KMII, a seasoned contributor to WatchProSite's automotive forum, takes readers on an exhilarating tour of Germany's A94 Autobahn. This article, the second installment in his 'Fun with the Autobahn' series, delves into why this particular stretch of road, often overlooked, offers a unique and reliably thrilling driving experience for enthusiasts. KMII's detailed account and vivid imagery highlight the A94's blend of high-speed straights and engaging curves, making it a prime destination for those seeking legal, pedal-to-the-metal motoring.
While mountain and country roads are generally the ones we all enjoy and wax lyrical about, at least in some countries there’s the odd fun highway as well (the first installment:
www.watchprosite.com
to give you more options). Most require a certain speed to be at their best, meaning if you want to do this legally, Germany is one of the prime destinations.
After the Kasseler Berge last time, this time I wanted to cover the A94, one of the emptier, and hence relatively reliable fun drives.
To give a bit of history, a feature of German politics over the past decades has been long stretches of a certain Bavarian political party insisting on the federal transport ministry being led by their people. While I am sure that most of those in the ministerial post were beyond moral reproach, somehow at the end of the year when budget was left over, often it was Bavaria that had ready projects that could start straight away. On the one hand this led to reasonably good infrastructure (in German terms), but on the other it also brought roads like the A94. While starting in Munich (practical if you got in for a drive), there’s little in terms of significant population or industrial centers along its length (the A93 some km to the North covers that adequately). And it ends close to a place of historical significance (Braunau am Inn, on the Austrian side) but little practical importance.
While the development necessitating the road might yet come, in the meantime it’s a bit of petrol head heaven.
It’s a road of two halves, the first one starting close to Pocking and running out after a couple of kilometers.
While the whole road is fairly empty, this bit is absolutely deserted. I guess the plans were to join both up but the current government has a transport minister from another region of the country, so it might have been deprioritized. While a good high speed stretch, the curves do not tilt equally nicely as on the main stretch, so high speed driving requires a tad more concentration.
Soon the road ends and transitions into the B12, a regular German A road. Not much to write home about, this section.
Soon though there’s hope again and after turning off (away from Braunau), there’s some more kilometers of tedium (largely with overtaking prohibited), before the main course comes.
And there we go 🏁
So what makes this particular stretch so much fun, apart from the relative dearth of other traffic?
It has a good variation between straight sections and curves for a start. The straights are long enough that if your car does over 200mph, the road will oblige (great sighting even in the curvier sections). In that sense it’s one of the last sections of Autobahn, where you can reliably drive fast.
In addition there are nice curvy stretches, which add spice and still allow speeds of way past 130 mph (or significantly more, driver and car permitting).
In many ways it feels like one of the Tokyo highway sections on the GT franchise of games on PlayStation, only in real life. Of course one still needs to drive responsibly but as most of the road has no speed limits and the traffic is generally light to non-existent it’s a relatively guilt free pleasure.
While the road is not super short, the average speed you can maintain over it makes it an all too short experience.
In some ways it has similarities with the fun to be had on the A96 between Munich and Lindau 20 years ago. While the latter is now often jam packed (unless you traverse it at night), the A94 still allows good fun and has a better quality surfacing and no potholes to boot.
So if you’re up for some high speed shenanigans in a safe environment, and close to a major airport, the A94 comes fully recommended. It’s one of the last pristine habitats for the AMGs, Ms and RSs and while this will probably not suffice to ensure it’s continued existence, it’s worthwhile sampling while it’s still there in the speed unlimited form.
