I've seen this term thrown out a lot when the 456 first came out. It got me thinking, what is the history of this and who is the reigning champ? I don't claim to have all the info, so that's partly why I am posting here. This is what I came up with: Car #7) Ferrari 456 1992-2002 192 mph #6) Bentley Continental GT 2003 198 mph #5) Aston-Martin Vanquish S 2004-2006 200+ mph #4) Bentley Continental GT Speed 2007-2008 202 mph #3) Bentley Continental SuperSports First Gen 2009-2010 204 mph #2) Ferrari FF 2011-2016 208mph #1) Bentley Continental SuperSports 2nd Gen 2017-Present 209 mph In the spirit of academic rigor and intellectual honestly, I invite examination, challenges, and criticism. Keep in mind the criteria I followed is this 1) Manufacturer Claimed Top Speed (please link a source, if you challenge my ranking) 2) Regular production car (can't be a secondary 'tuner' or post market modification/enhancement - that would be a slippery slope indeed) 3) Of course, 4 seats out of the factory Hope you enjoy this.
Not sure how strict the “4 seats out of the factory” definition you considered, but I was just thinking about how my daily driver Tesla Model S (theoretically a 5 seater) would fare in this company. It does 0-60 in 2.4 seconds which blows the doors off most any car out there, but seems to be limited to 155mph. I couldn’t find any actual info on unrestricted top speed, but wondered if any other P100DL owners would be willing to hack into their Tesla and remove the limiter, all in the name of science, of course... I, for one, would pass to a braver soul! Ruben
Thanks for chiming in, I had that in my research. However considering the 612 was out from model year 2004-2011, the Vantage, two Bentley, and FF slightly beat it during that time frame, hence the exclusion. Cheers
I have no doubt in terms of 0-60 & 1/4 (probably 1/2 mile too) the P100d will blow every other 4+ seater out of the water. However, my parameters are strictly stock. Not knocking Teslas either, my brother has an S and X, deposit down for roadster, and my dad has a 3. My family is a big fan. So while the Teslas do offer otherworldly performance, they are very far from this list. **** We all know speed = money + time + (- reliability), throw after market mods in the mix and this will go forever until we're talking about rockets. It's a slippery slope that I don't want to slide down.
Mercedes S63 is a 195-197 mph sedan, even though they publish 155 mph. Many videos out there online, stock vehicles. Yes, I own one...
Just how many of those are true 4-seaters as opposed to 2+2s? I recall reading a road test some while ago in which a stock Bentley Flying Spur was driven on track at 202 mph, five up. That is IMPRESSIVE.
This is a good point, i did see the flying spur, but top speeds are superceded by the Continental GTs. My list just qualifies 4+ seats, as for the size of said seats, that was yet another slippery slope I am purposely avoiding. As for the Vantage, I suspect it is the 2 seat config, but since it was available in 2+2, added it in anyways as I saw no qualifier from Aston Martins published claims.
HI Eric, I have no cause to doubt your claim, on the contrary, I fully believe you. I assume however this is due to circumvention of the electronic limiter? I see on Mercedes-Benz website top speed of an S65 is 155 and 186 for sedan and coupe respectively. Both of these facts stated, I'm hoping you can have someeither manufacturer or a major 3rd party publication with published top speeds of S63/S65 with said limiters defeated? I could not find any other then the youtube videos you mention which I am purposely avoiding to avoid any externality in conditions (weather, condition, mods, etc) Cheers and kind regards.
I hope folks do not find this post conceded. I"m a nerd when it comes to these cars, so I enjoy looking at these things (reminds me of folks that like to ponder over baseball stats) I would not begin to even think of trying to approach any of these speeds on an ordinary highway. Only very controlled conditions would I ever even imagine to attempt to contact these speeds. I've also noticed the 'top speed' stat seems to be held in higher esteem generally more so in Europe than the USA. I've always seen top speed as a stat that does not give you any assurance of performance because you plan to go that fast; but more so that if you know what an engine is capable of at the 'max,' one theoretically can be assured at 1/2 or 1/4 level - said unstressed engine output would be more 'capable' vs. a car that cannot reach those top speeds. I also can see that the historical 4+ seat qualifier can be an automatic milquetoast asterisk, hardly worth the examination in itself.
This video is a 2018 S63. 315 kph = 195.7 mph Mine is a 2015 and does not have a 155 mph governor, and it is all stock. No problem asking for more proof, happy to help. Knowing what my car will do stock, I believe the video I attached.
Thank you very much! This is cool. Do you know of any magazine or Mercedes Benz source that has electronic limiter removed stats? Cheers
I think Paul's criteria (manufacturer claimed top speed) for consistency mean the AMGs can't be considered, as the official top speed of the performance pack cars is 186 mph.
Both the Charger and Challenger are 4-seaters. Dodge says the current Hellcat Redeye is good for 203mph. They originally said the Charger Hellcat was good for 204mph. Mustang GT350 is good for 202 mph. I've never put much stock in top speed claims. 0-60 and even 1/4 mile times matter far more to me, since thats something I'll actually use. In addition once you star getting over 200mph aero makes such a difference and that doesn't really matter at normal speeds. Lastly with so many cars artificially limited to 155mph, its not even something that you can reasonably compare between many cars.
Sorry Paul, wish I did, maybe one day they will remove the limiter from the factory so they can be considered with the rest. Thanks for putting this list together!
It just depends on which country you drive in. A car that does 340 kph. can «cruise» at 280. Many long good stretches on the Autobahn and at some times of the day, you can use the potential. Same gods for all European motorister who occationally go through Germany. There are equally good highways in most other European countries too, but then you need some more balls to go that fast.
Appreciate all the replies, I am grateful for the comments and points of view. This is what I came up with for a unofficial definitive list from 1990-2019 if you don't count the 'champ' methodology I used in the first post. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think this follows what I've historically seen with my 'magazine' racing. It seems there are areas in Europe that are more favorable for higher speed touring. Of course here in the states, there are tons of roads as well, but I don't know if it's cultural thing or perhaps stricter law enforcement, it seems to be less emphasized based on what I see.
I totally agree, this is all just academic and anecdotal (although I'm trying to be somewhat official), I would be a fool to regularly attempt to even approach these speeds on public roads.
Thanks Jaguar, I added a list above, I only saw one stat for the Charger, so I would put the Challenger in that zone as well. I agree 100% top speed is just a number with minimal bearing in the real world, when I acquired the 456M, the claim I saw thrown judiciously was "It is the fastest 4 seater in the world (at the time)" - so I was curious to see what the landscape was and how that title had evolved over time. Hope you found this entertaining and just a fun exercise.