Last year I did a road trip across Europe, it included extended sections of de-restricted Autobahn, the traffic conditions were not great but mine happily cruised at an indicated 140-145mph, getting over 150mph was much harder, I need long clear sections of road, I did my speed runs in sixth. This year I am driving to Romania and will go through Germany, this time I will go for top speed in fifth. I need to hit that limiter! i still struggle to believe you can drive so fast legally! People were over taking me just commuting to work, I was following a Mercedes GLK compact SUV that was cruising at 140mph, just another drive to work.
How fast will a Z4 actually go?
- Thread starter DaveZ4C
- Start date
montego said:
The Germans are an odd bunch. The smaller the car. The more nutty they drive. When I pull up to a red light in my 3.0si and there is an old style ford ka or smart car. they ALWAYS do a max effort F1 launch. And they have the white van drivers here to. Fully loaded work vans leaning at a 20 deg angle, tyres howling, going around corners like their hair is on fire.
The guys with the really fast cars tend to driver a little more sensibly.
thefmister
Member
But I must say that I think most of the Germans do drive sensibly. Whenever you drive in Germany you know you have to check you mirrors more than once before overtaking. At least I do. And my understanding is that most people do. And yes they drive fast but whenever roadworks pop up they stick to the speedlimit. And when the restriction is over they floor it again. And on the countryroads they do stick to the limit. They don't stick to your bumper and wait nicely before you pull back to the right to overtake you.
Not sure exactly but I think the M's are capable of about 175mph. You can get an M-driver package from BMW for the Coupe (well in Continental Europe you can), which lifts but does not remove, the limiter to 171mph.
I suspect the facelift 3.0i could crack 160mph but I reckon the pre-facelift 3.0i would just about get to the 155 limiter. The fastest I ever went in my pre-facelift 3.0 was a GPS verified 149mph.
I suspect the facelift 3.0i could crack 160mph but I reckon the pre-facelift 3.0i would just about get to the 155 limiter. The fastest I ever went in my pre-facelift 3.0 was a GPS verified 149mph.
thefmister said:
Yes. When there are road work sections everyone obeys. And the Germans are in fact good drivers.
I just find it rather odd that the smaller and slower the car the bigger their need to act like they don't have a small slow car. I liken it to me in my Zed pulling up to a stop light next to a Konigseg and drive away like I was actually going to show them a thing or two. But in reality I don't do that. As I know I'd have my arse beat soundly. But in Germany the smart car sitting next to you will always pull away with the rev needle bouncing off the limiter and trying to shift like it was an F1 car. And it cracks me up.
thefmister
Member
Well they all like to think they are Schumacher or Vettel. Even in Smart or mk2 golf diesel 
The Alpina is supposed to do 170ish with a hardtop on. I shan't be trying it any time soon...
Tapatalking...
Tapatalking...
172mph on the limiter in Germany 2 years ago plus a 15 minute session at 160mph with no issues apart from a fuel crisis. Have a 500 mile run to Switzerland coming up so looking forward to more fast runs soon.
Drove on the autobahn in the M last summer - roof down we hit 155mph 250kph easily and I kept the M in 5th as I'd remembered someone mentioning the M was faster in 5th (?) as we easily reached 7900rpm changing up brought more strong acceleration in 6th - but the road conditions stopped play. . . the brakes are good from high speed but they smelt a bit after 
First time I'd driven abroad and the speeds on the autobahn are thrilling - when you see everyone ahead pulling over to the RIGHT and you see a white speck in your mirror gaining size so quickly you get out the way and barnstorming AMGSs must be close to 200mph as they blast past - simply amazing!
Gives you an appreciation of why German cars are built the way they are. . . .
First time I'd driven abroad and the speeds on the autobahn are thrilling - when you see everyone ahead pulling over to the RIGHT and you see a white speck in your mirror gaining size so quickly you get out the way and barnstorming AMGSs must be close to 200mph as they blast past - simply amazing!
Gives you an appreciation of why German cars are built the way they are. . . .
plowy said:
A car wont go past its revlimiter, unless the wind is so strong that it can actually push it that hard (which is not possible on earth).
Past the revlimiter all power is cut.
But with all these calculations.... is it a worn tyre or not?
Theoretical top speed for the 2.5i with 3.25:1 diff, which is actually a 3.23:1 diff is:
6500rpm : 1,00 (5th gear ratio) : 3,23 (diff gear ratio) x 1984mm (tyre circum) x 60 / 10^6 = 239,55km/h or 148,85mph
In practice the wind factor can easily make 10mph difference, so without some recording of that you might as well drive down a mountain to get a good feeling about it :wink:
Temperature is also an influecial factor.
All I can say is go to Germany, look for some very quiet piece of unrestricted (sunday morning: no trucks) and test it out.
I think it'll be a dissapointing run if people expect to run much faster than 155mph with their delimited car (except M of course).
Now drive a porsche... and be amaized (no flame, it'll show how important drag is at such speeds)
Not theoretical, my 2009 35i with dinan Stage II did 160mph easily, my 2005 M3 hit 158mph with lots of revs left so I'm pretty sure my M roadster would surpass the M3 Cab.(same engine)
My 911 C2S will go faster than all of them but we aren't going to try any time soon, 210kmh in a 600yd backstretch into a hard left is fast enough
My 911 C2S will go faster than all of them but we aren't going to try any time soon, 210kmh in a 600yd backstretch into a hard left is fast enough
