I’d be surprised if any mini sold in the US couldn’t do 120. The Mini Cooper S will do 144.
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I just knew that whoever resurrected this ancient thread had somehow turned it into a dumpster fire. Thanks for the laugh.
@cdaquila, an we get a laugh react in this forum like what they have on Facebook?
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Sorry Mr. Shadow , 7 year old article from Car and Driver ( which I quit reading along with Motor Trend ) and really does not show a major problem .
Where did I say this was a major problem? It’s widely known that speedos are optimistic. 120 indicated is not 120. That’s not really a problem.
And the veracity of the article is not dependent on whether or not you read the magazine.
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Oldie but a goodie. Winter tires at 120mph in the Summer. Yikes!
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Speaking of speedometers, does anyone else recall a thread from last year in which the OP was adamant about something being wrong with his car because the speedometer read up to 120 mph, but his car wouldn’t go that fast? I’m not positive, but I think that his car was a Hyundai Accent, or something else in that size/price class.
Nothing that anyone in this forum told him made any difference. As far as he was concerned, his econobox should have been capable of reaching 120 mph.
Road & Track tested my 2010 Kia Forte SX 2.4L 6 speed M/T at 0-60 in 6.9 seconds and top speed of 136mph! I’m not interested in verifying those statistics. But I could have kicked average V8 Mustangs, Camaros, and Barracudas butts in the 1960s!
One of my favorite Car and Driver bits of humor was concerning the 1988 Pontiac (Daewoo) Le Man’s road test. “Can you imagine blasting down the Mulsanne Straight in this 104mph kimchi burner?”
I’m sorry I missed that conversation. Maybe it could, going downhill with a tailwind.
Haah. I remember those Daewoo’s. An Opel Kadett made in Korea. A good car it was (the Opel) as a grocery getter. That Daewoo was only sold in UK in Europe.
That would be the slow poke version. An Opel Kadett 2,0 GSI will reach 136 mph.
And do a 0 - 63 mph in 7,7
Interesting. Did not know of the rule about not showing too little.
I have to question the rest of their postulates as it is beyond my skills to do the calculation in the regulation.
I can’t be bothered either, because - as far as I have experienced - every country over here has an organisation concerning car buyers and they do a lot of new car testing and testing the speedometer is part of that. If a car is off by more than around 2%, they get a thorough bashing.
One thing is what the law says, another is what the real world is.
Link to the regulation:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/GA/TXT/?uri=CELEX:42010X0513(03)
Copied from the regulation:
5.2.
The accuracy of the speedometer equipment shall be tested in accordance with the following procedure:
5.2.1.
the tyres shall be one of the types normally fitted to the vehicle as defined in paragraph 2.3 of this Regulation. A test shall be carried out for each type of speedometer intended to be fitted by the manufacturer;
5.2.2.
the test shall be carried out with the vehicle at its unladen weight. An additional weight can be carried for purposes of measurement. The weight of the vehicle and its distribution between the axles shall be indicated in the approval communication (see Annex 1, paragraph 6);
5.2.3.
the reference temperature at the speedometer shall be 23 ± 5 °C;
5.2.4.
during each test the pressure of the tyres shall be the normal running pressure as defined in paragraph 2.4;
5.2.5.
the vehicle is tested at the following speeds:
Maximum design speed (Vmax) of the vehicle specified by the vehicle manufacturer (km/h)
Test speed (V1)
(km/h)
Vmax ≤ 45
80 % of Vmax
45 < Vmax ≤ 100
40 km/h and 80 % Vmax
(if the resulting speed is ≥ 55 km/h)
100 < Vmax ≤ 150
40 km/h, 80 km/h and 80 % Vmax
(if the resulting speed is ≥ 100 km/h)
150 < Vmax
40 km/h, 80 km/h and 120 km/h
5.2.6.
the test instrumentation used for measuring the true vehicle speed shall be accurate to ± 0,5 per cent;
5.2.6.1.
the surface of a test track when used shall be flat and dry, and provide sufficient adhesion;
5.2.6.2.
if a roller dynamometer is used for the test, the diameter of the roller should be at least 0,4 m.
5.3.
The speed indicated shall not be less than the true speed of the vehicle. At the test speeds specified in paragraph 5.2.5 above, there shall be the following relationship between the speed displayed (V1) and the true speed (V2).
0 ≤ (V1 – V2) ≤ 0,1 V2 + 4 km/h
End of copy.
The statement in that article does not at all reflect my experience or prove that the manufactures is lax with the accuracy for cars sold in Europe. I can’t see why cars sold in USA should be any different.
I would expect German Opel Kadetts were much better performers than the Daewoos. I enjoyed driving them. I never even sat in a Daewoo version.
Arh, you could get a Kadett with a 1,2L 54 hp pushrod engine and up to a 2,0L DOHC 150 hp DIN - and almost anything in between.
Have never been inside the Daewoo version. Just had a good laugh everytime I saw one.
Addition. USA also got the Opel Ascona C-model, Made in Venezuela!!!. I think it was also labeled as a Pontiac something. A friend of mine bought one from the Venezulean embassy many years ago. He showed up at an American Car Show with it. The first comment at arrival was:
WHAT THE H… are you doing here with that piece of S… They had a very hard time accepting it as an American car, but - hey - it said Pontiac on the rear hatch and in the papers. That car was a complete rustbucket, you couldn’t keep up with the rust in our climate.
As far as I understand it has nothing to do with them being lax. Cops don’t like it when you try to get out of a speeding ticket by claiming you thought you weren’t speeding because your speedometer reads low.
That’s why there’s no margin for error on the low side (The speed indicated shall not be less than the true speed of the vehicle), but a margin on the high side.
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The speeders will do that anyway.
But we, as the customers want the speedometers to be accurate, but have to accept a +tolerance as long as it is LOW. If a speedo is found with - say - a +5% figure, it will be close to make it to the frontpage of all newspapers.
Many years ago, but my -87 Saab 900 I consequently showed a tad below actual speed on orig. tire size. Something like 99 km/h when doing 100 km/h
I didn’t think I needed to clarify that they don’t like it when accused speeders do that and can actually prove it. 
Well, yeah, real world the error is often much lower than that. But, also real world, the faster you go the bigger the error is. a 5% error at 10mph is half a mile an hour and you’ll never see the difference in reading. A 5% error at 110 is 115.5 and you would absolutely see the difference.
OK I’ll take your word for it if a Mini can comfortably sustain highway speeds of 120 mph, and the proper tires (tyres). It’s not something I would be comfortable with. When I rented a Vauxhal, manual buzz box, that thing was at 3000 rpm in high gear on the highway. I couldn’t imagine driving that thing up to 4500-5000 rpm and still being able to hear the radio. I’ve never had my V6 Pontiac over 90 and have no intention of testing it’s high end. 80 sustained is comfortable and no problem and mpg is not much affected but no way 120.
You didn’t. No way the cops like it, but the speeders still try it - and they loose. They are ALL aware that they were speeding, well, except me 
ARGH, You got me on that one. Cudos to You.
Absolutely and if I bought a new car and found a 5% error, the car would be parked in their shop untill it was rectified.
At the last check (yes, you can get your speedo checked at certain organisations for free if you’re a member or around 15 bucks if not) my -95 Opel was 1,5% off low due to the tire size. That means that it was very close to begin with.
just went to look at the sticker - it was tested at 60, 110 and 150 km/h.
According to Wikipedia, none of the various iterations of the Opel Ascona were sold in The USA: