Speed limiters

Seinas

just wondering does anyone have a speed limiter fitted or know someone with one??

what are the advantages and disadvantages??


thanks..:)

Rovi

I've got one on the Audi.
It keeps me from inadvertently exceeding a set speed, but it restricts the top end performance of the car; which is exactly what it's designed to do. :rolleyes:

Anan1

I have a system which can be set to warn me if I exceed a certain speed. To be honest, I never use it and wouldn't even be overly clear on how to set it. The car also has an overall speed limiter, meaning that no matter how hard I press the accelerator it won't go beyond a set speed. Is this what you mean?

I.S.T.

I don't think they're a good idea. What if you are in a dangerous sitution and need some extra speed to get out of it safely?

Anan1

IrishSpeedTraps wrote:

I don't think they're a good idea. What if you are in a dangerous sitution and need some extra speed to get out of it safely?

The one that warns me when I reach a set speed has no effect on acceleration, it's just a warning. Maybe other cars are different, in which case I would agree with you. The 'real' limiter does prevent the car from going any faster, but it's set high enough that it's not an issue.

here.from.day.1

Most high performance cars that are capible of in excess of 155mph are usually limited to said speed. In saying that im sure its not a problem for many if any of us. Also buses are usually limited to around 80kph I think. As for benefits I cant really see the point unless you constantly exceed the speed limit without realising it. On decent roads that you can cruise on I find cruise control a handy method of staying at the limit.

Anan1

LIGHTNING wrote:

My mates 147 had one, once you passed the set speed the ECU cuts the throttle. My bro`s C4 has a limiter on it too but I haven't used it yet.Not too sure of the practical use of them in real life. If you are on the motorway just use cruise control to set the speed.

That does sound potentially dangerous to me. A warning would be fine, but cutting the throttle isn't great.

Cionád

here.from.day.1 wrote:

Also buses are usually limited to around 80kph I think.

the Dublin Bus i get home in the evenings DEFINITELY does not have this installed / working!! :eek:

MercMad

The Mercs have had dual speed limiters as standard for about 7 years !

There is one which is set using the buttons on the sterring wheel, only whilst the car is stationary, and it really limits only the top speed, i.e its lowest setting is about 100MPH from memory !

The other one is more useful, it is controled by the Cruise Control stalk and when pressed in instead of it acting like cruise, where your speed never drops below a preset figure, it keeps your speed under a preset figure. A dash display tell you which system is active using a ring around the speedo.

It cuts the throttle gently and will apply the brakes too ! Importantly if you need to overtake , the the kicdown switch overides it. The manual cars also have this override switch under the accelerator !

Tony Danza

here.from.day.1 wrote:

Also buses are usually limited to around 80kph I think.

I'm not certain but I don't think buses are. Articulated trucks were limited to 55 mph, don't know what the limit is in kilometres, suppose it's about 90 kph.

unkel

Anan1 wrote:

I have a system which can be set to warn me if I exceed a certain speed. To be honest, I never use it

I have the same and I do use it on. It's set to 125km/h so when I'm driving on a motorway and it gently beeps, I switch on cruise control if I feel like it. Bit of a reminder really allowing me not to have to monitor my speedometer

Balfa

here.from.day.1 wrote:

Most high performance cars that are capible of in excess of 155mph are usually limited to said speed.

I'm not sure if it's law, or just a gentleman's agreement, but either government or automakers in Germany decided it was dangerous, or uncivilised or something for a "normal" looking saloon car to be way faster than a sportscar (Porsche probably complained to daddy), so the decision was made to limit them to 250km/h (155mph), which may or may not have been the actual top speed of a certain Porsche at the time.
But it only applies to saloons, etc., so the Mercedes SLR isn't limited

Or all that could just be made up... who knows?

colm_mcm

a Bus Eirean bus passed me on the N7 yeaterday evening, I was doing an indicated 110kmph, and it went past me at what I guess was 120kmph.

Rovi

Balfa wrote:

I'm not sure if it's law, or just a gentleman's agreement, but either government or automakers in Germany decided it was dangerous, or uncivilised or something for a "normal" looking saloon car to be way faster than a sportscar (Porsche probably complained to daddy), so the decision was made to limit them to 250km/h (155mph), which may or may not have been the actual top speed of a certain Porsche at the time.
But it only applies to saloons, etc., so the Mercedes SLR isn't limited

Or all that could just be made up... who knows?

The version I heard was that with various flavours of Green politician gaining more and more power in German politics, the writing was on the wall for the big engined Autobahn cruisers, so BMW/Mercedes/VAG pre-empted proposed legislation by coming up with the Gentleman's Agreement to limit top speeds in 'conventional' cars to 250km/h (155mph).
So, it was a sop to keep the environmentalists at bay for the time being.

agent_smith

I dont think that speed restriction applies to the newer BMW variants of the m6 etc.. does it ? Ive heard if you buy an alpina customed bmw you loose the restrictor!

Balfa

Rovi wrote:

So, it was a sop to keep the environmentalists at bay for the time being.

That makes sense. A car that gets 40mpg at 60mph will be getting 6mpg at 155mph! Who wants to stop every 35 minutes (with a 14 gal tank) to fill up on the autobahn?

Rovi

Balfa wrote:

That makes sense. A car that gets 40mpg at 60mph will be getting 6mpg at 155mph! Who wants to stop every 35 minutes (with a 14 gal tank) to fill up on the autobahn?

6mpg into 14 gallon tank= 84 miles/tank. Even dropping the spare 4 miles for getting on and off the autobahn and acceleration/deceleration, I'd be guessing that doing 80 miles with the throttle buried to the floor at 155mph might not be entirely feasible.

The thing is though, that 155mph is what they're allowed to do by the Gentleman's Agreement, so it's not as if it's doing a whole lot for sparing the old dinosaur juice anyway. :rolleyes: