How come all cars seem to have room on their speedometers to run all the way up to 220 KPH when in most places in canada the speed limit is at a maximum of 100 KPH. I understand that most people speed, and you also need to go faster to pass another car. But 220 seems a little excessive. Why do car manufacturer’s make them go that high? Why not cap all normal cars at around 140 instead? Wouldn’t this be a safer solution rather then hoping people wont speed?
Because nobody would buy them for fear of being accused of having the smallest willy on the block.
Strange - by a complete coincidence my post number “69” has the word “willy” in it. Hope this isn’t some subconscious freudian thingy.
Sorry - back to the thread.
Seriously though. I think it’s partly marketing (people like to think that their car could go up to 225) and partly the fact that it’s cheaper to make one type of speedometer to fit a wide range of cars, including the ones that really do go that fast.
I’ll second the “partly marketing” theory. Take a look at the description of the Suzuki LJ80:
There are a lot of people out there who seem to think that the speedometer is somehow an indication of how fast it will go. In some cases it really is, but in others, it’s just a ruse. For example:
Now don’t tell me those metric-loving Germans simply left an English-speaking German speedometer in the car. I strongly suspect it’s there to make the driver feel… special.
And it’s not a new trick at all. I recall, though I cannot find a cite for it, that the '68 Chevy Camaro came with a 180 mph speedometer. Its top speed had to be 50 mph below that.
On the other hand, I had a Toyota Supra which had a theoretical top speed of about 130 mph and a speedometer that went to 85. When driving that fast, it’s my policy to never take my eyes off the road. Yet, sometimes I would still do it, and it was annoying as all hell to see that wimpy speedo pinned while the rpms were still visibly climing.
In the 1980s, many cars in America were legally required to only have speedometers that went up to 85 mph. This led to silly situations with cars like Sofa King’s, which is obviously capable of a much higher speed. The public hated it, it didn’t keep anybody from speeding, and so on and so forth. The practice was mercifully ended soon thereafter.
I had an '82 Honda V45 750cc motorcycle that fell into the years where 85mph was the max on the speedo. I could easily hit that speed in 4th gear and still had 2 more gears left. It was annoying…
I believe the '83’s and up had the faster markings on the speedo, but I am not certain.
In the 1980’s in the United States, many cars had speedometers that only went up to 85 mph (136.765 k/h) for just the reason you cite. I think that the cars could still go faster than that, but people thought that higher speedometers would make people try to “test” their cars, or something like that (I personally think that is BS–the low end limit on those speedometers encouraged my friends in HS to try to bury the needle! They may not have tried it if the end limit was 120 mph–85 mph seems more attainable.) Car manufacturers must have had a change of heart on this, especially after the 55 mph federal speed limit was repealed-- my 1997 Neon’s speedometer goes up to 120 mph.
Today in the US, different states have different speed limits. Some states have speed limits of 75 mph on Interstate highways in rural areas. A speedometer that only goes up to 85 seems kind of silly there. Also, many other countries have higher (or no) speed limits (Germany’s Autobahn, for example), and car manufacturers probably don’t want to have to make a special speedometer for Canada and one for other countries if they can help it.
Are speedometers in cars sold in Canada the same as the ones in the US (with mph and kph–the mph numbers are bigger), or are the kph numbers bigger? Is mph on there at all? Just curious.
In Canada the speedo has kph as the bigger numbers and mph as the smaller ones. I had a hard time at first when moving up here from the states and bringing the american cars along; but after a while i learned to squint at the littler numbers.
It’s also possible to achieve 100mph+ speeds in your street car legally at “open track” days, on real racetracks.
I think many people spend an enourmous amount of money for the “potential” of their cars. The speedo is a convenient reminder to their egos that if there were a tornado just over the hill, and a pregnant little lady that needed to get to the hospital pronto, they could do the job.
I think automakers are starting to match speedos to topspeeds a little better now. I have a 2001 Acura with a speedo that goes to 160mph (260 kph) and I have personally seen just over 150 (240). It was, as Sofa King alluded to, the briefest of glances, but I remember it well.
Of course, how the little lady managed to get pregnant with that tiny little willy is anyones guess…
Parts, especially interior components, aren’t shared across platforms as commonly as they once were. You’re not going to get the same speedo in a Focus as in a Mustang Cobra, for example. So there’s no real use in making the Focus speedo display 180mph just to keep on par with the Mustang. On the other hand, you may get the same speedo on a cheap Mustang as on the SVO version, but there’s not a significant difference that would merit different speedometers, and they probably have the same electronically-regulated top speed.
In the manufacture of a speedometer, there’s not really any significant difference in how big they make the speedometer, manufacturing-wise. I have to think they’re almost all electronic nowadays (as opposed to being tied right to the speedometer cable). So a chip takes the speed and puts the needle anywhere it wants to. Make the silkscreen to match, and you have a speedometer. I really like my Bonneville that had only a single set of numbers – switching between mph and km/h simply moved the needly to a different spot accordingly. It was a nice touch, and it’s a shame my “fancier” car now doesn’t have some of these niceties!
<burying wimpy speedometers>
I remember burying the Dodge 318 with the 85mp/h speedometer I used in Germany on the autobahn. It would take forever for the speedometer to “unbury” if I had to brake in a hurry. No idea how fast I was going, but it was fun then when I could do it. It was a government vehicle, not mine, so shhhh!
</burying wimpy speedometers>
If people can get off on silly little stickers slapped all over their cars, then having speedometers that go up to 180 MPH makes good marketting sense.
The word “Sport” is one of the most popular stickers on cars and trucks. Just give people want they want, even if it’s totally irrational.
Let’s not even discuss huge rear spoilers.
And of course, there is also the hallowed “Type R” designation…
It was reported in one of the R&T/C&D magazines of the late 1980s that the stock Mustang LX 5.0 was actually faster than the more expensive stock Mustang GT. They shared the same motor, but the GT’s fancy-schmancy aero package wobbled at speed, making it a tick slower in the quarter mile and at very high speeds.