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
My 91 Subaru Sambar will do highway speeds…eventuality. It need all the on-ramp it can get. Helps to draft behind a big pick-up. I try to keep it on streets under 45 mph.
My shitpile Mercury was misbehaving all the time, and sometimes that meant it would barely reach 40mph. This was in LA with no realistic alternative to the freeway. It was no fun, and CHP pulled me off the freeway (rightfully) if I couldn’t reach freeway speeds.
So I’d guess my limit is probably around 50.
More important to me is how quickly I get to that speed. Merging and passing are dangerous maneuvers, and I don’t feel safe unless I have good torque to let me punch it and get results. I love old Mercedes (not this article author–this one is great at any age) but I’d never own a 240D because of the 0-60 in two days thing.
My first car, an 86 cutlass ciera coupe, was the absolute MINIMUM id wanna go on the freeway with. This was an (at the time) 30 year old iron duke with a 3 speed without OD, and there were 6 of us. Just me in the car and it took about 17.5 seconds to 60, with all 6 of us i was flooring it and i saw 58 after a few minutes, really fun considering it had a REALLY BAD exhaust leak where the manifold bolted to the pipe, so it was basically open headers lmao
Top speed of my Rebel is apparently 129km/h. I don’t know exactly how fast I actually go on the highway (at that point, the speedo needle is flailing around like Kermit’s arms), but I was keeping pace with 110ish traffic perfectly fine. That seems like my bare minimum.
I’d be fine with anything with a cruising speed of 100km/h
Any year Beetle powered by a “stock” 1584cc dual port. But I’d be spending a lot of time in the slow lane with the trucks.
If I were taking a road trip of any distance, my inline 250CID powered first generation Maverick would be my slow vehicle of choice.
Honda 90 Trail bike from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. Absolute top speed was 60 when I tucked down on a flat stretch. I followed the CalTrans map of the route for bicycles to get over the pass alongside and sometimes on I80. In those areas it is legal to ride on the shoulder. During one stretch of of I80 I passed a small stakebed truck with a load of firewood or something like that. I passed them on the shoulder. About then a CHP spotted me and pulled me over for riding an underpowered motorocycle on the freeway. I explained the bike route and asked them to check the next intersection to see if there was a sign prohibiting me from being there. I saw the cruiser stop at the intersection, ponder a bit, and then burn rubber getting back to the highway.
I made multiple Seattle area to Sacramento area (700+ miles) trips in my ’64 VW Sunroof Deluxe bus on I5. Absolute top speed was 54 MPH. Yeah it was long days (one day trip).
After the transmission locked in second in my ’71 Fiat 128, I drove from Davis CA to Saramento CA which was about 15 miles. Top speed was 25 MPH. Now that was a scary drive. I pulled off onto the sholder a couple of times to avoid getting squished by a big rig. Several miles on that section of highway was a causeway with no sholder, just railing.
Two weeks ago my girlfriend and I drove 700+ miles up to Trinidad, California and back to the SF Bay Area. We did this in our 1972 Mercedes 306D bus. This bus looks similar to a VW bus but is larger and has a front wheel drive diesel engine layout. 80 HP OM616 out of a 240D. It can go 65 MPH. It is much happier going 53 MPH…and going up hills is glacially slow. It was fun. The six hour drive each way took about nine hours. Good times.
The dumb kid in the back of the class has a question. What’s a “straight truck?”
I believe a straight truck is one piece rather than a tractor and trailer, like a box truck, stakebed, or cement truck.
Thanks. I’ve never heard the term in my life.
“Mmhhehh shut up, Butt-Head.”
Changli
I think context is important and size and location makes a big difference. I’m on the edge of the developed area where I live (for now, it’s growing). So if I get on the highway at the closest point to my home, I’m in a 75 mph zone for 5 miles in one direction and for a couple hundred miles in the other. So say my folks old FJ-40 that topped out about 65, that’s fine, it’s a good size, visible. But say a kei truck topping out at 50 is a no go out here. But there were some urban freeways that I’d be OK with it on.
Citroën 2CV and aircooled VW busses. Done all, went just fine.
My minima for SoCal freeway use are a maximum speed of 100 mph, a cruise speed of 90 mph, and 0-60 mph in 7 seconds.
Onramps are short, uphill merges are frequent, and I am typically in one of the smaller, more vulnerable cars on the road.
This is correct.
The fastest American sedan you could buy in 1985 did 0-60 in 8.7 seconds. How things have improved.
https://youtu.be/fmNo554rtt8?si=haX5PaOvds0MPTxq&t=179
This. From a former SoCal driver.
I drove my ’79 El Camino 1,250+ miles round trip last month from Northern Wisconsin to Nappanee, IN and back. I did not like trying to push 80 mph with it in 95º+ temperatures, but it handled it okay for a 46-year-old coupe-utility with a 36-year-old drivetrain.
I would not attempt to drive the wife’s ’77 MGB on a freeway as it seems to be happiest under 55 mph at around 3000 rpm or less. If we take it to Sussex, WI next June it’s going to be all on 2-lane highways. Google Maps shows it’s a 4-1/4 hour trip instead of a 3-1/4 hour trip if we avoid the highways.
My first car was a ’71 VW Bus. So I don’t have a problem driving a slow car on the freeway. After that I had a ’63 VW bug with the 40hp engine, and that car felt downright fast compared to the Bus!
I had a 85 CJ7 with a 4.0. It was lifted on 33s and had 4.56 gears. At 55 mph it was screaming at 4000rpm or something crazy like that. I figured it would be ok since the highway sprints would be short. Driving home after buying it, I got to a bridge that had what was effectively a small ramp to transition from the road to bridge and the stiff suspension nearly threw me out of my seat. My collarbone was awfully sore, but I sure was glad I had seatbelt on. I only took it on a highway if necessary to get to a trail.
Of all the vehicles I have daily driven over the years, there are two that I definitely would not drive on the highway, even though I did so when I was young and stupid.
My 1960 Cushman Eagle scooter made a rip-roaring 8 horsepower. Later, I had a 1969 King Midget with a lofty 12 HP. These vehicles were too slow for highway use, IIRC, each had a top speed of 55 MPH (on a good day) and a 0-60 time of “never.”
Compared to them, my 36 HP Beetle (1960) and 43 HP Bugeye Sprite (also 1960) were highway capable road rockets.