Japanese Kei cars, and Humvees. Highways also have minimum speeds, often numbers like 45 mph or 60 mph. However, going 45 mph on a highway with a 70 mph speed limit is asking for trouble unless you’re a semi hauling a titanic load.
With that in mind, I have more than one answer. If I’m doing a short run between exits in a city, I’d feel pretty comfortable taking my 1997 Honda Life. My Life has a realistic cruising speed of 60 mph, but I have gotten it above 70 mph before. The engine is absolutely screaming at that speed, so I wouldn’t do that for very long. In other words, if I needed to skip between two exits within Chicago, yeah, I’d feel okay doing it in my Kei.
If I have to drive any real distance, the slowest car I’d take is my Smart Fortwo diesel. This thing makes all of 40 HP and takes 20 seconds to get to 60 mph, but will drive at 80 mph all day if it has to. Some of my Canadian Smart friends have driven their diesels across Canada and the United States like that, and their cars had no problem keeping up with most traffic.
The vehicles I would not take out onto a highway are my pint-sized two-wheelers. My 2024 CFMoto Papio SS will top out at 62 mph on a very good day with a tailwind, but that’s absolutely beating on it. My 2005 Genuine Stella also once hit an indicated 70 mph (more like 65 mph actual), but that was downhill with a tailwind, and I was tucked in so hard that I barely saw the road ahead.
Here’s where I turn things over to you. What’s the slowest car you’d dare to take out onto an American expressway?
Top graphic images: Volkswagen; depositphotos.com
Although technically there’s no minimum speed limit on UK motorways, you do have to be driving something capable of at least 25mph on flat ground, which is pretty scary to contemplate. I think I’d be happy in anything over 55mph, which would cover pretty much any legal motor vehicle.
Although I’d make an exception for a tank, it might not be able to hit 55, but that’s not a problem for you, just for the people behind you.
I had a ’73 Saab that took 16+ seconds to hit 60 mph when it was new. This was a few years ago, and it was in rough shape, so I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if it took 20 seconds to hit 60, though I never timed it.
I drove that on the highway just fine.
I have a few. The OG Honda Insight was perhaps worst, as a long upgrade on I-15 in California not only emptied its battery, but the poor mouse motor wouldn’t take it past maybe 40 mph. 18-wheelers were stacking up behind me in the far-right lane. And this was a NEW car, not a beater. Scared the daylights out of me.
Then a Suzuki Samurai. Whatever goodness these li’l things bring to the table is instantly wiped out by freeway travel. Hard ride, no speed.
Conversely, my 1970 Honda 600 would howl along at 65 easily, and do 70 if I slipstreamed a big truck. Same for a Citroen 2CV.
I have owned many very slow cars, but most were when the speed limit was 55, with a few 65 sections. Most recently, I owned a ’76 Ford F250 Highboy, and that was about the limit for crossing a state or two. It would do 55 without much fuss, but 65 really had the engine at an RPM that was too high for comfort.
I had a 78 F-150, it had 35″ tires and a 3.5 rear end gear, so it kept the rpms down at highway speeds, plus it had a built 400 torque monster (4.0 stroke is longer than a 460s.) One of my proudest moments with it was driving up I-40 near Asheville, NC (Old Fort grade of 6% for 5 miles as it climbs the Eastern Continental Divide.) I was towing my other car on a trailer, passing people in cars struggling while going uphill at 65 mph.
Mine was 100% stock with gears selected for towing/hauling. It would be fine with a bed load of dirt or pulling a heavy trailer at 50mph, but anything over 60mph was ill-advised.
If it can cruise at the minimum speed limit of the highway, it will do.
But I’m the sort of dude that takes my “bicycle” onto state highways. Constantly looking at my mirrors and seeing approaching cars get closer can be butt-puckering at times.
Terrian plays a factor, a car that is suitable in the Midwest or coastal regions may have trouble keeping up in the Appalacians or heaven forbid the Rockies. My ’91 Sable struggled going through WV mountains with many downshifts. The ’96 V8 T-bird had the torque to just shrug it off, same with the ’94 SHO that replaced the Sable. Also SIZE. The wife’s ’07 Corolla will cruise all day at 70+, but it feels like riding in a tin can. It gets blown by crosswinds and TBH is buzzy at 75. My ’14 Camry is much more stable and planted, comfortable cruising at 90.
