Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Ese coche va muy rápido por la autopista.

este coche – this car (close to the speaker)
ese coche – that car (a bit further away, often closer to the listener or at medium distance)
aquel coche – that car over there (far from both speaker and listener)

In the sentence Ese coche va muy rápido por la autopista, the speaker is pointing to a car that isn’t right next to them, but not extremely far away either.

You could change it:

Este coche va muy rápido… – talking about a car right here with the speaker.
Aquel coche va muy rápido… – pointing to a car that is clearly farther away.

So ese is about medium distance or “that one (near you / over there, but not far-far).”

What’s the difference between coche, carro, and auto / automóvil?

All of these can mean “car”, but their use depends on the region:

In Spain, the normal everyday word is coche.
In much of Latin America, people usually say carro or auto/automóvil.

So in Spain:

Ese coche va muy rápido… sounds perfectly natural. Saying ese carro in Spain will be understood but sounds Latin American or foreign.

If you’re learning Spanish from Spain, coche is the safest word for “car.”

Why is it va muy rápido and not es muy rápido?

va muy rápido = is going very fast / is travelling very fast right now
es muy rápido = is very fast in general (by nature/design)

In Spanish, ir (here: va) is often used with adverbs of speed:

Ese coche va muy rápido. – It’s moving at high speed (at this moment or in this context).

If you say:

Ese coche es muy rápido.
you’re describing the car as a fast model in general (like saying “It’s a fast car,” not necessarily about what it’s doing on the highway right now).

Why is rápido used instead of the adverb rápidamente?

In standard, everyday Spanish, rápido is used both as:

an adjective:
- un coche rápido – a fast car
and as an adverb (after verbs like ir, correr, conducir):
- El coche va rápido. – The car goes fast.

rápidamente is also correct as an adverb, but it’s:

more formal or literary, or
used for emphasis.

So:

Ese coche va muy rápido. – normal, natural.
Ese coche va muy rápidamente. – more formal / emphatic, not wrong but less common in everyday speech.

Why is it va muy rápido and not conduce muy rápido?

Spanish can describe the car as the grammatical subject that “goes fast,” even though in reality the driver is responsible. This is similar to English “That car is going really fast.”

Ese coche va muy rápido. – Focus on the car’s speed.
Ese coche lo conduce muy rápido. – Literally “That car is driven very fast” (sounds a bit awkward as-is; you’d usually specify who drives it).
Conduce muy rápido por la autopista. – “He/she drives very fast on the highway.”

Your original sentence is the most natural if you’re just commenting on the speed you see.

Could you say Ese coche va muy deprisa instead of muy rápido?

Yes. deprisa is another very common way to say “fast / quickly”:

Ese coche va muy deprisa por la autopista.

Both:

muy rápido and
muy deprisa

are natural in Spain. rápido is probably more neutral and slightly more common; deprisa is very idiomatic in Peninsular Spanish.

Why is it por la autopista and not en la autopista?

Both can appear with movement verbs, but they focus on different ideas:

por la autopista – emphasizes the route / path / space travelled through.
- Va muy rápido por la autopista.
  = It goes very fast along the highway / through the highway network.
en la autopista – emphasizes the location.
- Va muy rápido en la autopista.
  = It goes very fast on the highway (locative focus).

In this sentence, Spanish naturally prefers por to talk about movement along a route. Using en is understandable but less idiomatic here.

Why does autopista have la and not una, or no article at all like in English?

Spanish usually needs an article with singular countable nouns, especially for things like roads:

la autopista – the highway / the motorway
una autopista – a highway

There is no “zero article” option like English “on highway”; you must say:

en la autopista or por la autopista.

Choosing la vs una:

por la autopista
→ either a specific highway already known from context, or “the highway” in a general, typical sense (like “on the highway” in English).
por una autopista
→ some highway, not specified which one; you’re introducing it as new, indefinite information.

In everyday comments like this, la autopista is the default natural choice.

Why is it la autopista (feminine)? Does -a always mean feminine?

autopista is grammatically feminine, so it takes la:

la autopista (feminine singular)
las autopistas (feminine plural)

Many nouns ending in -a are feminine, and -a is a strong tendency marker for feminine in Spanish.

However:

This is a tendency, not an absolute rule.
There are masculine nouns ending in -a (e.g. el problema, el día) and feminine nouns with other endings.

You simply have to memorize autopista = feminine.

Could you say just El coche va muy rápido por la autopista instead of Ese coche? What changes?

Yes, you can say:

El coche va muy rápido por la autopista.

The difference:

Ese coche… – You’re pointing to or clearly identifying a particular car among others: “That car (over there) is going very fast.”
El coche… – Less deictic pointing. It could be:
- a car previously mentioned in the conversation, or
- “the car” in some known context.

If you’re literally watching the road and commenting on a car you see, Ese coche… is the most natural, because you’re effectively saying “That car (we’re looking at)…”.

How is va formed, and why is it not ir?

ir is the infinitive (“to go”).
va is the third-person singular present of ir:

yo voy – I go
tú vas – you go (informal)
él / ella / usted va – he / she / you (formal) go(es)
nosotros vamos – we go
vosotros vais – you all go (Spain)
ellos / ellas / ustedes van – they / you all go

In Ese coche va muy rápido…, the subject is ese coche (third person singular), so the verb must be va.

Is rápido stressed on the first syllable because of the accent mark?

Yes. rápido is pronounced RA-pi-do, with stress on the first syllable:

The written accent on rá- tells you where the stress goes.
Without the accent (if it existed as rapido), the default stress in Spanish would fall according to general rules (usually on the second-to-last syllable for words ending in a vowel, n, or s).

So the accent mark in rápido is necessary to show that stress is on the first syllable, not ra-PI-do.

Could you use carretera instead of autopista here?

You could, but it changes the type of road:

autopista – motorway, freeway, typically with:
- separated carriageways,
- multiple lanes,
- controlled access.
carretera – road, often:
- ordinary road, possibly single carriageway,
- not necessarily high-speed or controlled access.

So:

Ese coche va muy rápido por la autopista.
= on a high-speed highway / motorway.
Ese coche va muy rápido por la carretera.
= on an ordinary road, which might even make it sound more dangerous.

Both are correct; they just refer to different kinds of roads.