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Quite an interesting article. My beef is also with car manufacturers. I have a bog standard 2015 Mazda 3. The speedometer reads up to 260KMH, the national spee
by boznz 9y ago
Quite an interesting article.
My beef is also with car manufacturers. I have a bog standard 2015 Mazda 3. The speedometer reads up to 260KMH, the national speed limit in the country is 100KMH, who the fuck are they designing these things for?
- tsomctl 9y agoThe national speed limit doesn't apply when on a race track.
- mc32 9y agoCan you imagine at the dealership: You step into a basic Toyota, you gauge the speedometer. It reads 0 on end, 160 on the other. Next you step into a basic Honda, you gauge the speedometer. It reads 0 on one end, 80 on the other. Which one will most people buy, all other things being equal? Now, if you want to have an absolute maximum speed, governments can insist on tamper-proof governors. Kinda like Singapore does for its cabs.
- UncleEntity 9y ago> ...who the fuck are they designing these things for? Obviously you since you own the thing. If people didn't buy the fast cars they wouldn't build the fast cars...how many Beetles were sold worldwide and those things could barely do 110kph with a good tailwind?
- hermannj314 9y agoAren't all of the gauges from speed, temperature, tach, fuel, etc. meant to show engineering ranges and not optimal ranges? If you designed a car that couldn't go faster than 100KMh, I assume driving it 100% of the time at 100kmh would be more detrimental to the car's longevity than operating a more capable car at a lower percentage of its capability. I realize I'm making some assumptions here, but maybe the maximum speed of a car is an design artifact of maximizing for multiple variables (longevity, fuel consumption, maintenance costs), not just speed. I'm not an engineer so I have no idea what I'm talking about.
- perl4ever 9y agoI believe the European base model Mazda3 has a 1.5L engine with 99 HP. If that is the one we are talking about, or even the 2.0L engine with somewhat more, then 260KMH is not remotely related to the engineering capability, with or without a speed governor. I'd assume it's just the standard gauge for all their cars.
- perl4ever 9y agoI have some thoughts on why this is the case. First, speed limits vary from place to place and manufacturers don't need to change the speedometer for each one. For instance, in the US, there are places where the limit is as high as 137KMH, and it used to be unlimited in places. I don't know what Germany is like these days. Also, the Mazda3 is said to have a governed top speed of 190KMH* so the speedometer reading up to 260 is a red herring with respect to actual performance. Finally, a high top speed is a side effect of having the acceleration that consumers would like. *It's a governed speed in order to preserve the tires, but it's unlikely it would make 260KMH even without the governor; maybe 200-220KMH at best - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda3
- userbinator 9y agoI don't know what Germany is like these days. Large portions of the Autobahn are still unlimited.
- Fronzie 9y agoThey are, although over the last decade the amount of people driving above 180kph seems to have gotten less. It has gotten more busy on the road, and a government campaign promoting safe driving which seems to have had effect.
- smueller1234 9y agoI've observed the same thing. It feels much rarer that people drive very fast on the autobahn these days. This being said, I always assumed this was mostly an effect of a) many cars being able to show fuel consumption on the hud and b) fuel prices having risen considerably.
- robin_reala 9y agoTop speed doesn’t directly correspond with acceleration, as weight plays a factor as well. To pick a slightly extreme example, Caterham’s Seven 160 will accelerate from 0-60mph in 6.9s yet tops out at 100mph, due to a sub-500kg weight and an 80bhp engine: http://uk.caterhamcars.com/cars/seven-160 http://uk.caterhamcars.com/cars/seven-160
- userbinator 9y agowho the fuck are they designing these things for? The Germans.
- xxs 9y agoThe max value of the speedometer is irrelevant, the max speed of Mazda 3 (depending on the engine) is ~210 km/h. On a flip note the value of top speed should in the car manual. Read the doc :) There are countries with higher limits as well, i.e. they have not designed to be sold in your own country solely.
- AndyMcConachie 9y agoIt's marketecture. (marketing/architecture) You don't actually need it, but if you can be convinced you need it or want it, then you'll pay more for it. Most people don't buy cars based purely on practicality. They buy the car for the lifestyle they wish they had. And dammit I wanna be a race car driver!
- bobdole1234 9y agoIt's a UI thing. Most of them set a range so the standard operating speed on a highway is roughly at the top of the gauge. In this way, people can gauge their speed when driving different vehicles my glancing at the position not reading the numbers.
- gowld 9y ago1. modern cars have digital speedometer display 2. many cars don't have a linear (circumferential) scale on the analogue display (because they put the "highwy speed" at the top of the semi-circle