So yesterday (5/7/08) I was driving along what I call the "American Autobahn" - Taconic Parkway in Westchester Co NY heading south through Briarcliff or something. Traffic was light, but as is typical of the Tac in that area, there were about 4-5 of us bunched together in the fast lane at standard speed for that road.
Somebody must have pissed somebody else off because all of a sudden I hear tires squeal and white smoke, and the car in front of me is getting bigger - FAST.
I stand on the pedal of my 06 C280 4Matic, and the car simply responds "Jawohl!" and practically drops anchor. The guy behind me in a red Japanese thing can't match my deceleration so he starts to ditch into the left shoulder. I (still braking hard - no lockup, no ABS even) move to the right side of my lane to avoid being rear-ended - even then no shimmy or anything.
Red thing finally comes to a stop about my rear left door on the shoulder - he missed me. In fact, nobody hit each other. The guy who started this whole mess takes off, and the rest of us resume highway speed - quite a bit more spaced out and a bit slower.
I never did find out what started that. I think the lead car got ticked about being tailgated and decided to yank the e-brake. Gotta love New Yorkers.
It's funny even with some of my brakes needing to be replaced (front or rear, I forget), the car still stopped safely and I was able to maintain control to avoid an accident.
While I've always been a German car fan, I've pretty much determined Benz is the way to go from here on out.
Ah the Taconic State Parkway, my old stomping grounds. 2 lanes, nowhere to bail. I love the blind entrances that require you to merge from a standing stop to 70 mph in 250 feet at the risk of your hide. Good times.
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1988 300TE, 251,000 miles
1989 300SE, 89,000 miles
2000 E320 4matic wagon, 115k miles
Be glad it didn't happen up where the rock walls are on the right and the penalty rail is on the left. I don't think I went a day driving that from Wappy down to the city that there was not someone who was either pointing the wrong way or snagged the rail and ejected their rear bumper.
But it surely is one of the best runs in the NorthEast to drive. I took one of the 500Es through it last May on the way out of the city to Watkins Glen and it was a great run.
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