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
I drove an A4 (4th gen) VW Golf TDI automatic around for the better part of a year with what I suspected was a defective mass airflow sensor (which is exactly what it turned out to be). With the bad MAF (a super-common fault point on those pre-dieselgate 1.9 liter TDIs) the car only had about a third of it’s modest 90 horsepower. No idea what the 0-60 time was like that, but it was surely in the 20-30 second range. I still drove the car but (of course) avoided places where it would be necessary to accelerate quickly, though I did still use the freeway when traffic was light since the car would still do freeway speeds (eventually). Mostly, I just drove on local streets. It was annoying, but I was always careful not to suddenly pull out in front of other drivers, etc… so I never had any close calls (my hood did pop open while I was driving once, but that’s unrelated thanks to a crappy replacement hood latch).
That’s an extreme case of course. These days, I daily a naturally aspirated Volvo 240 wagon (with a manual) and though it’s pathetically slow by modern standards, it seems completely fine/usuable around town and merging onto the occassional freeway jaunt. Again, I don’t know it’s 0-60 time, but I presume it’s somewhere in the mid to upper teens. It’s comfortable, carries a ton of cargo, and feels safe/solid (for it’s age)… I like it. 🙂
I honestly don’t know why people think that they need sub-8-second 0-60 acceleration unless you’re racing/autocrossing. And even the pudgiest, porkiest, most underpowered new cars seem to achieve that… many regular/’family’ crossovers do 0-60 in the sixes, and ‘sporty’ cars mostly seem to be in the four-to-six second range. Super/hyper/faster EVs? The 1.X to 2.X second range.
It’s crazy.
In the UK all the trucks are limited to 56mph. So if you can get to 56mph you can just sit in the left lane behind a truck, bothering no one.
Anyone travelling below 56mph is going to cause utter carnage as trucks bunch up to pass them.
Is that true? I lived there for a couple years and could swear that I regularly saw trucks going much faster than that (traffic permitting). You mean that it’s a mandated speed limit, but there’s not actually any sort of electronic limiter that physically keeps trucks from going as fast at they can manage, right?
Yes there is a limiter by law, but some people tamper with them…
Ah, I had no idea. Thanks both of you for educating me. 🙂
Also non-EU trucks can go as fast as they dare.
Vans aren’t limited, but are only allowed up to 50mph on A roads (including dual carriageways), and 60mph on motorways.
Came here to say this.
IIRC the *minimum* speed on the morptorway is 30mph
Some trucking companies, like Swift in the US limit Big rig top speed, which in theory seems like a decent idea until you get behind one on a hill. then you get to cursing the truck barely able to get to 40 on the upslope and sometimes not getting back up to the governed speed before the next hill.
I don’t mind driving behind a truck, maybe of which are set to ~63 mph. Keeps the tailgaters away!
I’d stop at something like an early ’70s Mercedes 220D. Maybe 60hp and 30 seconds 0-60, but it will cruise at 65 until you have to refuel it, and it will do it in style and comfort.
I’ve driven a Model T and it’s a barrel of fun, but the functional top cruising speed of that car is about 35mph and you really have to plan ahead for stops.
The ’72 220D I used to own was the first thing that popped in my head. Didn’t mind driving it at 65mph even though it took forever to get there and sounded like a small Cessna at that speed, but it did seem happier around 60 on the two-lane blacktops. Great car though – built like a tank yet relatively pleasant to drive.
I had a 1970 220D that I daily drove for a few years and while it was slow it did not feel as slow as that stats suggest. It was perfectly fine on the highway. Much better than say the Triumph Spitfire or Mazda 808 I had earlier.
I drove a newish Yugo on the DC Beltway when I was 17, so I guess that.
Brat w broken carb. Uphill wot wasn’t good enough for the speedlimit. Mmm drafting off a truck to do 55mph. 75mph interstate btw.
My 1999 f250 Super Duty with the 5.4 and 3.73 final drive.
Probably my truck hauling 10k lb or so (extrapolated from how it feels hauling 6000 lb).
Terminal speed is not a problem, it’s the acceleration on on-ramps or to pass semis.
Last week I drove my 1972 Velorex 435 from Seattle to Tacoma on I-5 in order to take part in the Cascades of Failure Lemons Rally. It’s got a top speed of about 50 mph and its acceleration is, well, let’s go with “modest.”
Regrettably its combination starter/generator stopped working when I got there. I was prepared to resign myself to push-starting it but I couldn’t really get around the problem of no battery charging during an estimated 1500-mile rally so I switched to my 1967 SAAB 96. Still, I was willing had the Velorex been willing.
I applaud your bravery!! And may be inspired. I have a Citroen 2CV that will comfortably hold 50mph, but sounds like it may explode at 55mph, and slows noticeably on any incline.
I commute with it on secondary roads in Seattle, and regularly drive it on 99 up to Mukilteo. I had planned to drive it from Seattle to Tacoma to a friends party in mid-September, but a recent drive across the 90 bridge had me terrified and second guessing that plan. But if you made it in a Verolex 435….
