This evening’s Connexion newsletter leads with ’ French road speed limit back to 90km/h across 42 departments’, but they don’t provide a link to a current list. Here’s one:
[Sécurité routière : ces 42 départements qui sont repassés aux 90 km/h | CNEWS](https://)
No idea why the Lot(46) is holding out at 80. Unless it’s to annoy visiting Parisians.
Cancel the Audi 
Lucky here in the Meuse we have had 90 for a long time.
My car returns excellent fuel economy at 80km/h - I hope they stay at 80 in our department.
My experience of older, small French courtesy cars (which are amongst the most common marques and sizes) suggests the opposite -, they weren’t designeed to be driven in 5th gear at sub-80km h speeds (and seldom are!)
Well, it’s certainly annoying me.
We live next to the D840, a couple of kilometres from the Lot border with the Aveyron (90km h) and when our dept reverted to 90 and put up new signs everywhere, I thougt the Lot would follow suit, but they didn’t and neither did they respond to the Aveyron’s change by putting up local 80km h signs. This is a major tourist route along the Lot Valley and at this time of the year most of the traffic isn’t local, yet people aren’t warned of the speed limit change.
And then as soon as you come off the D_'à to continue up the valley, you have thousands of enormous Dutch and Fernch enormous camper vans cautiously crawiling along because the road is a bit narrower and has a few bends.
Roll on September!
Mine will happily trundle along in 6th at 80km/h
My car returns excellent fuel economy at 80km/h
Gosh! We can’t do that on the flat, and we’ve only got a smallish BM X1.
OTH we can get to Barça on a single tank.
Very pleased to see our department and all its neighbours keeping to the 80 limit ! We’re in the middle of that big blue horn on the northwest of France. And as @Mat_Davies says, it’s the optimal limit on environmental impact.
Sorry Geoff, disagree. Many small older French cars struggle in 5th at 80. Meanwhile we have a modern German car but can only get into 6th at about 85km h on the flat, and as soon as there’s a slight incline one has to change down.
I am not sure that the country where a car was made comes into it.
You have mentioned small older cars - what about small newer cars (as is probably most common on French roads) , one of our cars (Kia Picanto} indicates the optimum gear to travel in - from about 70kph it indicates 5th.
That’s anecdotal though Mark - the research evidence is that in general keeping below 80kph cuts fossil fuel use.
It’s anecdotal only as much as it’s my experience of driving small engined french cars. However, one can change the driver, but that doesn’t change the engine’s capabilities
Around here (12) there’s many small older Clios for instance , you don’t see many local SE Asian or other foreign cars apart from Dacias.
I think the important word in that is ‘research’.
What I have found in practice is that being stuck down in a lower gear at 80 kph actually uses more fuel.
Thats my experience too.
I am puzzled by what the country of origin has to do with it.
No mystery - we’re discussing French speed limits and the majority of French drivers still opt to buy French marques
This morning I drove to work in my Mazda MX5 (with roof down, obviously) it was stunning in the sunshine - again 80kph in top (6th) gear no problems at all.
I would be interested to see how other people get on - when you are next out driving, check speed is at 80kph then see what gear you are in.
