Doing 100 on the autobahn is not a big deal. Just stay out of the ‘fast’ lane, or the Porsches, BMWs, and MBs will run you over!
nothing to worry about…ride it like the rest of the US wish we could.
" nothing to worry about…ride it like the rest of the US wish we could. "
Count Me Out !
I might try it, once, but on a daily basis, no way ! Those little cars aren’t set up for a collision at that speed, no NASCAR style cage or safety equipment.
A road hazard, spill, animal, mechanical, tire or other failure, not to mention “the other guy,” and a resulting “accident” and that thing will fold up like a cheap suit with you in it, permanent press !
An aviation expression goes, " There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. "
CSA
Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I want to address some the questions - the car is US Spec. (I am in the US Army, stationed here). Redline is 6,500 and I checked today, 120 MPH is right at 5,100 in 6th gear.
I have experienced some abnormal tireware, but assumed it was because I had winter tires on all summer 
The Autobahns are remarkably smooth and well maintained, that said, I do acknowledge that at 100 MPH a tire blow-out or a deer in the way could be catastrophic.
MPG is between 29-30 MPG, not bad considering I drive the heck out of it. If I keep it ~80, I get abotu 35 MPH. I am willing to blow the 6 MPG to get home sooner.
Now, I have a question: What is OP? Thanks again for all the information, lots to think about.
OP = original poster (you, in this case).
Only worrisome thing to me is using winter tires at high speed in summer - they’re not designed for that.
“OP” means “Original Poster”.
At 5,100 RPM you’re shortening the engine’s lifespan, but whether it’s worth it to you is a personal choice.
Sincere thanks for your military service. And I mean that.
Good posts all! German designed cars are meant to cruise at those speeds without falling apart. I remember driving 100mph in a small Ford Escort from Frankfurt Airport all the way to the Dutch border where I had to slow down to 80mph. The Dutch goverment considers 85 mph a “reasonable” highway speed.
I agree that it will cause some additional wear, but it’s so much fun. I would use synthtic oil, and change it at 50% of the indicated interval. I would also check all fluids and tires frequnetly. Other than that, enjoy yourself.
My buds father’s motto was it does not hurt a good engine to go fast, Don’t know if he changed his mind after he needed an engine rebuild after 2 years of owning the car.
Full synthetic oil only change every 2k. Change trans oil every motor oil change if u want to get Max life or every year. and you should get a better clutch cruising at high speed wears a manual clutch fast so u want a good one and change your sparkplugs with your trans fluid but honestly unless your rpm is below 3500 I wouldn’t cruise going 100+ on a daily basis with a 200hp engine unless you get retuned to run a little richer so it keeps the cylinders cooler
How about 6 years late and he probably is not in Germany any more . And the engaged clutch does not care how fast the vehicle is going.
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Haha dude cruising at high speed for a long time will make the clutch disc heat up and start wearing especially a stock one
Old thread …
Yeah, your advice makes no sense and you are quite late to the party.
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When the clutch is engaged it’s a direct mechanical connection. There’s no heat-producing slippage.
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Nope. No slip, no heat. Torque makes clutches slip and maximum torque is at lower rpm, not higher.
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Even though it’s been 6 years, I’m still wondering how you get a Mini up to 120 MPH? I’m thinking of the song “beep beep, beep beep, his horn went beep beep beep”. Yeah on those little cars, seems to me at 70 the rpms are around 3000 so can’t imagine what it would be at 120. But maybe he’ll come back and tell us how it went.
He did. More than six years ago.
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… plus, this questionable advice:
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Pull it with a Veyron?
As far as getting it to 120, there’s a difference between 120 indicated on the speedometer and 120 actual. Speedometers are often optimistic, especially in Europe where laws require speedometers never to read slower than actual speed even if the driver changes the diameter of the tire and introduces error that makes the speedometer read slower than it did from the factory. But they are allowed to read up to 10% high. 120 indicated on a Euro speedometer often translates to something closer to 109 actual speed. To know you were going at least 120, you’d have to get a reading closer to 132 on the speedo.
NOW I’m curious, where do You have that from as I would like to read it.
The only cars that has been known in Europe to show UP to 10% higher than actual speed was Volvo from the fifties and sixties. Here (Dk) a difference on 5% was considered very high up to around mid eighties and now it has to be less than 2% to be considered acceptable.
There has been many instances where the speedo has actually been showing too little, although by minute amounts - Saab was one of them.
My Opel is showing to little, but that’s because of using /70 profile instead of the original /65.
We DO have a law in Europe that forbid changes in circumference of the tires of more than 5% up to around 2000 and more than 2% after.
I’ve never heard of an introduced error as the car in and of itself does not know how fast it is going, unless some of the parameters has changed and they won’t change by a clean change of tire size.
Btw. speedo reading is part of most car tests over here.
NB. If any of the good people of over there ever visits Europe and drive a car, keep an eye on the speed limits AND the speedometer.
3 miles over the limit - you’re it. The recipient of a speeding ticket. And in DK, that means more than 150 USD cash on the spot.
Actually, in Germany, I was in the wrong end of such a conversation on the autobahn about 3 km/h with the police many years ago.
Update.
Just checked the specs on a -09 Mini Cooper Clubman. At 5100 rpm, in sixth gear it should be at 124,44 mph whether it be the 118hp, the 172hp or the 208 hp version if it is fitted with the Getrag G253 gearbox.