Most friendly continental US state for M3?

[MTROIS]

Ok, another day of daily commute with the M in NJ... so boring!! Traffic, pot holes, trucks shooting stones, fear of cops, drivers sitting in the left lane, etc...

So, instead of (just) ranting, I started to ask myself: what would be the most friendly state for my M3?

I would imagine that it would include open roads, some twisties, less traffic, 'friendly' cops, sunshine, not too many wildlife (to avoid unwanted meets with front bumper), few birds (to protect clearcoat), great tracks available, no front plate needed, etc etc etc...

As I said, I am looking for a US state so Germany and its Autobahn system does NOT count.

Ideas out there??

[Kev]

Idaho, Wyoming, North and South Dakota all have 75mph Interstate speed limit. WY and northern ID have plenty of twisties

[TwoSaints]

Texas!

well, Not really. We have a lot of left lane Nancy's over here. They absolutely have no clue what each lane is for and almost NEVER move over if you're coming up on their rear. Ugh, I get so frustrated driving in my part of Texas. No fun cars on the road and it seems as if most people are clueless on how to drive. I'm pretty sure there are other parts of Texas where it could be a lot of fun to drive around.

I would say North Carolina is one of the best because of the Tail of the Dragon.

Edit: When I lived in Michigan, I had a blast driving around most of the time. Some twisties, cops were something to worry about once crossing over the Michigan/Indiana border, but no front plates and no emission tests. I loved where I lived for the most part too. St. Joseph - right next to the lake. For most of the year it was a great place to be, but the winters beat up your car and your spirit, lol! I left because I couldn't stand the winters anymore.

[Radiation Joe]

California:
Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Thunderhill, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs , etc. Every climate you can imagine. Mountains, lakes, ocean. Urban, suburban, rural, etc. About 900 miles from one end to the other. In the winter you can still go to the tracks, or you can ski, or you can play golf.

OMFG!!!!! Why did I leave? Oh, yeah. The government sucks, because people get the government they deserve. Taxes are still lower than Jersey, though not for long. All you guys in Jersey got is cheap gas and guidos.

[Poppin Fresh]

California. Up and down the highway going to Santa Cruz/Norcal. I would love to go back there!

[Mookster]

WA - Ton of FUN twisties here

[FStop7]

In terms of great driving roads probably California, Washington, or Oregon.

[ersin]

I don't know which state is the most M friendly, but it sounds like NJ is the least. Yuck.

There are some pretty good roads near my house in Maryland. As long as you get away from the big city traffic you're ok. You've got the Chesapeake Bay on the east, and mountains in the west. Either side has good restaurants, pretty scenery and nice twisties. Unfortunately, there's a lot of pissy cops. There are plenty of cool cops, but all it takes is one bad one to ruin your day and the chances are good that if you're driving fast they'll find you. But, keep an eye out and you should be fine. They don't pull too many hiding stunts in most of Maryland.

The Blue Ridge parkway (through South and North Carolina and Virginia) is probably the best road I've driven. A recurring dream I have is taking delivery of a new M3 at the PCD in Greenville and driving home through the mountains including the Blue Ridge parkway. I don't know about the Carolinas, but Virginia does not have friendly cops.

[MrHarris]

California would be near the bottom on the list.

[NewM3driver]

Arizona and New Mexico have some big wide open places to open it up a bit. You may hit a few rattle snakes but they don't do much harm. Watch out for the havalina though. The ride from Prescott AZ to Las Vegas NV across the Hoover dam is a good one. Phoenix to San Diego through the mohave desert is pretty awesome too.

I was just thinking the other day in CT that I can't stand not being able to "drive" my car. The more time I spend behind the wheel the more I love the car though. It really is an awesome ride.

[dizman7]

IOWA!



Ok, to an extent anyway. At least for daily commute Des Moines isn't too bad (winter aside). In the morning and evening there's about a 30min window that it's "rush hour" but traffic doesn't get below 50mph usually.

When I get on the interstate I almost always set the cruise for 80-85mph (limit is 55mph in town but no one does that). Plus some nice swooping curves on it too. A lot of the back roads have twisties to them, and starting to put in more and more traffic circles too! Found a larger one in a new development that I find myself going around for no reason every week or so. Can take it about 45mph before the tires start making noise.

