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Comment by diggan | Hacker News Reader

What is that limit set to supposedly?

Last summer I topped out at 210 km/h in my Audi A3 which was bought in Spain, and it seemed to be limited by the engine rather than a hardcoded limit (slowly approached 210 km/h instead of reaching it and then getting stuck there)

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> What is that limit set to supposedly?

Even on the autobahn, you'll very rarely see anyone exceeding 3×10⁸ m/s

It’s always drivers of red cars.

They always look blue to me... maybe it's relative

yeah but the real question is if they'll see you

250 km/h for most models that are limited.

But not all are.

Afaik those limits are there because the tires aren't rated for higher speeds

Supposedly, the Bugatti Veyron tires last for 12-15 minutes at 400 km/h. Then you need a new set, for $42k.

That's safe though, as the fuel tank also only lasts 12 minutes.

Not really - my Mercedes AMG came with tyres rated for 300km/h(ZR rated Contis), and it was still limited to 255km/h electronically. For me it's just a way to make more money - Mercedes will happily take that limiter off for an extra £1200 when buying the car.

The only information I can find about that is an article from 2005 about car makers dropping this informal limitation:

> Premium automakers are quietly abandoning their informal agreement limiting the top speed of production cars to 250km/h.

https://www.just-auto.com/news/germany-car-makers-dropping-2...

Maybe it's not a thing anymore?

It's 250 for Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. It's a "voluntary self-restriction" because they feared regulations in the 90s.

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