speedo you're a LIAR

[ItsThaMonsta]

After I looked at the thread about the 08 gauge cluster it had me thinking. Lotus decided to please a few of the people who ask "whats on the dash" by putting 180 on the dash even though they probably wont go 2mph faster. So with a top speed of about 153ish they are lying by 27mph. But its not the worst. Of the top of my head I think of the SRT6 Crossfire which hilariously has 200 on the dash but only has a top speed of 158 (electronicly limited according to edmunds). So that makes it a 42mph LIAR. So what are the worst speedo's that you can think of?

[Bavarian Motorist]

My '04 Camry goes up to 140 and I don't think that POS could reach 110 without the front end lifting and the car taking off like a plane. So I say 30mph liar.


My former 2006 BMW 325xi and my former 2006 BMW 325 convertible went up to 160 and 155 respectively, yet were electronically limited to 130. Go figure.

[Joecooool]

On top of that your spedo isn't even accurate to begin with. Both of my Elises were upwards of 7 mph off at 85 mph. The general rule is subtract 5 mph from what ever is showing above 50.

[serpent]

i can say that the 04 camry can hit 125mph - 5mph for accuracy = 120mph

after 125 the speedo takes tooo long to go up hence running out of space to keep going at that speed.

the new camry....130mph - 5mph = 125mph

07-08 corolla...only has 110mph and i've gone beyond 110 but still i'd say about max 105mph.

[IXLR8]

Corvtte, 200 on the Speedo.
It'll probably do 180.
20 mph liar.

According to GPS though, the Corvette speedometer is highly accurate at any speed.

[serpent]

i've seen a lightly modifed z06 hit 195 on the speedo

i really need to stop driving around with my friends....one of these days i'm just gonna stop posting and the reason you'll see on car news.

[apk919]

I had a speedo that was too modest... an '86 Mustang GT with a 120 MPH stock speedo. I could make the needle hit the trip odometer reset button...

After a few months, I switched it out for a 150 MPH speedo... that was just about right.

[Chili Red]

In the 70's & 80's a lot of cars speedo's topped out at 80MPH, yet they went MUCH faster..

[JnC]

Originally Posted by Chili Red

In the 70's & 80's a lot of cars speedo's topped out at 80MPH, yet they went MUCH faster..

There was a federal law around 1980 that limited the displayed value to 85 mph. IIRC it was a standard until the late eighties.

[Pittmeister]

Originally Posted by IXLR8

Corvtte, 200 on the Speedo.
It'll probably do 180.
20 mph liar.

According to GPS though, the Corvette speedometer is highly accurate at any speed.

itll do 200 with a flash, i felt it pulling still



[its a long running joke on another one of my forums]

[nvrblu]

The speedo on my '68 VW went to 85. I could cruise for hours (this was in the '70s) at that speed. One time, after catching a GF out with another guy -- she said she was busy that night -- I went for a drive and got the needle well past the 85 mph mark... extrapolating, I guess it was around 100-105 mph. However, at that speed, the steering no longer worked -- infinite understeer

One of my friends had a Buick Wildcat -- 455 cu. in., 4bbl carb. Top indicated speed was 120 but he managed to get it well past that mark ~140. At that speed, you could watch the gas guage quickly move towards E.

When I was a kid, our neighbor traded in his Belair wagon (see my avatar) for a 1964 Corvair Monza. Top indicated speed was 110 or 120. He took my dad and I out for a test ride and pegged the needle.

[ewalberg]

i was with an old friend when we were in college and we were in his 1987 Subaru XT (2 door sport coop with 4wd and push button ride height control so you could veritably go 4 wheeling in the thing if you wanted)... anyway, we get pulled over by the highway patrol... he's been going 72mph per for hours (on a long distance drive) as read by the digital speed readout and the guy is being a huge jerk, threatening us like we've been going at least 90mph... he yells how fast does this car go?... (looking at the speedo which is digital) and shruggs... "oh, jeez, who know's how fast it goes!" since it doesn't have a max reading... like it would mean anything... so lame.

So the icing on the cake of this story is my buddy is all flustered by this officer who's heckling him, and finally my buddy looses his cool, to keep from saying anything, since the cop had NO way of knowing how fast we were going based on that we were going the speed limit when he had any chance to clock us, "we couldn't have been going over 75" my friend says... and the heckling and hassling stops immediately, he walks away and writes a ticket for 75+... and we weren't even going that fast. Oh well. That's my one really frustrating CHP story. I've generally found the CHP and police in this area to be very reasonable... as long as they can't profile you for big rims, over tinted windows, or eccessively dropped suspension. In fact i think they really rather like the lotus, and probably know enough about cars to cut you some slack since they know it's a good handling car and that you don't have to be rich punk to afford one.

[shay2nak]

i guess they lie about the speedo incase you mod your car for more power. I mean, a stock S will go about 153 or so. How about a S with 300hp...165mph? What's the max speed indicated on the 05-07 speedo?

[Vicar]

Originally Posted by shay2nak

What's the max speed indicated on the 05-07 speedo?

My '05 is 160. I've had it to a smidge over 150 indicated which is probably about 140 or so in real life.

[dma550]

My kids think that the speedo indicates actual potential speed, it's pretty funny. And yes, my 1977 911s with a 3.6L transplant @ around 285hp had an 85mph speedo in it

[aschen]

Lotus speedo is one of the most optimistic I have encountered> while cruising in traffic to work I average about 85 in the lotus, and about 78-80 in my other cars. The "cruising in traffic" method of calibration isnt the most accurate but with enough data to average, I am confident in my conclusions.

As for maximum speed the speedo shows: who cares? I thought my elise only had a 160 speedo so that shows you how much I pay attention to that. Would you rather they put a speedo that only goes to 157? Or how about a coolant gauge that only goes to the highest reasonable temp? In measurments you always want some extra range.


The most dishonest speedo I have ever seen was an 85 mph unit in some of the earlier 911 turbos. They could top out the speedo in 2nd with another 75mph to give.

[jhnmdahl]

Estimates in other threads suggest the Lotus speedometer is about 7% fast, which is consistent with what I've observed with GPS.

As for the speedometer lying, keep in mind Lotus has a few more years of revisions to the current Elise before the next model comes out, and we've seen some improvement every year so far. Is it too early to start talking about the Elise stage 1 v. stage 2 supercharger?

John

[shadowhusky]

I used to have a 1994 Mustang Cobra that the speedo went up to 240 MPH. I never pushed it to it's limit but I am willing to bet it was a far cry from 240MPH.

[ItsThaMonsta]

Originally Posted by shadowhusky

I used to have a 1994 Mustang Cobra that the speedo went up to 240 MPH. I never pushed it to it's limit but I am willing to bet it was a far cry from 240MPH.

Was that speedo stock? Im guessing it wouldnt do 180.

[dma550]

Originally Posted by ItsThaMonsta

Was that speedo stock? Im guessing it wouldnt do 180.

KPH?