One of my colleagues has a 2CV; I’ve parked the 435 next to it on occasion:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54458701166_a3c57a8f3d_c.jpg
For me top speed isn’t nearly as important as brakes and handling. I’ve taken cars that are absolutely wrung out at 60mph on the freeway before and like you I’ll only do that for 2-3 exits. But far and away the most terrifying experience I’ve had on a freeway was my dad’s old 50s Willys Wagon. It had a V8 and could get up to freeway speeds but the steering wheel was more of a delayed suggestion device and the brakes weren’t overly concerned with actually reducing any speed. Honestly anything over 35mph in that deathtrap was a white-knuckle affair.
For me, it’s probably the Smart CDI that was sold in Canada in the 2000s.
40.5 horsepower. An automated manual that shifted much more slowly than I can shift for myself. 0-60 time of around 20 seconds. Similar performance to the later Type 1 Beetles.
I test drove one and actually took it on the highway.
In terms of acceleration, I’d say it was no worse than when towing a 3000lb camping trailer with my dad’s old 1982 Mercury Grand Marquis with the ‘no output’ 302 Windsor V8 that made 133hp in that year.
So essentially you have to look down the road and get on the throttle early so you’ll be up to speed in time.
So that’s the slowest I’d want… nothing slower than a 40hp Smart CDi or a later Type 1 Beetle with the manual and 1600cc engine.
#notacar
I occasionally take the CRF 300 Rally on the interstate, it can maintain 70-72 mph and have a little bit of reserve power to take it up to 80-82 mph occasionally, for passing.
I pretty much only do that if there are no other options to get to my destination because it isn’t very enjoyable.
Wind buffeting from trucks and sudden jolts of crosswinds on a light bike are not fun at those speeds.
I also took an XT250 for a few exits, it would do about 67 maximum so I would not recommend that one for more than that.
The bike technically can do it but it’s tiresome.
TW200 and Supercub 125…an exit or two at most, they topped out at 60 mph and there’s no reserve power at all.
On EU highways I drove our Maruti 800 4-speed a couple of times, it’s doable but kinda sketchy.
The passing cars in the next lane at 90-100 mph feels like the wind is about to push you out of the lane or roll you over.
My fiat uno 1.3 diesel was a bit better, not much faster but heavier.
I drove the biggest box truck Penske rents through Thunderdome (aka Atlanta rush hour). The truck was governed to 65mph, but traffic was averaging 80+. All our worldly possessions were in that truck, but I wasn’t afraid. The truck was slow in every aspect, but I was pretty sure that I’d win in any collision, short of a semi.
I have to mention the big steam engine, I have no problem with driving it on most roads, other drivers have differing opinions.
I took my 1980 Spitfire (with no overdrive) on the interstate twice. Once before I realized the speedometer was off and I was actually going 10mph slower than I thought… that was terrible, terrifying and a very, very bad idea. My hands were literally numbed by the wooden steering wheel when I finally got where I was going.
The second time, I was trying to take it to a Cruise-In that required getting on the interstate long enough to go through the Hampton Roads Bridge tunnel. I had another car escort me, and I got on the closest exit to the tunnel, then took the closest exit after the tunnel. I stayed to the right and went as fast as the poor little thing would safely go, which was likely 55 – technically the speed limit, but people here do 90 like it’s nothing when traffic isn’t backed up.
I’m comfortable taking my old Subie GL as it can do 65, but personally, I don’t think you should be on the interstate if you can’t keep up. Going 45 on the interstates here is just as dangerous as going 100.
My Suzuki Every van (Kei van) can go, with the mods I’ve done, up to 70 mph but its so small I will not drive it on federal interstates. Anything over 55 mph speed limit I avoid. May take longer to get there but the ride and scenery is better too.
Any new car on sale today can get to 60 in “about” 10 seconds, which is plenty fast enough and not slow by any definition. I’ve pulled trailers that have effectively made my vehicle very slow, like 30 seconds to get to 60, and I don’t mind that at all. Horrible big city traffic makes a slow car problematic. I would say that 95% of new vehicles are over-powered. I’d have no problem driving a car that needs 20 seconds to get to 60. Gives you a chance to use wide open throttle on a regular basis!
I have zero issues towing on the highway, in the right-most lane, at 50-55mph. Where I am, the minimum speed on the Interstate is 45mph. So any car that can go 55 is fine, though realistically if it was something like an MG TD where that really is the max comfortable cruising speed, I would just not take it on the Interstate to start with. Not like there aren’t other ways to get places.
Having once driven buses (and diesel Peugeots) with a 0-60 time of “eventually”, I don’t find acceleration to be much of an issue. Put your foot in it and go for it. People actually won’t run into you. Usually.
I haven’t owned many slow vehicles. My first car was an ’86 Chevy Celebrity with the Iron Duke. 3K lbs and 90HP. I don’t recall it feeling that slow back 30 years ago, but today I wish my 155HP Mazda 3 had more power so driving the Celebrity would probably feel glacially slow.
