Optimistic Speedometer Thread. Your most unbelievable MPH.

[warren t claim]

As we all know your car speedo can sometimes add a few MPH over your real speed. I once owned a mk3 1.6 Astra with 100k miles to its name that would register nearly 130 on the flat when it was probably only doing 112ish. A nearly new '88 Xr3i I was in once displayed an incredible 136mph which was a good 20 over its actual speed.

 

Can anyone beat this level of innacuracy?

[Milford Cubicle]

I had a Rover 825 diesel which displayed 130MPH! I think don't think it was that far off top speed though, maybe a real world 118MPH?

[Tayne]

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[Angrydicky]

I had a Morris Minor that displayed a speed of roughly 20mph over the actual speed - trundling along at 30 it would be hovering around the 50 mark.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have driven a Renner 21 turbo at an indicated 140mph, thats the fastest i've ever driven a car.

[Tayne]

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[warren t claim]

I have driven a Renner 21 turbo at an indicated 140mph, thats the fastest i've ever driven a car.

A 21 turbo should do 140 easily.

[CreepingJesus]

The Megane's pretty bad for that, it seems to read about 10% over. Well most of those 'mind your speed' flashing LED boards seem to say 26/27mph when the speedo says 30.

I don't imagine they're deadly accurate, but still, it might explain why I back the traffic up coming into Kirkliston...

[Des]

My Sprites needle goes right round till it hits the zero stop.

[AXrescuer]

My old Yamaha FS1E speedo always read 20 mph fast so I could get away with bragging about my modified sprocket/expansion pipe/reed valve!

 

Most of my mates were so stupid they really thought they were doing 65 instead of 45 when they rode it!

[ChinaTom]

Maxing the Deer saw 155km/h on the 150km/h speedo. Manufacturer's figures are max 130km/h, so I would expect reality to be somewhere between the two. Felt like ~80mph to me, but sounded like 170mph. 80km/h is a pretty safe and normal cruising speed for these. Anything above that and the back axle starts to wobble and scream.

 

My old Pajero used to read about 25km/h slow at 100km/h. A few speeding fines were picked up. Never maxed it as it would have definitely blown up and spit autobox cogs all over the road.

 

The Jag is wildly inaccurate. GPS says 70, speedo says 82. I did try maxing it on an autobahn once, and the speedo was nudging 160. The GPS said 137. Too fast for me. These 6.0 V12 Jags did not have restrictors on them (I think) so one day I'll find someone brave enough to see how fast it can go.

[Andrew353w]

The Wartburg's speedo reads UNDER the speed-by quite a bit! I've framed my GATSO photograph of it speeding through Watford at 42 mph, when I'm sure the clock showed about 30 ish! A mate used his sat-nav to check the spped we were doing on the M1 once; the car's speedo said 65 & the sat-nav said 78... That's some error.

 

Mind you, a speeding Wartburg ought to be congratulated, not arrested!

[Cavcraft]

Indicated 117mph on my Suzuki GT380. Flat out and leaning over the bars, but I bet it was only doing just over a ton.

 

Indicated 128mph in my lovely old Cavalier Mk2 1.8 SRi, and it was still pulling. Doubt it was actually really anywhere near that speed though, would guess at about 115 perhaps.

 

I think the Vespa speedo over-reads too. In fact it definately does because doing an indicated 60-63mph still sees me overtaken by trucks.

[Justin Case]

Indicated 3/4 full on a proper Mini Cooper ...............

 

 

 

 

 

.......but probably really nearer the end of the speedo markings (105)

[Albert Ross]

An alleged 130 on the M62 in my old Disastra Turdo Weasel Inastate. I did harry a BMW 850 for some miles on that day..... Pissed him off a bit when he saw the red car with a blue door, no trims on rusty steels, and boot full of tools, Land Rover gearbox and engine crane etc........haha!

[Lord Sterling]

Got about 145 from a mk1 Rover 827 manual, 150 on clock. Micra, just managed 105, indicates about 120.

 

Mate of mine who had a mk4 Golf 1.6 with a speedo indicating 160 really thought it would do 160mph.

[garethj]

As a teenager I had a VW with a kph speedo. Great for psyching out your mates "I always go around that corner at 60, you should too"

[wuvvum]

The Wartburg's speedo reads UNDER the speed-by quite a bit!

