RE: Volvo to fit all cars with 112mph speed limiter
Discussion
beanoir said:
Mackofthejungle said:
Great stuff. Makes total sense - all road cars should have limiters. There is ZERO need for all the 155mph rep mobiles on the roads - it's a waste. Even 112 is too much. A round 100mph limit would be absolutely fine with me.
If a car does X mph then naturally the crash structures, the brakes, the tyres all have to keep up. That costs money in development, it costs weight and it costs more to maintain from a customer perspective. And it all has to come at the cost of aerodynamic efficiency, because if a car does 150mph, it better be stable at 150mph, and that requires drag.
Even if it makes NO difference to road safety, the amount of money and effort that can be saved makes it worthwhile. If this spreads then maybe a return to fun cars could actually happen, without dick waving numbers being required.
This is Pistonheads, are you sure you haven’t got lost on your way to Mumsnet? If a car does X mph then naturally the crash structures, the brakes, the tyres all have to keep up. That costs money in development, it costs weight and it costs more to maintain from a customer perspective. And it all has to come at the cost of aerodynamic efficiency, because if a car does 150mph, it better be stable at 150mph, and that requires drag.
Even if it makes NO difference to road safety, the amount of money and effort that can be saved makes it worthwhile. If this spreads then maybe a return to fun cars could actually happen, without dick waving numbers being required.
Perhaps a name change would be good.
Mack of the Brave New World (less of the JUNGLE)
(Aldous Huxley for the heathens here)
thecremeegg said:
Because nobody ever takes a road car off road do they.....
I love how everyone's so insecure about this. Firstly, no, most people don't. And for the people who do enjoy a track day (a tiny, tiny minority of people), do you think manufacturers can't find a reasonable way to de-limit cars on track? It's hardly difficult tech. My phone knows when I've gone to Tesco for goodness sake. kambites said:
I've never driven a road car faster than 112mph anyway, so I couldn't care less.
really? seriously really? Cripes, i did 130 indicated on a B road on the way home from work just now..............( for balance i should also note that i passed outside a school with lots of blindspots behind parked cars, in a 30mph zone going no more than 12mph, with cars right up my chuffty wondering why i was going so slow.......)
Also,there is a big difference between a 155mph limiter and a 112mph one. Even really pretty fast cars need a fair old bit of space to trouble the 155mph limiter, for exampel something like an M3 gets to 120 reasonably quickly, but to get to 155 takes a LOT longer and hence a lot more space (becuase you are travelling further and further per extra second it takes to accel)
Ok, in a big old bus like an XC90, wind drag is starting to play at 110 onwards, but i still think it's a pointless limit. Too fast to be a limit, too slow to be not be annoying.
Also, there can't be many drivers who are driving at greater than 110mph "accidentally" or through "miss attention" even on an empty motorway. That's a good 25mph faster than most cars will be doing, which is usually a bit of a give away!
And finally, "preventing distraction"? well hows about you take out the massive touchscreens, with wall to wall distract-a-tronic capability like multimedia streaming, emails, and all that rubbish! Even turning up the volume is now a massive distraction in a modern car, often involving having to look away from the road, refocus on a close screen, thumb several small touchscreen buttons often hidden 2 menus deep.......
ScoobyBazza said:
I'm in the UK but travel to and through Germany a few times a year and enjoy letting my V70 D5 'do it's thing' whenever possible. l wish the rest of Europe would follow Germanys lead.. Good driving standards and great lane discipline too.
And substantially higher road traffic accident rates than the UK by just about every metric. Hardly a glowing endorsement for derestricted roads. 
Mind you, they're setill better than most of the rest of Europe.
NGK210 said:
It’s cost-cutting. For example: cheaper tyres (lower speed rating); less development time in wind tunnels or using CFD to improve high-speed aero / stability and cooling; etc, etc.
ThisMaybe not their primary reason, but think of how much money they would save by dropping the speed rating on the standard fit tires alone!
Given roads are more congested (and going to get worse) the need for anything that can do 155 or more is drastically reduced. And given the profile of Volvo drivers, the impact of this is probably 5 people in total (ok, likely more but you get the idea).
Bit of an own goal IF this applies to polestar.
And the timing, 2 days after the 'model 3 rival' polestar 2 was revealed.
Attention grabbing but only because they are the first, the rest are due to follow suit quite soon ahead of me EU legislation that's coming around monitoring, this goes hand in hand.
.
And the timing, 2 days after the 'model 3 rival' polestar 2 was revealed.
Attention grabbing but only because they are the first, the rest are due to follow suit quite soon ahead of me EU legislation that's coming around monitoring, this goes hand in hand.
.
Edited by manracer on Tuesday 5th March 13:50
ScoobyBazza said:
Wow.....just wow !!!!!
So you don't think a car designed for 150+mph is much safer and efficient at 70mph than a car designed just for 70mph ??
And you don't think a car capable of 150mph is a fun car ??
Very strange bubble you live in..
You think that because a car can do 150mph it's inherently more fun that a car that can do 100mph?!? Why?! You have to drive around all the extra weight and overcome all the extra grip to have any fun at all at road speeds. So you don't think a car designed for 150+mph is much safer and efficient at 70mph than a car designed just for 70mph ??