Two out of five of my current fleet can do highway but it’s far more enjoyable to take them on the back roads. The first is a 2021 Vespa GS which can do 65+ but it’s not the most confidence inspiring experience. The second is a bone stock 1983.5 (watercooled) Vanagon Westfalia. With a (rebuilt) 1.9 liter engine, aerodynamics like a brick house, and heavy weight it’s most happy at 55-60mph. If I need to take the highway I just accept that I’ll be the slowest to accelerate and that the right lane is my friend. My other Vanagon has a Subie in it which makes all the difference so this one might get one, too.
“This Kenworth”
–Every f*cking truck driver who thinks using momentum on the hills in the middle of a metro area is still ok and also please stop it with the jake brakes
My 1984 Chevy C20 – Sure, the powertrain has been updated with a Gen V L83 V8, and all the suspension components are new and freshly aligned, but with the factory TH400 it pulls 3250rpm and 70, and that’s as fast you need to go in this thing.
There is something unnervingly sketchy about this rig at Interstate speeds – maybe it’s the well worn one-finger GM power steering which will change lanes on you if you aren’t paying attention or the 3/4 ton springs that buck and upset the truck over every pothole, but yeah despite making 325whp – I refuse to drive it over 70mph.
I find my Camry is less taxing on long drives than my Acura MDX. The Acura wanders more (and has less comforable seats). It feels wider than it is.
Expressway in North America? I’m more worried about merging safely than anything. Once you’re at speed, the power required to keep up your speed is much less.
Merging onto a busy freeway with short acceleration lanes might require every horsepower you’ve got. For a small car that’s about 70-80 horsepower as a minimum under those conditions. I do not want the remains of my compact car flossed out of the grille of a tractor-trailer.
If you live somewhere where it’s a rural Interstate? You can probably do with a lot less power. If I can use every foot of acceleration lane and not impede traffic or cause a hazard, I’m fine with that.
The least powerful vehicles I’ve owned had about 100hp. One was a 5-speed manual, the other a 4-speed automatic. They did the job fine, you just had to put your right hoof into it sometimes.
You should see some of the crazy ramps that are out in California, where the acceleration lanes can be as short as a couple of car lengths or so. Yes, it was just as chaotic as you’d expect.
Sounds like the Pasadena freeway! One of the quirks of LA that I learned about, going to college in Pasadena. One of the oldest “freeways” that still exists. Short, right angle on and off ramps, other fun quirks which probably weren’t as big a deal in 1940.
US Hwy 36 between Boulder and Denver has (used to have?) some of these as well. Residential streets that end in freeway on/off ramps that are one step removed from ‘T’ intersections.
I learned to drive in a beetle and currently rock a Mirage. It gets dicey out there. Especially on my way home from work, where the on-ramp enters the left lane of the freeway. I think the Mirage may be a tiny bit faster, especially if I turn off the AC. That’s about as slow as I’m willing to take on a freeway these days.
I used to own a 1993 Geo Metro. In Colorado. Driving up I-70, I’d stick to the truck lanes as much as possible. In some areas I’d be shifting between 2nd and 3rd gears just to keep it moving forward at 30ish MPH. On flat highways it topped out around 80 if there was a stiff tailwind. In those days, I was willing to drive it, but i was not comfortable. I guess I would want something faster than that these days, given that the speed limits have increased.
Mercedes, that lede image is identical to my Super Beetle, right down to the color! It has about 50hp, 0-60 in about 18 seconds and a top speed of 85. I’ll drive it on the highways if I have to, but people around here get aggressive if you drive the speed limit or under it. It wasn’t as bad before the pandemic, I used to drive it all over the city even in rush hour traffic.
The front end is pretty worn out and the car is rusty, once I take care of those things I’ll feel better about driving it at highway speeds. For now, I just use it around town.
Look at my profile picture, same car! I try to stay behind (but not that close) big trucks since they will do 65mph on the far right lane.
What year is yours? Mine is a ’72. I have found myself doing the same thing, following semis. For some reason it seems happiest at 62mph, something I’ve heard from other owners as well.
Anything with a 3-speed transmission and an axle ratio above 3.70.
