105 may be better in a 72 Sedan DeVille. Never safe in an Expedition. I have gone through town in an Expedition and the suspension is perfect for taking corners there. On the highway, you may not be able to maintain control if you have to do even a little steering. Suspensions can’t do well in every situation.
Your judgement seems to be as good as mine, so be warned and be careful because your pilot light blows out sometimes.
Well, if I will get a Change Oil Soon message everytime I exceed 100, I won’t do it.
It was fun while it lasted.
“I don’t drive fast where I’ll need to slam on the brakes.”
You are very lucky, my friend.
You apparently live in an area of the US where there are no deer or other large animals to suddenly and unexpectedly dash in front of your vehicle.
You also apparently live in an area of the US where drivers do not suddenly move from the road shoulder to the travel lanes without signaling or looking to see if a vehicle is approaching at triple digit speeds.
You even live in an area of the US where thrown treads from truck tires never litter the road, thus necessitating sudden evasive maneuvers.
Well, if you have to make a sudden evasive maneuver because of animals, other vehicles, or road debris, at least your Expedition has a low center of gravity, thus allowing it to handle like a true sports car and not making it prone to rollover.
(Hopefully, you can perceive sarcasm regarding your top-heavy, poorly handling vehicle.)
Please enlighten all of us regarding which part of the US is without any unexpected hazards for someone driving at triple digit speeds in a vehicle that was not designed for high-speed driving.
There ain’t no such thing as luck.
I carefully look ahead.
If debris, I slow and avoid it. If I can’t tell, I slow.
(No, I would not see nails spilled onto the highway in time to avoid them.)
If catching up to other vehicles, I coast, ready for their maneuvers.
I am in lane one. Hopefully one coming from the right shoulder will see das blinkin’ lights and not cross lane 2 into lane 1.
When approaching vehicles, I turn on the headlight wigwig.
Always scan for animals. Lots of open fields. If I cannot see vacant field, I slow to be ready for such surprises.
For deer grazing on the shoulder I coasted way down to a lower speed.
Was surprised that the semi behind nearly caught up to me.
Robert:
I’m no doctor but I’ve had a variety of first aid training. A basic rule in all the courses is: “No matter how much an emergency it is, the scene better be safe for the first aid responders.”
I don’t care how desperate those folks are to get the blood you’re delivering to them. If you need to travel 105 mph on public roads, you’re endangering your life and the lives of those around you. That goes against every rule I’ve ever been taught.
The fact that your replies are trying to justify this endangerment is a bit mind boggling.
I did not/would not attain 110 mph around others on my side
nor coming in the opposite direction.
Most vehicles I passed at 15 mph over the speed limit.
I am surprised at how smoothly the Expedition traveled and the ease with which it attained such speed.
Nonetheless, I would not allow that ease to put me at ease.
Engine temperature never rose even slightly above normal.
Oil pressure always normal.
RPM never exceeded 3500 that I noticed. (What is RPM in sixth gear at 110 mph descending?)
Must I change the oil AND filter after only 2,000 miles?
I really doubt that the “Change Oil Soon” had anything to do with your speed. It just happened that it was about the time to change the oil. I bet you would have still got the message at the same time/mileage if you had only gone 70.
That said, if you want to go 100+, dump the expedition and get a crown vic.
You would be surprised at how many vehicles seem to travel at such speeds as smoothly as they do, just before w/o warning they are either asked to do things they aren’t capable of ( VDCdriver post) or physics violently takes over.
The loss of your cargo, is worse than the slight delay. You carry too much responsibility to continue bragging about your poor judgment while giving other emergency vehicle drivers as was I, a bad name. Emergency vehicles deserve unfettered pathways to their destinations, but have no right putting the public, themselves and cargo in excessive danger by traveling at unsafe vehicle speeds.
What is the safe Expedition speed on dry smooth level pavement?
I read a bunch of your past posts as you were prepping this vehicle for your blood runs. At the time it was all about handling and snow tires in snowy conditions. This Explorer is ok for winter runs at reasonable speeds in bad weather.
Frankly you are out of mind exceeding 100 mph in this vehicle for ANY reason. Sure the ride was smooth yadda yadda, but if this big, top heavy SUV gets just a bit out of sorts it will roll and fly off the road and take out you and folks in other cars as well if you happen to cross the median.
If you must drive at these speeds you need another vehicle, an AWD Audi Quattro would be much safer for you and have a better chance of getting the precious blood to the hospital rather than spreading more blood on the highway.
I think your judgment is a bit wacked when it comes to these blood runs. I get that you are really into this, but use your head before you kill yourself and some innocents as well.
All of your precautions would help at 60 mph, but even at that speed things can happen.
At over 100 mph, carefully looking ahead, being ready for maneuvers and scanning for animals isn’t going to work, you’re simply going too fast.
Gift better save some of the blood for himself…
But yes, there IS a speed governor…The top-heavy vehicle will become dangerously unstable at over 100 MPH. Also, its long, heavy, steel, driveshaft can deform and fail with catastrophic results…Crown Vic P71 models (police interceptors) have special precision balanced aluminum drive-shafts to deal with this problem, the speed governor STILL limits these specially equipped vehicles to 132 MPH… At anything over 80 MPH, your winter tire equipped expedition is a death trap, a “Blood Run” waiting to happen…
Robert,
Thank you for providing a much needed service. You are not just kind, but brave to drive the Explorer at speeds much higher than you ever should. A vehicle with good ground clearance, 4WD, and tremendous cargo capacity might be required as an emergency vehicle. But I suggest that you consider something more suited to high speed driving. Wagons like the Audi A6 Quattro, BMW 535i xDrive, or the Cadillac CTS Sportwagon might work. SUVs such as the BMW X-5, Mercedes Benz GLK 350 4Matic, or Porsche Cayenne (Base or S) would be safer at high speed than the Explorer.
Well I guess my fast driveing days are over. I live on I-5 and 5 m.p.h.is going to be waaaaay too boreing for trips more than 20 feet in length. Is there an I-165 anywhere? I would be willing to relocate to where my fastest car matches the I number.
CONGRATS TO YOU ROBERT ON THE JOB YOU DO!
I’m sure at the end of the day your job has left you with a satisfied feeling, whereas mine has just left me with dirty hands and wondering “why did I pick this as a career” kind of feeling.
so, you were doing a nominal 80~90mph during your rush(assuming a 65 to 75mph speed limit), when traffic allowed, but the downgrade sent you over 100, into the 110 range? Most people drive those speeds on the interstate to begin with, I’m surprised you were actually passing ANYONE.
No vehicle you can travel in justifies those speeds. As we’ve stated before, the police are happy to oblige in emergencies that would require it.
42 PSi? with the tire’s maximum pressure being 44 psi? Sounds like you’re tires are over inflated significantly? This is particularly dangerous at high speeds. What is the recommended pressure? The Expeditions I’ve driven (not 2008 models) recommended 29-32 psi.
Hey Bob, somewhere in The Department are a few nice, red “Chief’s Cars”. These usually are Crown Vics with the P71 package. Do yourself (and the rest of us) a favor and use one of those instead of the Expedition…
Hopefully you don’t move to the Santa Cruz mountains, where you travel along highways 1, 9, 17, and 35.
This thread seems to have taken a scatterbrained turn away from the question. Regarding the 105 mph limit, my old Cavalier did that at 106 mph; was accelerating fine until then. It’s the computer and for the tire’s limit.
Typo corrected, thanks VDC.