Just a thought on sports car makers acclaimed top speed bragging rights and real world practicality. When my 512BB was new it had a reported top speed of 188mph from Ferrari, well thats great but in reality I can only use 1st thru 3rd gears otherwise I am lugging the car at 65mph in 4th, so in the real world I have a 3 speed unless I want to crank it to 90+ mph everywhere I go, the same with my 930 I am lugging it in 4th gear at 65 mph at 2500rpm so I need to be in 3rd, another 3 speed. So these bragging rights of 200mph top speeds in cars what good are they in the real world unless you drive the Euro open speed freeways or on the track, personally I'd rather have a car top out at about 140 max and have better acceleration thru all the gears and more practical real world useable performance instead of something that will result in having your car impounded and loosing your license. Or are most people just satisfied and interested in reported top speed bragging rights thru magazine shootouts and mfr stats so they know their car is capable of such speeds but unusable in the real world? Any thoughts?
how bout a Lotus Elise or Exige?? handles like it's on rails, you can take it to the track and have a ball, i drove an Elise around Frankfurt last year for 4 month, and absolutely luved it!!!......and now they're bringing them to the US........oh yeah and you can park that little thing anywhere. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
In Bangkok, upper deck Super highway 30 miles stretch, you can... Here early sunday morning, no traffic, no police, we do top speed regulary. I top my Lotus Esprit at 180mph and my Ferrari 308 at 155mph. Many in the F40, Lambo's did well over 190mph.... And that's what supercars are all about. ..... So, bottom end acceleration, we left it for the Japaness at king of the local road.
But once in a while I think you do blast your car well over the max limit anyway, right? That is the point, I don't think we all drive 130-160 MPH everyday but we occasionally do that and it is a good feeling isn't it. Remember the feeling when you are driving at 140+MPH, that is what super cars are for IMO.
i've oft thought the exact same thing. fine, we can do some ludicrous pant-fudging speeds if we need to, but for a strictly street-car i'd rather have a close-ratio 6speed and diff combo that tops out somewhere around 110-140mph. all the gears would be much more usable, and when you want to have some spirited pedal dancing, go ahead and use the box to it's potential. plus you have the added benefit of a likely even quicker car from 0-60-100. i really don't need to go faster than 100, i just want to get there really quick.
I think it depends on where you live. In the midwest or west coast you can use more of a cars top speed capabilities because there are soo many roads that are pretty much empty and there is nothing around to hit. Now if you're on the east coast, you don't really need a car that can do 180 or above, unless you want to get arrested. There are cops everywhere and too much traffic. Plus the roads suck, or they are small. An elise,308,dino,esprit would be perfect.
Funny I'm looking for another gear in my 308 (6th). Last time I had a high revin highway set up was with my 79 XJS . Didn't like the 3200 rpm at 60mpg with the V-12. Ate a lot of fuel going back and forth to work. After the conversion to 350/350 with 4sp auto (OD) it brought me down to 1800rpm at 65mph. Great on fuel and put out great rubber on low end and also took me up at top speed. Great combo. I guess its personal choise here.
Jeff, I agree with you that things are gettting out of hand. Not only are modern cars capable of insane speeds, nobody should be going this fast on public roads, period. There are just too many things that can (and will) go wrong. Moreover, after spending some time in a Stradale, I'm convinced that the answer is less weight, not more ponies. It would take a lot of track time for me to say that a Stradale needs more power. But the driving experience in a lighter, non-turbo car is fantastic! Now, if Ferrari could knock 500 pounds off the Maranello... Dale
How about a Hummer. I can get to 95 in about three days, the only problem is that because of such aerodynamics I leave Tornadoes behind me ....
great thread. the most fun i have ever had in any cars ( with clothes on ) was the 1970 Z28 4 speed i had, and the 1973 455 4 speed trans am super duty. first gear was useless in these cars, and 2nd - 4th was like going to a theme park ride. the 0-100-0 is what made the Cobra's so much fun. i am on my 2nd 308, but i do miss the old Muncie 4 speed and American muscle now and then. it would seem to me though that as much fun as a muscle car may be, the rush from a Ferrari or Lamborghini V12 at high rpm's would be on another plane of excitement over what one would get from old American iron. i totally agree that the speed the cars are capable of are for the most part , useless 99% of the time. my old 308 was marrone and like a stealth bomber. i have had run of bad luck with the red 308, it seems the local police like to follow me around now and ride down my street, waiting for me to leave in the car. the reality is i have no use to go much over 95 or so, and thats just keeping up with the flow of traffic on I-95 and I-16.
Believe it or not, this is one of the reasons why I think the Mondial 8 is a great car. You can flog the **** out of it, and you're doing the speed limit.
Steve, I guess the 79 had different rear end gearing than the HE's. I had an 85 xjs v12 that at 3k rpms I was cruising at 80. I do feel like my 308 could have a 6th gear, I'd probably get into trouble though. Carreaper, I think we miss the old american iron because it was soo simple and cheap to maintain. I had a 72 340 Charger and that f'n car would SCREAM. It was probably one of the largest two door cars ever made though.
Car left her stranded yesterday. I rode with the tow truck, she drove the 365. And when we got here, she told me how much better a 12 cylinder GT car is on the highway, how much more power, how much smoother, better tracking. ****, looks like I'm going to need a 400i 5 speed now to keep her happy...
Well, I was considering to buy a more vintage car instead of my Mondial but I need the top speed. Last semester I held my lectures every Friday from 8 a.m., the distance from my home to the University is 50 miles (90% Autobahn) and there never was a traffic jam - you can go most of the way with whatever your car is able to deliver. So the difference between a faster car and a slower car means 20 minutes more sleep However, even the speed of an CGT would give me only 5 minutes more of sleep ...
I really like the older Lotus Exige the track pix look great the new Exige styling doesnt look as nice imho
I normally drive shifting under 4000 for this 350 V8. Tacking it up in 4th only. If I go much higher than 4000 Im doing more than120mph or so. Image Unavailable, Please Login
