astraboy

I love this motorway.
While most motorways are hellish whatever time you get on them, the M40 is a joy to drive.
For starters its always deserted, meaning a constant speed suitable for an "Enthusiastic" driver to make good progress.
Next up, most of the lorries seems to prefer the M1. Not that I'm complaining of course, it means less "overtaking" (Optimistic term for it but bear with me) manouvers from lorries with 0.00000001mph difference between their speeds.
As well as that theres the traffic jams. I've only ever seen one on there and that was a queue to get onto the slip at the coventry junction.
But thats not all, look at the locations you can get to from it. The Prodrive factory, Silverstone, Hell it means I can get to Air in Birmingham in under 2 hours from my house. Not bad seeing as I am south of Heathrow airport.
Lets here it for the M40. The plebs and the brainless morons can keep the M1, I'll be on the M40, the thinking mans motorway
astraboy.

NotoriousREV

Quiet you fool, you'll mess it up for those of us that know it's secret

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Not tonight at Junction 4 it wasn't I had to drive through the woods to get home It scratched my car

Chip Sengravy

I heard the northbound carriageway is statisically Britain's most dangerous stretch of motorway.

Shouts to Cherwell Valley services, Banbury,and RAF Croughton

RAJ27

Have to agree. I live in Harrow and drive to Bicester now and again to pick up a bargain at that Bicester Village Outlet place (Junction 9).

Great M-way.....very picturesque, no lorries and a god send compared to that crap the M1 delivers.

However watch out for undercover cops who are on the look out around the Junction 3 and 4 area.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

It was pleasent to blast up and down to Landan ( or that place where where small minded folk call "the city" )

But it does suffer hoggers in lane 3 at peak hours. Not good when your stuck in a gutless non-turbo Berlingo and nobody leaves enough gap infront of them to allow anyone else to chnage lane.

How can the M40 be the most dangerous motorway when we have the merry endures of the M6??

Oh hang on...you never manage to get to a fast enough speed to crash on the M6...So it must be safe then

Lum

M40 J9 is always terrible between 5 and 7. I know this cos I live in Aylesbury and work as a field engineer.

There is always a 1 mile tailback in L1 with knock-on effects on L2 and L3.

Then they rub salt in the wound with a massive "Use both lanes for A34 Oxford" sign and only create the 3rd lane for Aylesbury and Bicester right near the top, meaning people going there have to wait for 6 or 7 cycles of the lights before being able to get into that lane. The grass verge and kerbs are completely knackered from people like me driving over them after getting fed up queueing with people who aren't even going the same way.

Thames Valley Police tend to run patrols on it too, I usually see one or two cars pulled over on every trip home.

Finally, to get to the M40, you have to use the M42 and by extension either the M5 and/or M6, both of which suck.

I hate the M40. I hate the A41 too because it always has a truck or a combine harvester followed by a half mile queue of old people too afraid to overtake on the 3 mile straight bit.

Rioja

The M40 is the most boring bit of straight tarmac in the whole country! I hate driving it, total lack of cars and any sort of mental stimulation sends me to sleep; literally!

I've nearly crashed twice due to just wandering-off between junctions 9 and 8; 12 miles that has to be some sort of record between motorway junctions! Give me the M5 / M6 any day of the week.

The Zohan

Yep, use the m40 a lot and a big-up for the m45 - Gods forgotten motorway!

TelBoy

Nice road, but Police HQ are right near Junction 2, so it's a favourite haunt for cameras on the bridges, especially where the double bridges obscure your sight of the trap on the furthest bridge. Beyond J2 and 3 though, it's always seemed pretty clear.

Lum

Lets not forget the incredibly steep downhill bit near Maidenhead too.

My first car was a D reg 1.3 Escort with a top speed of 85mph, but I managed to get it past 100 on that hill, then the engine blew up!

InvisibleMan

according to some website that had a unmarked police car database, the M40 was by far the most populated. That & a helicopter squad.

Flatcapdriver

The M40, whilst a good bit of tarmac can lull you into a false sense of security - speed wise - having been 'done' there twice in the last decade or so. They do tend to have blitzes along it as well with the Police around Banbury currently making up their numbers.

Spoon

The M45 did win the best motorway award fairly recently if I remember correctly.

It can hardly be called the longest motorway in terms of distance but it's always empty which allows for a great bit of road for setting up any vehicle.

Flatcapdriver

The entrance off the M1 is interesting but I've never trusted it since they put the slip road to Dunchurch.

Spoon

You mean there's a slip road??

Drunken Bungle Whore

M40 is def a decent bit of motoryway, but I beg to differ with the "no queues" comment. Anyone trying to get off at the A34 junction southbound should expect a queue. After about 3pm on a Friday and 4pm in the week this queue stretches all the way back to the Silverstone junction (at least!).


Northbound the best part is Oxford - Bicester - but then all the nutters get on and it's downhill from there! (Not literally of course!)

It's also a helluva lot better since it got some services - those first few years without them were hell!

Flatcapdriver

Yeah. Imagine my surprise when I used it for the first time after some years only to discover that my private test venue had a new slip road and attending copper although luckily he was as new as the slip road and hadn't concealed himself properly.

Account deleted by request

FRAPMSL


chop (still laughing)

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I think the M69 and M54 also deserve a bit of recognition for being congestion free motorways

Spoon

The M54 has never given me problems on the once every few years I travel on it and decent progress can be made, but the M69 always seems to be littered with the law, (again on the very odd occassion that I use it), even though it's never busy.