Volvo to Impose 112 MPH Speed Limit on All New Cars from 2020

motomonkey said:
I've had a vehicle up to 140 mph, for a very short amount of time, on a deserted section of interstate with no one else around. most people in the united states will never get a vehicle that fast even on a track. It's only been in the last decade with developments in engine tech like direct fuel injection that small engines in production cars could develop the horsepower to get even close to that.
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Fuel injection has been around in mass-produced cars since the early 80's.

Back in 2004 I was radared going 168mph (where my 5th gear bounced off the rev limiter) in a 50 zone in my heavily modified manual transmission Saab 9-5 Aero.

Younger me did irresponsible things. That was a bad day.

But we are not the norm. Most people never try. I've heard people be *shocked* that I would ever even consider driving 90mph.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
Yeah, my '97 Mercury Sable was governed at about 120Mph.
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My old Chevy Beretta was also limited to 90Mph and I still have the car but don't drive it. Back in the day I got around it with a new chip that eventually blew up and took out ECU's. That was an expensive discovery.

Something tells me that Volvo is putting a speed limit for financial reasons. Maybe for insurance? Maybe they will offer faster cars without the speed limit? Better question is who drives that fast in a Volvo? I don't remember those cars being particularly fast.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Fuel injection had been around in Mass produced cars since the early 80's.

Back in 2004 I was radared going 168mph (where my 5th gear bounced off the rev limiter) in a 50 zone in my heavily modified manual transmission Saab 9-5 Aero.

Younger me did irresponsible things. That was a bad day.

But we are not the norm. Most people never try. I've heard people be *shocked* that I would ever even consider driving 90mph.
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oh yes. but Direct into cylinder injection on non sports cars is really a recent thing, that and turbo charging everything larger than a lawnmower has really increased the power on small cars. my wife's small SUV is rated at 245 HP, it handles like a drunken pig, but it's quick!
 
motomonkey said:
A 2004 Acura TL could go over 150 MPH? if you dropped it from an Airplane, perhaps.
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2002 TL-S auto

C/D ESTIMATED PERFORMANCE:
Zero to 60 mph: 6.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: XXXX
Street start, 5-60 mph: XXXX
Standing ¼-mile: 15.1 sec @ 94 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 145 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: XXXX
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: XXXX

the CLS was slightly faster at 146 so...
Zero to 60 mph: 6.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 17.3 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 7.0 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 15.2 sec @ 93 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 146 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 191 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.82 g

seems to be some confusion on C&D drag or governor limited as the owner of a 2002 CL type S for 10 years I can say with certainty that the car was indeed governor limited as top speed was obtainable in 4th and 5th gears and the car just stops accelerating abruptly when you reached 148 (GPS speed) engine speed was roughly 4300-4600 depending upon gear...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
2002 TL-S auto

C/D ESTIMATED PERFORMANCE:
Zero to 60 mph: 6.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: XXXX
Street start, 5-60 mph: XXXX
Standing ¼-mile: 15.1 sec @ 94 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 145 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: XXXX
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: XXXX

the CLS was slightly faster at 146 so...
Zero to 60 mph: 6.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 17.3 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 7.0 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 15.2 sec @ 93 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 146 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 191 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.82 g

seems to be some confusion on C&D drag or governor limited as the owner of a 2002 CL type S for 10 years I can say with certainty that the car was indeed governor limited as top speed was obtainable in 4th and 5th gears and the car just stops accelerating abruptly when you reached 148 (GPS speed) engine speed was roughly 4300-4600 depending upon gear...
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the unmodified car was rated at 270hp, respectable for a 6 cylinder at the time, I suspect it's drag limited, it gets very difficult to go faster at a certain point, no matter how much HP you throw in a car. My 2016 Mustang GT was rated at 435 hp, drag limit on it was around 170 mph, electronic limit was 155.
 
