Cars with ambitious speedometers

[sebhaque]

I was having a look at a 1.8 Audi A4 earlier and noticed that the speedometer went to 180mph. I know the speedos are standardised across the different engine options of a car, but I did chuckle at a car with a 140mph top speed having a speedo pegged 40mph higher than the car could achieve from the factory.



It also looks like the speedo isn't weighted (where the lower speeds take up more of the gauge), so your legally useable speedo range is from the 6 o'clock to the 10 o'clock position.

Anybody else know of some similarly ambitious speedometers?

[99dndd]

My Nissan Micra's read up to to 110, which was suitably ambitious.

That was all sorts of terrifying on the motorway.

[Dog Star]

Most Mercs seem to be set to 160 top whack now, so it's not as bad.

I suppose that the days are gone of actually getting your boggo spec car "off the clock" - back in the '80s I'd regularly get my 1 litre Fiesta to go over 100 on a long downhill or whatever. Probably only about 90 in reality

[eldar]

Way less odd than the requirement in the USA in the 1980s that the maximum speed that could be indicated was 85MPH.

http://www.classic-car-history.com/85-mph-speedo.h...

[Dog Star]

99dndd said:

My Nissan Micra's read up to to 110, which was suitably ambitious.

That was all sorts of terrifying on the motorway.

Those old K series used to have a monstrously tall top gear, so on downhill stretches (eg Keele, M6) you could almost achieve light speed.

[cib24]

My old Buick Grand National speedo was not ambitious at all. 85 mph despite having a 3.8L turbocharged V6 and running 13's in the 1/4 mile from the factory.

[KevinCamaroSS]

sebhaque said:

I was having a look at a 1.8 Audi A4 earlier and noticed that the speedometer went to 180mph. I know the speedos are standardised across the different engine options of a car, but I did chuckle at a car with a 140mph top speed having a speedo pegged 40mph higher than the car could achieve from the factory.

Think RS4 as having the same standard speedometer.

[ukaskew]

Standard parts I assume. Always wondered when younger why 30/50/70 wasn't better displayed on UK cars, as they are far more common limits than 20/40/60.

[hairyben]

sebhaque said:

It also looks like the speedo isn't weighted (where the lower speeds take up more of the gauge), so your legally useable speedo range is from the 6 o'clock to the 10 o'clock position.

Thats horrible ergonomics for whats supposed to be a premium manufacturer, especially in our profit driven marginal speed offense climate. As its all electronic anyway its so easy to make it better.

My first car was an '84 passat auction bargain bin (with presumably a replacement binnacle that was geared wrong) so itd go past the max of 120 and do about 150 according to the speedo. Not bad for a 90bhp estate.

[s m]

cib24 said:

My old Buick Grand National speedo was not ambitious at all. 85 mph despite having a 3.8L turbocharged V6 and running 13's in the 1/4 mile from the factory.

What were these like to drive? I remember Pentti having a Syclone pickup which was similarly fast

[gforceg]

My Mk2 16V Golf speedo read to 160. A bit more than needed and more odd in that when it was new I doubt there was any VW that could do more than, what, 130 ish?

[tomsugden]

gforceg said:

My Mk2 16V Golf speedo read to 160. A bit more than needed and more odd in that when it was new I doubt there was any VW that could do more than, what, 130 ish?

My old Mk2 went faster than 130 *cough*

[Ste1987]

My Pug 208 has a top speed of 101mph, supposedly, with a speedo that goes up to 140

[mikeyr]

Slightly off the wall but my Mini's speedo is so optimistic that when I'm parked it reads 5mph. If it was normal sized I'd probably not have noticed it but they do seem to design them to be large enough for following traffic to read!

[CaptainMorgan]

Again, slightly OT but a guy at work was taking the piss because my scooter has 100mph clocks, until I told him it does 90-95

[tankplanker]

I think my Golf R goes to 200 mph? I think the standard Golf R will do around 155 mph, a stage 2 pushes 180 mph indicated.

[Toptrumps2]

Was in a Uber the other day in town, was wearing my Volkswagen Racing Jacket as it was a little chilly and the drive picked up on this.

Turns out he had his W212 E-class (1.8 diesel) with do 160MPH, and it was silent at that speed.

[Mr E]

My GT-Four had a 180mph speedo and was limited to 112. Until I removed the limiter.

The Elise is 140 or 160, which seems optimistic.

The snotter had a digital speedo, so potentially as much as you need?

Toptrumps2 said:

Turns out he had his W212 E-class (1.8 diesel) with do 160MPH, and it was silent at that speed.

[bristolracer]

My old smiley faced transit van had a speedo which went to 150
Using a sat nav as a reference, the max I ever managed was 84 downhill (private road officer- honest)

Don't think it would have achieved 150 falling off a cliff

[mybrainhurts]

bristolracer said:

My old smiley faced transit van had a speedo which went to 150
Using a sat nav as a reference, the max I ever managed was 84 downhill (private road officer- honest)

Don't think it would have achieved 150 falling off a cliff

Ah, yes, but you forget the falling out of a helicopter scenario...