Interestingly, the only Wartburg I've ever driven (Edd Weeks') had an almost scarily accurate speedo - 50mph on the Garmin was 81km/h on the clock.

 

I've had the Innocenti off the clock (an indicated 142km/h) but that does overread by a good 10% so was probably more like 125. The worst one I've had was probably the A35 - couldn't check the accuracy very easily as didn't have a satnav at the time, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't doing the indicated 87mph that the speedo said it was, considering my foot was nowhere near flat to the floor.

[dollywobbler]

2CV goes off the speedo - it only goes up to 75. It will nudge an actual 70mph if your ears can take the rpm. I did once take the needle off to apply a different background to the speedo. Didn't quite get the needle in the right place afterwards and was able to do 40mph in first gear! This was pre-Sat Nav, but the next village had one of those speed warning signs. I used that to calibrate it. Wasn't far off actually!

 

Mini will lure you into a speed camera error by displaying 52mph when you're actually doing 60.

[Rusty Pelican]

60MPH on my sat nav read as off the scale in my Imp ( 90 mph ) , looked good though , new speedo seems fine if rather boring

[r.welfare]

No idea on top speeds, but the Accord says 68mph on the TomTom at 3,000rpm in top - speedo is reading 73. Avensis has a built-in satnav so no idea how accurate the speedo is.

 

Fastest I've been was (an indicated) 120 on a deserted M4 in my company Saab 9-3 TiD - trip computer was indicating 40mpg on the instant readout at that speed in 6th, so there's optimism for you in a different form.

[Mike D]

I had the m of mph on my mini 1000, screaming its nuts off, the generator light in my beetle, and 70mph on the sat nav in my capri sees the speedo around 85

[Angrydicky]

The worst one I've had was probably the A35 - couldn't check the accuracy very easily as didn't have a satnav at the time, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't doing the indicated 87mph that the speedo said it was, considering my foot was nowhere near flat to the floor.

Eh? The A35 speedo only goes up to 80mph!

 

The most I've had out of one is 70mph recorded, I reckon it was doing about 65. I know a few people who have maxed out their A35 speedos though.

 

2CV - I had 70 out of mine once on a long straight stretch of motorway but the wind and engine noise was terrific and it took ages and ages to get there.

[155V6]

87 out of an old square-shaped(C reg)Iveco Daily

[Pillock]

Zero, from behind, in my VW Type 3.

 

I reckon that's about 110mph on a 90mph speedo, probably 100mph in reality.

[Espacetic]

Mini's are really bad for under reading. During a rolling road shootout, 2 were so bad it was shocking. 93mph but showing 60mph.

 

I got pulled once for doing 57 in a 30, copper said "my speedo is calibrated so I can assure you it's accurate" so I said "mine isn't calibrated, it's a 1974 Dolomite Sprint with lower profile rear tyres than standard. If you wish I'll take it to VOSA and put it on their rollers and provide the speed printout". He dropped it and told me to watch my speed.

[Rusty Pelican]

This is doing 62 MPH parked up as I type with no engine fitted , seems to have a borked speedo then as well as no inner sills or floor edge

 

[STUNO]

I had a Mini once that had a would have the speedo "off the clock" by about 55 mph, I thoroughly enjoyed frightening a few pasengers.

The Mini was an Aussie 1100cc version I bought new. Loved it too !

[cms206]

I've had 87mph out of a P-reg Iveco 35.10, GPS showed... 79! Went like a rocket that van did. GPS readout of 73mph on our old Leopard whilst the speedo showed a marvellously sedate 47mph.

 

An indicated 150kmh in the 1.8D Courier Combi which I suspect was way over the mark on the autobahn.

 

My favourite so far was a Volvo B10M coach I drove recently with a faulty speed limiter... tacho had to be quietly removed from circulation after I looked down and saw I was doing an alleged 91mph!

[AnthonyG]

The fastest I have driven was an indicated 120mph in a Lexus IS200, it was a demonstration car on a test drive day at Millbrook about 10 years ago. This was round the banked circuit - IIRC you were not 'meant' to go over 100mph.

 

The day was organised by fleet car magazine or similar, I think the organisers were under the misapphrension I was the fleet manager at Cardiff University, when in reality I was a lowly researcher!

 

This was the only time I've ever driven a Prius, the original Mk1 saloon. Some were bought over by Toyota UK to test the market, not sure if they were ever offically sold over here.