motomonkey said:
the unmodified car was rated at 270hp, respectable for a 6 cylinder at the time, I suspect it's drag limited, it gets very difficult to go faster at a certain point, no matter how much HP you throw in a car. My 2016 Mustang GT was rated at 435 hp, drag limit on it was around 170 mph, electronic limit was 155.
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a 1990 ZR-1 could do 170 and it had only 375 hp in 1990....so either your stang has a lot of drag or it is weak sauce in the HP department or most likely electronically limited.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...1990-chevrolet-corvette-zr-1-drive-flashback/
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
a 1990 ZR-1 could do 170 and it had only 375 hp in 1990....so either your stang has a lot of drag or it is weak sauce in the HP department or most likely electronically limited.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...1990-chevrolet-corvette-zr-1-drive-flashback/
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like I posted "170 mph drag limited"

A corvette is a much lighter car with less drag. it's not a fat ass family sedan with a huge front end like an Acura. more than just raw HP is involved in top speed calculations.
 
112 makes sense for the autobahn. As for anywhere else, more than 112mph and you are well beyond any modern engine's efficiency spot for mileage. While there are tons of places you could go 150mph... a lot of you are deluding yourselves if you think you'd do that on a regular basis, let alone 35 over the posted speed limit on most interstate highways.

The aero on most cars can handle those high speeds, but your bodies in an accident at those speeds are less likely to survive even with all the restraints and safety features in place.\

Life as a driver at 180mph, you are at the mercy of god should you hit a bad rut on the road to upset your suspension. Some "family cars" which what volvo mostly sells will probably get there suspension upset at lesser speeds. Then there's tire wear, air pressures required to keep a good contact patch, the driver's level of attention required to react to shit at these speeds. I'm going to say most people don't pay attention to this stuff enough to safely travel at 100mph let alone past those speeds on a daily basis.
 
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motomonkey said:
like I posted "170 mph drag limited"

A corvette is a much lighter car with less drag. it's not a fat ass family sedan with a huge front end like an Acura. more than just raw HP is involved in top speed calculations.
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negative a 1990 ZR1 is fairly heavy even by today's standards

Year: 1990
Model: ZR-1
¼ mile: 12.9 seconds @ 111 MPH
0 to 60 MPH: 4.6 seconds
Weight: 3,527 lbs.
Top Speed: 176 MPH
Source: Car and Driver April 1990

My car by comparison weighs in at slightly over 3300lbs and it is AWD
 
This pansy shit makes me sick. If the vehicle has enough power to do high speeds it doesnt take very long to get there. I have been over 200mph on public roads so many times that I think I went back in time.

And to the person that said a pothole at anything over 85 can cause fatality, eeeehhhhhhhh, unless there was a recent sinkhole or something a standard pothole will cause more problems at 55 than over 100.
 
Krazy925 said:
Probably should have RTFA. Alright but now that I did am I reading this wrong?

“It said the electronic restriction focused on driver behaviour because mechanical solutions alone could not ensure safety. The limit will apply to all cars made from mid-2020 onwards.”

I was actually looking at an S60. This is disappointing.
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The S60 is made in China now, not Sweden.. From what I remember.
 
>GSXR<mrbusa said:
This pansy shit makes me sick. If the vehicle has enough power to do high speeds it doesnt take very long to get there. I have been over 200mph on public roads so many times that I think I went back in time.

And to the person that said a pothole at anything over 85 can cause fatality, eeeehhhhhhhh, unless there was a recent sinkhole or something a standard pothole will cause more problems at 55 than over 100.
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This is what a slight bump in the road does at 200mph:



Go to 1:20.
 
So what is the drag coefficient on a 90 ZR1 vs. a 16 mustang? I'm guessing the former has a significant advantage there. Though apparenlty, it is a lot heavier than I thought.
 
That limit is still quite high. 85 MPH should be the highest governed speed to accommodate the highest speed limit in the country. Ideally, vehicles would use cameras to read speed limit signs and govern them that way as well.
 
Mchart said:
Again, there are areas of the country where -

You don't see anyone for long periods of time

Even if you saw a cop, they wouldn't give a shit if you were going 120

If your car can do it safely, why not?

