Full Throttle 2 – Day 3
April 27, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
140km/h, 150km/h, 160km/h, 170km/h… our poor little Ford Focus station wagon was about to explode on the autobahn.
We’ve arrived in Germany and have officially begun our Full Throttle 2 trip. Somehow we’ve managed to fit all our luggage plus all five of us in a poor little Ford Focus stationwagon.
Meanwhile Jan had spent the 24 hours of flying time gloating about his fluent German. “Hey Jan, can you ask where we pick up the hire car from?” – “Aw… I can understand German but I can’t speak…” – so our fluent German speaker is about as useful as Anthony and his Italian.
Frankfurt International Airport is gigantic, however the CBD was pretty much shut Sunday morning. Perfect conditions for some high speed driving.
There is nothing more infuriating though than being passed by a Volvo at 150km/h. Our poor naturally aspirated Focus simply couldn’t manage.
The Full Throttle team was thinking of bringing a few members from the RTA, Queensland Transport, VicRoads and Main Roads WA for a trip on the autobahn. If a 70 year old man in a Volvo can do 160km/h safely, surely the majority of us can do the same!
Most of today was spent filming scenery scenes around Frankfurt and Friedberg. Currently we are all sitting around in a hotel room trying to work out which of the cars we’re driving is the most interesting.
I’ve determined the Veritas RS III is the car for me, George is keen on the Lambos, Anthony and Karl are dying for the secret supercar we’re driving (but can’t tell you) and Jan is hell-bent on the Novitec Ferrari. Of course all of us have agreed that the Koenigsegg CCX-R is the people’s choice.
Tomorrow we are heading to Dulmen, where our first car, the Wiesmann GT MF5, is located.
Powered by the BMW M5 engine, the German supercar has a top speed of 310km/h and can go from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds.
From there we are driving the ABT Tuned Audi R8 and RS6. Then we’re picking up our BMW M5 (many thanks to BMW Australia) and heading to Techart to drive the world’s most expensive 911 Porsche.
More updates from Germany tomorrow night!
Print it: 
That Focus looks a lot more practical than the i30 wagon. Looks better too.
I’d take an i30 any day.
THose are sort of possible vehicles we may get when productionstarts down under.
I dont understand why we cant have Auto Bahns in AU, and then most people have a big V6 or 8 and they can only go 110km/h. Come on Rudd Government we want some Auto Bahns!
So, let me get this straight… 5 car guys with all their gear to haul and you chose a N/A petrol Focus instead of a turbo diesel??? The extra 150NM of torque looks like it would have come in handy. Horses for courses people!
Brisvegas, we actually booked a Diesel but unfortunately got the Petrol. Don’t worry, we’ve got an M5 as our main German car :)
Biggles, why? The Focus is bigger, safer, better quality, a much better drive and just as if not more reliable. Looks are subjective but as a small wagon the Focus makes way more sense. Apart from the fact that you can’t get it in Australia of course.
Can’t wait to see what you guys think of the M5. I love it. I haven’t driven that Wiesmann but I have driven a different one and it was wonderful.
Once you are used to driving on European roads you won’t be infuriated by being overtaken by a Volvo. Did you notice that everyone keeps to the near side and move over for fast cars behind them, unlike Australian drivers who hog the middle and offside lanes and won’t move over for faster traffic?
Couldn’t have said it better MisterTwo. Oh, nd if they do notice you behind them they speed up until they are side by side with a car in left, or, they move over then speed up as you try to pass them. Oh….let’s not forget the drag race to the get to the single lane from 2 lanes AND then they slow down to s snails pace. I feel that Australian drivers should travel to Europe more often and learn how to drive. Most wouldn’t last 5 minutes on the roads and autobahns in Europe.
Good old Europe, I think that AU can learn alot from us (being a european living in AU).
And Biggls you are crazy to say you would buy the i30 insted of the Ford, the Ford is definatly the better car. I dont understand why Ford Australia doesnt import it (and VW the Jetta Estate) they would both make a great second car.
Can say I never raelly enjoyed driviing in Australia when I was there. Chugging around at 100k’s was just so boring and tedious in comparison to the UK. Many an hour was spent on the Monash Freeway just fighting to stay safe with tale-gaters up your chuff and semis belting down lane 3 all whilst you had to keep a keen eye out for cops in case you went 3k’s over the limit. Love European driving.
I’m not surprised the Focus was struggling with all that equipment at those speeds. In Europe petrol Focuses (also Astras) tend to be powered by 1.6 litre engines (in some cases 1.4) that are not available here.
Hey Tony have you read Tim McKinnon’s column in Top Gear Magazine. He has a real rant about Australian driving compared to Europe. He compares Australian drivers to 5 year olds playing soccer.
alborz – i shouldn’t have doubted you. my bad. ;-)
fwiw, I wish Ford Oz would bring the Focus wagon out here. They’d sell a heap as small family cars and also company/sales vehicles.
Wow, what a bunch of genuine Australian bullshit !
Almost everybody, perhaps with the exception of an 80 year ol’ granny, could
speak English to you. Ooops, sorry, that’s the basic error – they wouldnt
understand your Aussie slang… ;-)
A Ford Focus can easily go faster that 150 k’s , seems you Kangoo drivers are the ones who can’t :-)
Once i had an Aussie colleague, Rod, who worked here for two years. He bought a used car, drove on the Autobahn ( his sheila took a video of it ) and then he said “now we’re speedin’ ” . On the video one could see that they were passed by other cars left and right at lightspeed… :-)
Yeah – u Aussies alike the Yanks should stop dreaming of unlimited speed on
the German Austobahn. These times are definitely over. May be there are a few
k’s left without limit here and there, but most people dont drive faster than 120 k’s
anyway, to save fuel…..