And you don't think a car capable of 150mph is a fun car ??
Very strange bubble you live in..
And with regards the safety thing - crash structures just have to be whatever they need to be. But obviously a car designed for 150mph can never be as efficient at 70mph as one designed for 70mph. This is really basic. The fact that it has to be able to do 150mph compromises it at 70mph. It might be super stable at 70mph, but naturally aerodynamic and tyre compromises have to be made so that it's also stable at 150mph.
Massive top speeds are largely irrelevant in the UK. Electrification is seeing them come down anyway. What we are seeing as a byproduct though is monumentally fast acceleration speeds. You can now get into serious trouble seriously quickly. What's next? A cap on 0-60 times?
Fast cars are safer than slow ones
Fast cars are safer than slow ones
Honestly don't understand how this will affect UK buyers. I mean realistically on the motorways anything over 100 is considered a ban, back roads and the like are not ideal for high speed and ultimately if you want a high performance road car I'm pretty sure a Volvo is never going to be your first choice, they are bought for other reasons.
kambites said:
And substantially higher road traffic accident rates than the UK by just about every metric. Hardly a glowing endorsement for derestricted roads.
Mind you, they're setill better than most of the rest of Europe.
Mind you, they're setill better than most of the rest of Europe.
I think that the drivers (on the whole) are of a higher standard than most UK drivers.
I'd be interested in the figures %s for unlimited roads compared to restricted roads in Germany..
most weekends I spend 2 hours each way on the M1 and M6 excluding average speed areas I think traffic permitting I drive around 75mph maybe as high as 85 an as low as 60 at some points. So really this would make zero difference.
On the other hand every time I get a new car there is always that childish fascination to see how fast it will go. However as I have a family now all cars are the SUV / MPV type so rarely am I tempted infact if it does 100mph seems more than fast enough.
Before having a family we did got to Nurbergring and around europe and did enjoy the odd 150mph jaunt for a few seconds conditions permitting but this jist would not happen now with kids.
Perhaps the real shame will be 15 years from now when my kids are in there 20s the hot hatch will be a thing of the past an driving a car no more involving than getting a cab.
On the other hand every time I get a new car there is always that childish fascination to see how fast it will go. However as I have a family now all cars are the SUV / MPV type so rarely am I tempted infact if it does 100mph seems more than fast enough.
Before having a family we did got to Nurbergring and around europe and did enjoy the odd 150mph jaunt for a few seconds conditions permitting but this jist would not happen now with kids.
Perhaps the real shame will be 15 years from now when my kids are in there 20s the hot hatch will be a thing of the past an driving a car no more involving than getting a cab.
kambites said:
And substantially higher road traffic accident rates than the UK by just about every metric. Hardly a glowing endorsement for derestricted roads.
Like the UK, the majority of fatal accidents aren't on the motorway network. Per mile of motorway / autobahn Germany's fatalities are within 20% of the UK's.
Mackofthejungle said:
ScoobyBazza said:
Wow.....just wow !!!!!
So you don't think a car designed for 150+mph is much safer and efficient at 70mph than a car designed just for 70mph ??
And you don't think a car capable of 150mph is a fun car ??
Very strange bubble you live in..
You think that because a car can do 150mph it's inherently more fun that a car that can do 100mph?!? Why?! You have to drive around all the extra weight and overcome all the extra grip to have any fun at all at road speeds. So you don't think a car designed for 150+mph is much safer and efficient at 70mph than a car designed just for 70mph ??
And you don't think a car capable of 150mph is a fun car ??
Very strange bubble you live in..
And with regards the safety thing - crash structures just have to be whatever they need to be. But obviously a car designed for 150mph can never be as efficient at 70mph as one designed for 70mph. This is really basic. The fact that it has to be able to do 150mph compromises it at 70mph. It might be super stable at 70mph, but naturally aerodynamic and tyre compromises have to be made so that it's also stable at 150mph.
How on Earth is a car designed for 150+mph compromised at 70mph ???
Driving at 70mph is WAY within its limits so it's super capable and safe.
And....l've driven countless cars and had fun in most of them, but l REALLY have fun in very fast cars.
Get yourself a slow 'fun' car and don't encourage companies and governments to curtail people who want and use fast cars. Each to their own. l'm not advocating that you must use a fast car, because l'm into personal freedom and liberty. Do what you want and leave others to do the same.
Thanks..
Volvo closing the traffic police market completely, then? Yes, Volvo could derestrict them, but would they? Goes against they're logic and morals!
But then I know UK plod are using BMWs tourings these days.
Considering Volvo have recently solely used 4 cylinder engines - even in the huge XC90 - this isn't a big surprise.
But then I know UK plod are using BMWs tourings these days.
Considering Volvo have recently solely used 4 cylinder engines - even in the huge XC90 - this isn't a big surprise.
ScoobyBazza said:
I'd be interested in the figures %s for unlimited roads compared to restricted roads in Germany..
You have to be very careful of your cause an effect making that sort of comparison. I doubt they chose which bits to limit arbitrarily so one has to imagine that the bits of autobhan which have speed limits are, on average, inherently less safe than those without. What would be interesting, I suppose, would be to compare the accident rates on a piece which was recently restricted and see whether the accident rates went down significantly with the change.
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