No, you don't need to drive over112 in these areas, but you are literally just wasting your time if you aren't and you have a vehicle that can handle it.
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Because we as a society have decided that YOU dont get to make up your own safety parameters on the fly.

What you are describing is felony reckless endangerment.
 
Spire3660 said:
Because we as a society have decided that YOU dont get to make up your own safety parameters on the fly.
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Good thing that I don’t have to listen to YOU.

If I want to fly off the road at 120mph miles away from the nearest human being that’s my choice.

It’s sad that you can’t imagine or have experienced other areas of this country where things might be different.

Obviously, driving 120 in Chicago is a little different from driving 120 in the middle of some oil fields with no human beings anywhere near the horizon.
 
Riptide_NVN said:
So what is the drag coefficient on a 90 ZR1 vs. a 16 mustang? I'm guessing the former has a significant advantage there. Though apparenlty, it is a lot heavier than I thought.
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I imagine so, Mustang weighed around 3600 if I remember correct, and even the 16's are fairly flat faced compared to the vette.
 
Mchart said:
Good thing that I don’t have to listen to YOU.

If I want to fly off the road at 120mph miles away from the nearest human being that’s my choice.
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I'm completely with you on this and reject the safety nazi nanny state crybaby way of looking at this issue.

However, the law is the law. If I take a risk and get busted. I've got no room to complain.
 
Mchart said:
I had to make the west texas into new mexico drive quite a bit. There is a section there where you can go a few hours and not see a single other car on the road. If your vehicle will do 100+ safely there is no reason not to do it.
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I remember driving I-10 back when the speed limit was 55. talk about agony.

EDIT: and I suspect you are talking about route 54... yeah, it was deserted back then too.
 
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Does that mean 113 mph will kill me quicker.people are killed at 20 mph.somebody give me a break.
 
Generally what kills people is not paying attention. #1 cause of accidents, along with drunken driving too. Speed can be an aggravating factor depending on the circumstances.
 
motomonkey said:
I remember driving 1-10 back when the speed limit was 55. talk about agony.

EDIT: and I suspect you are talking about route 54... yeah, it was deserted back then too.
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One of them, that one is pretty bad. Anywhere in that area is bad. The I-10 itself in that section is bad, and it's insane to me the speed limit is 85 given how smooth that road is, and where you've got those sections where you can see a mile + in front of you. Unfortunately you don't want to be speeding on the I-10 in those areas because speeding is a revenue source there. Something like the 54 is completely wide open and the cops don't give a shit even if they happen to be on it.
 
Riptide_NVN said:
You can't drive 55? lol

EDIT: made me think of sammy hagar
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Volvo actually ran this magazine ad in 1983:

upload_2019-3-9_16-14-52.png


I know what they meant. Replace the thrill of speed with the thrill of acceleration.

My first thought - however - when I saw it was that if 55mph is interesting, your car probably handles for shit :p Got a good chuckle out of it.
 
As a kid I hit 110mph running from police. Fastest ever driven was 130+mph going down a mountain pass

Over about 100mph those stupid spoilers become very important. About 115 the physics make most cars drive like they weigh nothing. Lite crosswind can make you jump lanes without realizing it.

FTR i broke out of the rat race mentality, I am now a slow boring driver who chills in the right lane and likes plenty of cushion room on all sides. Was an Alaskan truck driver during college I learned to just cruise control and chill and arrive at my destination relaxed and refreshed rather then stressed and brain fried.

Now I drive with my little kids in the car who stay in car seats for pretty much 1:1, e.g. 1 minute of yelling equals 1 minute of staying in their carseat.

But now when people aggressively tailgate me they have no idea that should they cause an accident that kills my kids they better kill me as well or I will come cone back and slow murder them. My time working with police and governments I saw lots of accident pictures they don't show on the news. Good lesson how life inside the car can go from sound of music to spaghetti and meatballs in a 1/10 of a second.
 