My 92 Wrangler and my (now sold) TW200 were both too slow for me to feel comfortable on an interstate, 55-60 mph roads were fine, but I don’t like driving either on faster roads. Those aside anything that can comfortably cruise at 80 or so is fine.
I had a ’73 corolla in high school. It maxed out at 73mph in 4th. I’ll never drive anything slower than that.
I’ve only owned two vehicles I wasn’t really interested in driving in the Interstate:
My 88 Suzuki Samurai just didn’t have the grunt to keep up with traffic, it barely made it to 55 on a good day.
I also had an early 80s GM Truck of some sort or another, it was given to me by my father who had bought it in a three cars for $500 deal and it showed. The steering box was jacked, so it didn’t turn left well, you had to crank it over three or four turns, and then getting it back to center was just as bad, going right was fine. That was scary at 45, never really wanted to see what it was like at 70.
If it can do the speed limit on all sections of the highway (when not towing anything) then I’m fine driving it on the highway.
I’m more concerned about size than speed. (That’s what she said.)
I had two MR2’s ’87 & ’88, and a ’90 Miata. Very small by today’s standards and definitely lower than 85% of the traffic around me. I didn’t like them on the highway.
This. My sunny day car is a ’69 Lotus Elan and a drive on the interstate is spent looking up at the lug nuts on 18-wheelers. Avoided where possible. obviously.
Maybe we need an article on ‘What’s the most vulnerable car you’re wiling to drive…’ The Velorex and 2CVs mentioned below would be the early leaders.
I really can’t put up with slow cars. I’ve driven a Hyundai Excel that couldn’t go past 60mph but it wasn’t mine. I did own a 1984 Mazda B2000 that would drop to about 55mph on the uphills to and from work, but I did some tweaking to the engine to get it to hold a steady 70. Strong headwinds would also drop it down to the double nickel.
Everything else I have owned has been capable of going into the triple digit speeds.
Of course a thing in the back of my head has been rattling around for decades: Back when Mt St Helens popped one family bmade it out alive by driving at about 120 in their family sedan. They passed a slower car on the road, who didn’t make it out. So I have been tainted into thinking any car I own has to be able to outrun a volcanic eruption.
My former 1990 Miata was marginal in the mountainous area I live in. That’s probably my minimum. If I lived somewhere in the mid-west or plains states with far less elevation, I could probably lose 30hp and be ok.
I feel like the size of the vehicle matters more than the power, my Ranger electric is limited to 75 but substantial enough that I don’t sweat taking it on the highway compared to my motorcycle, which rides at 80mph fine but gets tedious after a while of riding with the wind and noise and drivers not paying attention and big trucks buffeting me around, back roads are much more chill.
Since I tend to drive 5-10 under in the right lane pretty much any car will do.
Having owned a ’79 VW Westfalia for more than 20 years, that’s the easy answer for me. A box on wheels motivated by maybe 70 horsepower (on a good day) from the two-liter aircooled motor. And as an Oklahoma resident, where many of the turnpike speed limits are set at 80mph, I’m well-versed in the travails of piloting a vehicle that is most comfortable between 65-70mph. I keep it planted firmly in the right lane unless absolutely necessary, and keep on truckin’. It’s served me well on roads all over the country at this point!
I was going to say my dad’s old ’74 VW bus, which is the slowest vehicle I’ve ever driven on the highway / freeway. Growing up in the mountains, getting anywhere in the bus was an exercise in energy management: use downhills to gain momentum, preserve it in the flats, and hope to carry enough speed up the next hill to remain somewhere around the speed limit at the top. Freeways? Get used to the right-hand lane.
Unless there’s a headwind or strong crosswind. With the aerodynamics of both a sail and a brick at the same time, wind is not generally the bus’ friend.
In comparison I feel relatively bourgeoise with my VW T3 Westfalias wasserboxer 100 horsepower with the decadent 5speed transmission on my bus and the fact that my state has a strict 70mph (110km/h) limit I am just about able to stay out of my own shadow.
Driving my friend’s 80s era Westy over the pass near Truckee was comical. The actual weight of that thing was closer to 5k lbs and we were topping out at 40mph in second gear. Many angry honks were received.
My 1978 Mercedes 300CD was about the limit for me. Operating that in the Houston Metro was not the best. This was before these got a turbo, so they were about on par with your diesel Smart.