Ironically I’ve raced several slow cars in Lemons: a Mini Moke, Austin America, MG Metro, and an ’86 Hyundai Excel. You learn to watch mirrors a lot.
Celebrity was 2700 pounds. That may as well be a Lotus Elise (Its Real Name) when compared to current equivalents.
My classic Mini will cruise freeway speeds just fine – it does take a bit to get there and on really long uphills it will drop a little below 70 unless I downshift back into 3rd.
The worst car I ever owned for highway use was a Mercedes 240D, 4 speed. This was in the days of the 55 speed limit, so you didn’t notice it much unless you tried to drive it in Colorado. Like the guy in the Geo – far right lane on the limiter in 2nd, put it in 3rd and it would slow down. Back to 2nd and it would slowly rev out till the limiter stopped it, into third and it would slowly back down again. Took forever to get up the Eisenhower tunnel approach.
The worst parts of driving the Mini long miles on the highway are no A/C or cruise control, and the road/wind noise gets really tiresome after a few hours.
Altitude must be really, really painful in those old diesels. My Peugeot 504Ds were certainly not fast down at sea level, but at least all 57hp was available. Take the 15% or so off for a mile or so above sea level and ouch. That is what turbochargers were invented for.
Absolutely! The old Mercedes 240D that I had before my car writing days would do 85 mph. It took forever to get there, but it got to that speed and held it. But my part of Illinois is about 700 feet above sea level. I cannot imagine trying to hustle that thing through mountains!
It must teach a great deal of patience.
Old German cars from the Beetle to the Benz – “top speed = cruising speed”.
My ’01 Jetta TDI compensated for altitude pretty well and 90 HP (before getting it chipped) to start at sea level. Post-chipping, it could do 0-60 in 10 or 11 seconds. Its problem was that it really needed a sixth gear. Going on roads with those 75 and 80 speed, uh recommendations, in TX meant higher revs than I really wanted to listen to. I saw over 100 mph once when I was just seeing what it could do on a wide open road and I think I read they were governed at 112 or maybe that’s the speed it hit the fuel cutoff in 5th.
My first new car was an ’02 Golf GLS TDI. I loved that car, never felt it needed any more power stock, but I’ve driven chipped ones and they are definitely fun! I rarely drove it faster than 80mph. A sixth gear would have been a nice addition, very much agreed.
Sadly, had to sell it when I got laid off after a couple years of happy ownership.
My 1275 Mini will do 80mph if you ask it to, but it would really prefer to be going 55. The in-cabin experience is much more comfortable and way less buzzy/engine droney at those speeds.
I want to add pop out rear windows to my car, because as you’ve said, the wind noise is no joke. I feel like I’m underwater after a few hours of constant buffeting. Usually though, it is my knee that bothers me most. The seating position is a little awkward if you are 6’+.
Yep, seat extenders help, but the travel is limited by hitting the companion bins…..I removed it on the driver’s side so I could slide the seat back further and straighten my leg on longer drives (4 hours or more) I’m fine for about 2- 2.5 hour drives.
My lifted Jeep TJ. It is built and geared for offroading, so it struggles to hit 70mph and takes a long time to get there.
Younger me had no problem driving my 72 FJ40 Land Cruiser in traffic on interstates. Lap belt and metal dashboard. No problem.
These days, I’m pretty wary driving that same rig on those same roads. Maybe it’s a combination of maturing me, along with modern cars that are more capable at speed than they ever used to be.
What I am willing to drive today is very different than what I have driven in the past. NO more 80s escort automatics, 70s jeeps, or thumper motorcycles. I think I would still be ok with a small 3-4cyl economy car (my 78 rabbit, 89 colt, or 91 Justy) with a manual transmission. I would measure what I would drive by: “Can it hit 70mph by the end of the highway on ramp?” if no then no if yes and it has and enclosed cab then yes.
The increased speed limits since my youth do rule out a lot of former dailies, yes. When the double nickel was the rule power/gearing mattered less.
I owned a 1990 Toyota Truck SR5 and while it could cruise at 70…it would struggle on hills here in Western WA which are essentially everywhere you drive.
That truck was too slow for modern roads.
Owned a Winnebago Class C based on the Promaster Cab/Chassis. The Pentastar V6 was adequate. The suspension wasn’t. On Texas two lane roads, 65 was my emotional limit. It was all over the road…
We recently picked up a Honda Beat and it tries it’s best, but in 5th gear doing about 55 going uphill, it feels like the poor thing is trying it’s best, but is screaming bloody murder about it. I haven’t even bothered to try the freeway, which made for a painfully slow drive across town a week ago. So I guess I draw the line at kei cars
In my experience, the only true way to drive a Honda Beat is to drive it like you stole it. Use all of the tachometer and it’s not as slow as it feels! Dang it, I need to buy another Beat, now.
I’m mostly driving it by ear for now as the speedo and tach are “occasionally” operational.