Is there any point to cars able to top 180mph?

[KDIcarmad]

With a speed limits on public roads, Is there any point to cars able to top 180mph?

There performance is unusable safely outside of a race track. I know the 0-60 times will be used to claim there is a point to these cars. A number seven style car can do these as well, using small engines in light fun cars. Is it just image and what it claims about the owner as most of these are supercars?

All professional football player all seem to want these car and offten drive them at silly speeds, this is a very good reason to get rid of them (football player as well). Think how many footballer crashs making the news.

[otolith]

KDIcarmad said:

With a speed limits on public roads, Is there any point to cars able to top 180mph?

If you want to give a modern heavy car strong acceleration, it will need a lot of power.

If you want it to have good fuel economy, it will need good aerodynamics.

If you give a car lots of power and good aerodynamics, it will have a very high potential top speed.

[Hugo a Gogo]

why 180? why not 100, or 90, or 70?

[bob1179]

Why not just ban cars and motorbikes? They are all potentially dangerous and can cause cause death and serious injury at any speed.

[jmorgan]

None whatsoever. But I want one, reason why, because.


(OK there is a lot more to it, the engineering for a start....)

[long time lurker]

what about when people drive in Germany on the autobahns?? restricting top speeds wouldn't work country to country and due to different limits around europe how would you set the limit and make all countries agree?

[otolith]

Top speed is what it is, usually an irrelevant side effect of the performance of the car at lower speeds - turning the question round, is there any point artificially limiting it, when in most countries it isn't legal to get anywhere near it anyway?

[dcb]

long time lurker said:

what about when people drive in Germany on the autobahns?? restricting top speeds wouldn't work country to country and due to different limits around europe how would you set the limit and make all countries agree?

Having a 180 mph car in Germany is pretty much pointless these days.

Ok the acceleration that such a car provides from 0-120 mph or
so can be occasionally handy, but in the real world you won't
be going much past 150 mph or so very often, due to real world
problems like other traffic and roadworks.

Which is why most manufacturers limit to 155 mph - it's quite
fast enough really for any practical purpose.

Let's not forget than your average 530D will be a lot faster
in practice than your M5 on the autobahn - both are
limited to 155 mph but only one will do 40 mpg.

The other will have you stopping every 200 miles or so for
a fresh tankful, which means it loses 15 minutes every couple
of hours.

[rudecherub]

dcb said:

long time lurker said:

what about when people drive in Germany on the autobahns?? restricting top speeds wouldn't work country to country and due to different limits around europe how would you set the limit and make all countries agree?

Having a 180 mph car in Germany is pretty much pointless these days.

Ok the acceleration that such a car provides from 0-120 mph or
so can be occasionally handy, but in the real world you won't
be going much past 150 mph or so very often, due to real world
problems like other traffic and roadworks.

Which is why most manufacturers limit to 155 mph - it's quite
fast enough really for any practical purpose.

Let's not forget than your average 530D will be a lot faster
in practice than your M5 on the autobahn - both are
limited to 155 mph but only one will do 40 mpg.

The other will have you stopping every 200 miles or so for
a fresh tankful, which means it loses 15 minutes every couple
of hours.

This reminds me of an article by the late Alan Clarke in Classic and Sportscar, where he compared the pace of his then Diesel Discovery against his Bentley Continental, which would road conditions allowing sprint up to 140mph, vs sitting at 90mph in the Disco. Traveling from IIRC Scotland to London, the Disco was as quick due to the range, whereas he lost time on the fuel stops with the coupe.

[dvs_dave]

Logically no, but logic isn't always correct.

[nonuts]

Vmax for one, 2 because going bloody fast is fun.

[chrisispringles]

No there isn't any real point, but then there's no real point to music. It doesn't achieve anything in an objective way. Maybe we shold stop making music. I mean have you seen the number of musicians who kill themselves with drugs and drink paid for by music?

[Petrolhead95]

There's the occasional chance to do those speeds, so yes there is a point

[Raize]

They exist because the top speed of your car is directly proportional to the length of your penis.

[PoleDriver]

If the car is geared such that it is capable of reaching 180MPH it will be running at very low revs at NSL. Low revs = low fuel consumption so our supercars are really green!

[CraigyMc]

dcb said:

long time lurker said:

what about when people drive in Germany on the autobahns?? restricting top speeds wouldn't work country to country and due to different limits around europe how would you set the limit and make all countries agree?

Having a 180 mph car in Germany is pretty much pointless these days.

Ok the acceleration that such a car provides from 0-120 mph or so can be occasionally handy, but in the real world you won't be going much past 150 mph or so very often, due to real world problems like other traffic and roadworks.

Which is why most manufacturers limit to 155 mph - it's quite fast enough really for any practical purpose.

Many German manufacturers limit to 250km/h for alleged 'green' reasons.
Many permit the removal (or heightening) of this limit - for a fee- which shows where their real interest actually lies.
Porsche doesn't limit its' cars; I think it's the only German manufacturer which never got on board with the 250km/h limit (I'm ignoring Bugatti and Lamborghini here as they aren't "German brands" despite being owned by VW group.)

dcb said:

Let's not forget than your average 530D will be a lot faster in practice than your M5 on the autobahn - both are limited to 155 mph but only one will do 40 mpg.

The other will have you stopping every 200 miles or so for a fresh tankful, which means it loses 15 minutes every couple of hours.

I don't think people drive really fast because they want to get from A to B quickly. I think they do it because it's enjoyable.

C

[VPower]

KDIcarmad said:

With a speed limits on public roads, Is there any point to cars able to top 180mph?

There performance is unusable safely outside of a race track. I know the 0-60 times will be used to claim there is a point to these cars. A number seven style car can do these as well, using small engines in light fun cars. Is it just image and what it claims about the owner as most of these are supercars?

All professional football player all seem to want these car and offten drive them at silly speeds, this is a very good reason to get rid of them (football player as well). Think how many footballer crashs making the news.

Your on the worng web-site my friend! Brake is the other way!

[OdramaSwimLaden]

Raize said:

They exist because the top speed of your car is directly proportional to the length of your penis.

Wally; I'll be sure to give you the finger next time I pass you at 264mph!

[H_Kan]

KDIcarmad said:

With a speed limits on public roads, Is there any point to cars able to top 180mph?

There performance is unusable safely outside of a race track. I know the 0-60 times will be used to claim there is a point to these cars. A number seven style car can do these as well, using small engines in light fun cars. Is it just image and what it claims about the owner as most of these are supercars?

All professional football player all seem to want these car and offten drive them at silly speeds, this is a very good reason to get rid of them (football player as well). Think how many footballer crashs making the news.

Now you mention it, not many footballer crashes make the news. The only one I can remember is Ronaldo crashing his Ferrari.

Note that these cars are also not exclusively used on the road.

[Kolbenkopp]

dcb said:

Having a 180 mph car in Germany is pretty much pointless these days.

Have to agree there, but I think many manufacturers are also happy with the more or less agreed on 155mph limitation because they then can stuff the cars with even more power. That helps in masking the absurd weight of the beasts while freeing them from having to optimise the things for 180mph+ handling (which would lead to drawbacks in other areas, comfort, cost etc.).

If I had to choose something for Autobahning again, I'd go for some Diesel that does a comfortable 140mph with a handfull of revs to spare. That would be plenty for me, I don't find myself going quicker than 130mph for longer stretches these days for the reasons mentioned.

But, as others have pointed out, why does there have to be "a point"? Music has no point, nor does Apfelstrudel, or Fireworks. I'm sure I can find something with more alcohol than a bottle of Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr for a lot less money or something with more calories than Sashimi...