A big plus I've noticed is that I've lived here 4yrs so far and I've only seen cops on the interstate less than 10 times. Especially since they re-did it all a few yrs back, now there is a 3ft thick concrete wall between the two sides, so they have no room to turn and come back after you. Especially on the west side, there never out on the interstate there. You could probably do 100+mph every day there, though I've only done that once or twice to pass people.

Oh and the way they built the new interstate, it's like a fortress so no wild life can really get onto it, at least with in the city limits. It's elevated for the most part and lots of sound barriers and retainer walls

[Poppin Fresh]

Originally Posted by Laszlo

I live in San Francisco and must admit, there's nothing more exciting then Norcal roads... especially highway 1 and so many other amazing back roads that are right out of a rally you'd find in Italy or Greece.

That's it! Highway 1 and the 17 if I'm not mistaken. Best roads to test the cars road handling capabilities.

I think I'm gonna move back to California!

[camcar33]

Originally Posted by Kev

Idaho, Wyoming, North and South Dakota all have 75mph Interstate speed limit. WY and northern ID have plenty of twisties

Cant agree with you here as Im from South Dakota. Their are plenty of open roads but since they arent heavily traveled they arent kept up well and I have hit a lot of potholes. Also winters are bad and i dont think we have any tracks. Plus we have deer problems bad. I drive home to find them sleeping in my backyard regularly and kive in a fairly populated area. It may not be the worst place in the summer but its also not the best.

[Green///Hell]

Alaska!!

[M3V8Driver]

I ran in the One Lap of America for three years in a row... that's a lot of miles in a lot of states. In that time, I found the following:
Texas had the friendliest drivers.
Pennsylvania had the most selfish drivers.
Florida had the overall slowest drivers.
New York had the fastest drivers.
Central-to-western states had the least crowded roads (NM, AZ, excluding big cities).
East coast stats had the most crowded roads.
Arkansas had the dumbest cops (we got pulled over for have "tinted" tail lights, when in fact, they were OEM).
Virgina has the strictest highway speeding and patrol officers who act like military drill sargents.
Overall favorite states = TN and KY for the mix of roads, people, scenery, weather, etc.

Note: These are just opinions based on my experience. Your results may vary

[Montoya]

The mountain roads around LA are great- Now that I leave in the Pac. NW I find that when I want to go really fast, I quickly run out of road because of blind curves and crests with all the trees. You need to go to the eastern parts of the state to get wide open curves. The mountain roads around LA have that in spades, you just have to pay the price with the other 40+ million that live in the state!

[dcstep]

West Texas and Colorado get my votes.

From Alpine, TX down to Big Bend is heaven. The road from Ft. Davis up to the MacDonald Observatory is fun and the way down on the backside is even better. I have fond memories of jumpin cattle guards at 150 and leaning into corner after corner.

I-70 through Colorado sucks, because it carries so much East-West commercial traffic all year long and in the winter it's clogged with skiers, BUT the mountains to the South and North are full of fantastic roads. The views are incredible and the roads are reasonably well cared for. Go when it's cold or during the week to avoid the Harley clubs "hogging" the roads in slowmo. Watch out for the deer and antelope, as they will indeed play through your windshield and you don't even want to think about an elk.

I-25 runs North and South parrallel to the Rockies and you can turn up almost any state road to find something new.

Dave

[King Tut]

Florida. We get to drive year round and have no emissions testing. /thread

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Florida. We get to drive year round and have no emissions testing. /thread

Yeah, but there a very few fun roads. Some of the two-laners up around Tallahassee are fun, but mainly at high speeds. I used to enjoy the clay roads up in Leon county, but other than tracks, there's just not a lot of fun roads compared to many other states.

Dave

[dcstep]

Northern Arkansas, in the Southern Ozarks, has some great roads. Weekday mornings are best.

Dave

[MrAdams]

Southern California!!! except the cops suck. unless your white... if that's the case, your good!

[spike357]

The back roads between Las Vegas and Palm Springs are awesome. Just bring your radar detector!