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I keep it at 5-10mph over the limit nearly all the time. The only time I drive a car fast is on a race track or if it needs a data log or work on the tune. For the latter, outside of town on a road best suited. Not flying through traffic like a fkn moron.
 
If there's a Volvo tuning community, they'll circumvent this using whatever tools they have to manipulate the ECU via the diagnostic port. At least that's how it works in Subaru land.
 
If you drive over 100 mph, you are taking your life in your hands. Kinetic Energy isn't applied linearly to speed. It is exponential. Most cars can survive a crash around 60-70 mph. You crash at 100 you are dead. Cars aren't designed to dissipate the KE at that speed. It's not about you being a safe driver either. There are plenty of dumb asses who have been granted driver's licenses who shouldn't be on the road. A pothole could cause you to crash at 100 that wouldn't affect you at 60.

I appreciate the idea of driving fast, but the risk/reward skews way too hard to risk in this case.
 
djoye said:
If there's a Volvo tuning community, they'll circumvent this using whatever tools they have to manipulate the ECU via the diagnostic port. At least that's how it works in Subaru land.
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Currently. It could be changed in the future such that it becomes harder to flash the ECU. Other companies have made it difficult. Dodge for example. Let's hope they don't lock us out. Ford still allows it but they can tell if it's been flashed and will try to void the warranty because of it.
kirbyrj said:
I appreciate the idea of driving fast, but the risk/reward skews way too hard to risk in this case.
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Hard to argue with any of that. 100+ mph, if the car leaves the road, you are in bad shape.

I don't presume to make the choice for others, as long as they do it away from traffic and people.
 
The solution is to still put 160 as the max on the speedometer while limiting the actual speed. Then people can look at that big fast number any time they need a peen charge.
 
Riptide_NVN said:
Currently. It could be changed in the future such that it becomes harder to flash the ECU. Other companies have made it difficult. Dodge for example. Let's hope they don't lock us out. Ford still allows it but they can tell if it's been flashed and will try to void the warranty because of it.

Hard to argue with any of that. 100+ mph, if the car leaves the road, you are in bad shape.

I don't presume to make the choice for others, as long as they do it away from traffic and people.
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Volvo has already been making their ECU's pretty much impenetrable for tuners since the early 2000's using encryption .

Of course, they will sell you a tune from their in-house tuner, Polestar, but 3rd party tuners are SOL.

I mean, nothing is unhackable, but back when I was looking for a time for my S80 T6, which ought to be very tunable, there was nothing to be found.

I guess they just made it difficult enough that the effort to break it just wasn't worth it for small independent tuners.
 
112 is perfectly reasonable, this is also an S rated tire's Max safe sustained speed and they're standard on many vehicles, so that's probably why that particular number. 112 gives plenty of room for passing manuevers on high speed roads.

Public roads really aren't any place for triple digits, regardless of the driver and vehicle, the roads in the US are not engineered or maintained for people to be going that fast. And you ain't buying a Volvo to participate in track days.
 
For companies that lock out the ECU. Could a 3rd party sell a physical custom ECU? Or maybe you send yours in, they wipe the factory tune out completely, then load their in-house un-locked tune?
 
Exavior said:
I was wondering the same thing. Why 112 and not 110 or 115.
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That's the same as 180 km/hour. So they decided on a round number 180, and it doesn't convert to a round number 112 mph.

I predict that some competitor will announce that their cars are limited to 120 to show they are faster.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Back in 2004 I was radared going 168mph (where my 5th gear bounced off the rev limiter) in a 50 zone in my heavily modified manual transmission Saab 9-5 Aero.

Younger me did irresponsible things. That was a bad day.

But we are not the norm. Most people never try. I've heard people be *shocked* that I would ever even consider driving 90mph.
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Fastest I've gone is about 117 mph in my Acura Integra when I was much younger and dumber.

However, I've also hit over 95 in a minivan :eek:
Speed limit was 85, so we weren't going much faster than the limit.
Wife didn't like that speed and made me slow down :D

Going 95 on a mid sized motorcycle seemed much faster than either of those. :nailbiting:
 
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