Ask the Car People.SM


Speedometer Inflation - READ ONLY

21 messages,  Last post on Feb 14, 2008 at 12:07 PM

You are in the Automotive News & Views-Archives Forum.

What is this discussion about? Automotive News

Messages Page 3 of 3

#15 of 21 Re: Speedometer Inflation [habitat1] by ny540i6

Jan 20, 2008 (2:31 pm)

Replying to: habitat1 (Jan 14, 2008 1:52 am)
I've got a couple thoughts/opinions/theories about speedos and what they say/look like:
 
first: Analog/digital - I prefer Analog, probably for tradition, even though digital is simpler, easier to read etc, etc. Same reason I prefer analog watches (until I try a quick glance at either my watch, or my cell phone).
 
second: in my opinion, analog gives a greater sensation of speed - the needle is positioned someplace on an absolute sweep - if it is "over there" I must be going fast. This of course, leads to a problem with many speedos that top out at 150+ mph... the "sweet spot" on the speedo is around 80. As an example, in my car the speedo goes to 155, and the car will do 155+. However, if I glance at the speedo, 80mph is just around straight up. Mentally (for me) 60 looks like where 40 should be, etc.
 
third: I think that for many manufacturers there is still a catering to the adolescent in many buyers - I remember as a kid bragging to friends about our Olds Cutlass with the 120 mph speedo - after all, if GM said it could go 120.....
 
fourth: Mass production - some cars are sold internationally, so if the car is capable of speeds that are legal elsewhere, too expensive and complicated to produce speedos for different markets
 
fifth: Legal - If the speedo tops out at 100, but the car can do 110, who gets to answer the product liability questions if I hit something. And of course - who gets to retrain all the highway police whose first question is "Do you know how fast you were going?"

#16 of 21 Re: . [habitat1] by nippononly

Jan 20, 2008 (11:56 pm)

Replying to: habitat1 (Jan 19, 2008 9:54 am)
Naw, the follow-up to that story is that the guy went to court with testimony from Hyundai itself that the car was incapable of doing that speed, and the ticket was thrown out.
 
And I have taken my FWD RSX up to 130 (indicated) at which speed it was remarkably stable-feeling. But then, I am not in the habit of twitching a lot. And in reality that was probably actually 125 mph, as the speedo in that one also over-read by 3% or so.

#17 of 21 The common problem ...... by starrow68

Jan 21, 2008 (10:56 am)

Here, everyone presumes that driving on public roads with published speed limits
is the only possiblity. I spend many weekends and some week days running
around road courses like Laguna Seca, Sears Point (Infineon), Thunderhill, Button-
willow and Reno-Fernley Raceway. Even get to Spring Mountain MSP in Pahrump,
NV on occasion. There are a hundred or so other folks with mostly street cars that
they drove to the event and most drive home at the end of the day. BTW, a well set
up MiniS on DOT-R tires can be as fast as a C5 Corvette on street tires. Even the
non-race cars will get up to 150mph at some points on various tracks, while my
C5 Coupe has never gone beyond 135 and usually tops out between 105 and 120.
Learning to control what is capable of doing the numbers in front of you isn't a bad
idea for anyone.
Randy
 
BTW, my GPS is within a couple tenths of matching my Heads Up Display speed.

#18 of 21 Dual pipes by caaz

Jan 21, 2008 (2:04 pm)

Hey.... Quit making fun of my dual exhaust on my metro....I swear it makes it go faster.
 
P.S. i'm in Ca. & AZ. every week... Az has the nicest smoothest roads and freeways ever....I can see the Sonata man achieving 147 no problem... I did 139 in my 740i between Lake Forest Drive & El Toro Road, which is only 3/4 mile apart... so im sure 3 or 4 miles would work in Az. BTW.. Az's Freeways are much better than Ca. roads
 
Later
Caaz

#19 of 21 Re: Speedometer Inflation [ny540i6] by habitat1

Jan 22, 2008 (3:41 am)

Replying to: ny540i6 (Jan 20, 2008 2:31 pm)
You make some good points. I also generally prefer analog to digital. But I have also noticed that 95% of the time I am driving "enthusiastically", I am glancing down at the tachometer, not the speedometer. For the reasons you stated, I would NEVER want a tachometer that was merely a digital readout of the RPM's. It is much easier to anticipate and shift before redline when you have a the visual aid of a needle sweeping around towards it. In the case of my former S2000, the extended LED readout accomplished the same thing.
 
But checking out the analog speedometer on my 911, which tops out at 200, you need a magnifying glass to see the difference between 65 and 70. So if I'm trying to shave it close to the "ticket limit" in cruise control on the highway, I'm using the digital mph readout in the center of the tach, not the analog speedometer. Yet I would be the first to complain if Porsche took the analog speedometer completely away, as, from an aesthetic standpoint, the 911 has the most attractive guage cluster I've seen. Just like I don't think Rolex will be dropping analog in favor of a digital face. It's not about function as much as looks.

#20 of 21 Colored Speedometer by euphonium

Feb 14, 2008 (12:02 pm)

0 to 25 = Green
 
25 to 50 = Amber
 
50 to 110 = Red
 
All the above in the '46 Chrysler Windsor.
 
(Some claimed that above 110 the radio played, "Nearer My God To Thee"

#21 of 21 Re: Colored Speedometer [euphonium] by fintail

Feb 14, 2008 (12:07 pm)

Replying to: euphonium (Feb 14, 2008 12:02 pm)
Sounds like the speedometer on my fintail, which as with all of them is a veritcal stripe like a thermometer rather than a round or horizontal needle.
 
At low speeds ca. <25mph, it is yellow. From about 25-40 it is yellow-red striped, and from 40+ it is red. It reads to 120, but I think the car is only good for about 110.

Messages Page 3 of 3

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement