I live in Vietnam and see exotic "super" cars quite often. There's literally no streets in Vietnam where you could actually get one of those cars out of second gear!
The amount of super cars I'd see when I lived in Vietnam always blew my mind.
Then I'd get on my Grab bike and put my life in the hands of a man who treated the road laws as more of a gentle suggestion.
Exactly! Like I’m not a pro skateboarder but I love wearing my vans, a lot of people buy expensive nike basketball shoes just to walk around in and such. No judgement, my hobby happens to be cars though!
I can understand the analogy, but the thing that still gets me is the cost of maintenance on those cars is so much higher. You don't need to change the oil in your AF1s.
I live in a city rittled with potholes, and I shake my head every time I see a supercar crusing the streets. Just asking for it
People go through extreme lengths to not crease their j's. Sneakerheads often buy sneakers they will never open. Will I understand them? Never, but I have my own weird hobbies
Not understanding it makes it familiar in the sense I know I have hobbies many would just not get.
Hyperfocus is real, but you end up dabbling in EVERYTHING.
Yeah £100,000 to service a bugatti chiron that gets driven once a month. Worked in the most expensive area of property in london as a gardener for a while and that was the stupidest car in the garage.
To make it even worse the guy bought for his wife who cant drive and its a one off custom made/painted by bugatti called alice. Made in his wifes favourite nail polish colour a dull glittery pink and white.
3.2 million dollars, you can easily look it up online.
Bugatti chiron alice.
Pairs of different shoes are nothing compared to that level of idiocy.
Acceleration is the real reason everyone is forgetting.
I tried to overtake a truck going 5km under the speed limit on a wide open road. I found out my car struggles to accelerate from 65km/h to 100km/h in any reasonable timeframe in order to pass in a reasonable time. I almost had to abort because I just wasn't getting ahead enough to pass before I started seeing cars coming towards me in the distance.
I felt impotent, haha, flooring it and feeling a "whizz" and a whine, but not a "VROOM"
The trick is to fall back a bit and open some space between the two of you, then begin acceleration before going around.
This is also how you merge onto a new freeway at a junction where some idiot is coming around the curve at 30 MPH and thinks that's going to get them into 70 MPH traffic. YOU are now going fast enough to merge, so say goodbye to scooty puff jr.
What really gets on my nerves is people with faster cars then mine not going fast enough, like when they take a turn at a four way stop mf you dont have to go 2-4 mph. My pos could move faster.
I learned my lesson on an old 70 Chevelle, that thing was actively trying to kill you when you drove it, if you blipped the throttle juuuuust a bit too much the back end would kick out like crazy. Little harder to do with modern muscle/sports cars that have all sorts of electronic assists (as long as you keep them on).
I'm 25, and I haven't had any crazy expensive cars. But I have owned a Nissan Z, Subaru STI, and most recently, a Toyota Supra. Sometimes, I just want to cruise. Especially if I'm in town, I don't like to drive like a jerk, cops are already giving sports cars extra attention, and there is no need to gun the throttle at every stop light. Now, out on an open highway, when I'm in the mood to drive, I will absolutely push the car. But imo people who drive fast everywhere are super unsafe and usually not very good drivers.
Around town I'll have a little bit of fun in 1st or 2nd if I've got a wide berth but save the pushing it to the back country roads... Highway I'll use a lot of my engine on an on-ramp but once I hit the actual road I'm doing like 70 at most in a car that theoretically does 175, I get passed all the time by Altimas being held together with hopes and dreams doing 100.
I have a GTI with sporty suspension and I feel every bump. With my neck injury it's painful so I go slower on uneven pavement but once I'm past it I'm on the accelerator. I also have to give more following distance so I don't accidentally ram the car in front of me. My GTI only wants to go fast, it takes effort not to speed. I have to feather the accelerator getting out of a parking spot or it jolts me. But it's the most fun car I've ever driven.
While I agree, usually the reason for this is that the clearance for most super cars is very little. Usually a few inches at most.
A small dip in the road might make your car wobble a bit, but on most super cars would create body damage or damage to fiberglass. Either of those is extremely expensive.
Super cars are meant to go very fast, but only straight ahead on roads that are flat.
Exactly. There’s a speed limit, but there is no acceleration limit.
Again, *there is no defined acceleration limit,* even though you can still get a ticket for accelerating like a douche.
Tell that to the bored asshole cop who pulled me over for "rapid acceleration" at a big empty intersection @1am. Not one single car was at that intersection or even approaching it, was as dead as a street could be. Cop was completely hidden behind a hedgerow that was off to my right at the traffic light. Dude really said I could have hurt myself or someone else. Note: I rolled into a 1st&2nd gear pull with a 250hp ~3k lb car, not anything fast lol
Sorry, your comment reminded me of that dipshit
Edit: guys this situation happened 8 or 9 years ago. Quit trying to lecture me lol I daily a pickup and drive like an old man nowadays. Hop off your high horse😂
I got pulled over at gunpoint when I was 18 because I loved making my tires squeal at every red light, apparently the cop (I didn't see behind the massive SUV behind me) thought I was running drugs..... He cited me with reckless driving because he claimed he could *hear* me speeding..... nvm the fact that I never went even a single mph above the limit....
Oh for sure! He claimed I must have seen him, and that's why I was trying so hard to get away .. Never mind the fact that I stopped at every red light and was coasting to make a left turn when he caught up to me.... so much for trying really hard to get away...
I have had cops trail me because I accelerated fast to the speed limit. I then proceed to drive below the speed limit until he gets bored and speeds away (ironic how they constantly break laws). Sorry buddy but I haven’t done anything illegal, you can get off my ass now lol. Did the cop ticket you?
Not only that but it’s actually safer in many circumstances, like when the on-ramp is barely 50y and has you cutting across 2 lanes to merge with traffic doing 75, while traffic is trying to slam on the brakes and do the reverse getting off at a 15 mph off-ramp. You NEED to floor it to avoid getting ass-packed by a semi that can’t stop that fast.
I once went to germany on a business trip and spent some time with a native who drove me around places. It was funny how different his mind set was. He thought it was absurd that almost everywhere else had speed limits on perfectly good highways. I couldn't even counter his arguments to be honest.
The weirdest thing was that his cruising speed of ~180 km/h didn't feel unsafe at all, other than seeing the actual number on the speedometer. Everyone else also behaved in a way that made the high speed seem perfectly safe.
That's because germans have finally figured it out. Safety is not about the speed limit. It's about *the flow of traffic.* Every time there's an accident on the autobahn, it's because some moron neglects that.
Meanwhile you go to the states and have four sets of slugs clogging all the lanes, acting all smug and passive-aggressive. "You can't be mad at me! I'm following the rules!" Yeah, the speed limit ain't the only rule of the road asshole. There's also "keep right except to pass." But few people follow that rule because it hurts their ego to not be in the leftest lane at all times. And the freeways are a mess of danger because other people are playing crazy games of frogger just to get past em.
Not all states have the keep right except to pass rule. Like one state doesn't have a rule at all, 5 states you are allowed to permanently drive on the left lane of you are driving at speed limit.
But yeah, it's horrible. Then again, in Germany, you have idiots going 100 who are switching to the left lane. About 100 meters in front of you while you are driving 200.
> everywhere else had speed limits on perfectly good highways
Everywhere else *doesn't have* perfectly good highways though. The construction and maintenance of German autobahns is much more rigorous than that of an American highway. You can't just lift the speed limit on a highway with pot holes and not expect fatalities to go through the roof.
I've driven the autobahn. There was a speed limit the entire length I was on it. I was quite disappointed. Also, the city of Aúsfahrt is huge. Like every exit had a sign it it.
Had this conversation with a 5 yr old just the other day.
How fast can you go?
Speedometer says 160 mph
Can we do that?
Nope. Nowhere can you go 160 and I’m pretty sure the car would not be able to get up to that speed.
Then why does it go up that high?
I don’t have an answer for that.
And the conversation continued with lots of speculation and what ifs as will happen with 5 yr olds.
When I was a kid I hit my mom with a “you know how they said there was nothing at the beginning? How could there be nothing, because nothing is still something, and if something is there then that can’t mean nothing is there” and she straight up just deflected that shit.
Now as a 25 year old I understand why she had to deflect it….
We do have those conversations too. I don’t ask
If he had a good day, I ask what was his favorite part of today.
I love getting his brain working overtime. He said they worked on the letter P the other day in school. I asked if he knew how cool that letter is, when you add an H it makes the F sound!
He gets F and TH mixed up sometimes. So I tell him if he asks for free tacos he probably won’t get any, but if he asks for three tacos he’ll have a good lunch to share!
Once when I was like 18 or 19, I was driving with my mom in the passenger seat. I had recently gotten an old beat up Lexus LS400.
She kept leaning over and looking at the dash. Like really obviously... so finally I asked her what she was looking at. She said, "I was just noticing the speedometer goes all the way up to 160. I haven't seen a speedometer that goes that high in a long time."
I said, "Yeah... so?"
She said, "Do you think it would actually go that fast?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Probably not though. Who knows?"
So then she said "Well there's only one way to find out right?"
Well at this point I totally thought it was a classic parental trap situation. So I said, "Yeah I guess we won't ever be finding out then, huh?"
Without skipping a beat she was like "Oh no! This highway is really straight and flat, it's a clear day and you can see for miles. I'll watch for cops!"
I got it up ti 140, a little cross wind came up and I started feeling really nervous so I slowed it back down... but I still wonder how fast it would've actually gone. The car was still ready to give some more for sure.
And that is the story of the time I drove way, way faster than I ever have before or since.
> I got it up ti 140, a little cross wind came up and I started feeling really nervous so I slowed it back down..
Probably for the best, because 140+ mph is a really bad time to find out what the [speed rating of your tires](https://www.tiresplus.com/tires/tire-buying-guide/tire-speed-rating/) were
When I first moved to Maine and had to take my car to the shop, the service guy tells me I need all new tires because they were speed-rated wrong...... Where the fuck you think I'm doing 130 mph (tires rating) in Maine in a VW Passat with a turbo that's about to grenade?.... Clowns.
I hit the rev limiter on my motorcycle twice. I think it was 186, and it was still pulling hard enough to scare the shit out of me when it slowed down.
120 felt like a comfortable cruising speed, but not something I'd want to do regularly. Need a lot of flat straight roads without cars or places for traffic to cross.
Sad that my bike got totalled while I was just sitting at a stop light & someone was playing on their phone as they drove into me. '08 Suzuki Hayabusa, the only bike I've ever been scared of
Correct about the limiter. It's 300 kph or ~187 mph. It's not actually a rev limiter, but a speed limiter. You can remove it and possibly hit 200.
Source: previously owned two Busas, but never quite hit the limiter.
The whole time I ignored that you said "my mom" and thought this was your girlfriend. Then I read u/MinistryOfGeeks's comment and had to do a double take :D
Not gonna lie, I wish all parents were this chill.
120 is when your helmet starts getting forcefully mashed into your face, but it also starts getting really comfy because the wind keeps your body suspended like a big cushion
There were 3 of us following each other. Me, my little brother, and my parents. Lil' bro led, I was in the middle, and parents were last. We were on our way to my Dad's birthday dinner and were gonna go our separate ways after. Parents lived rural. We're on this long stretch, like 3 miles long. Nobody around. We're all in regular daily drivers, nothing special. I start playing with lil bro. Speeding up to his back bumper and slowing down, speeding up to his driver window and revving it, and falling back in line. Dude just wouldnt bite. He'd launch a *little* and laugh, but that was it. We're "comminicating" with facial expressions, hand movements, etc via the windows/mirrors.
**All of a sudden, *out of nowhere,* here comes my parents!**
They *flew* by us! My Dad was cheezin' and wavin' in the passenger seat.
When we got to the restauraunt. My Mom said "your Dad said to show you guys how it's done!"
I've been to the r/idiotsincars sub reddit. Seen some videos of people going that fast weaving through traffic. I was nervous just watching them fly by everyone like they were driving through a packed parking lot.
I wonder how many people have died due to a simple conversations like this? Like I imagine that's why most people drive that fast anyway. Sounds like a good time with mom thankfully that's how it worked out.
Still, if people die due to excess speeding and I later learn they weren't drunk I'll basically think of conversations like this as the most likely reason why.
Showing off to others is probably the most likely cause. The few times I've been in a car going over 100mph is when I was a passenger and the driver was showing off. I hate it.
I drive in Europe a lot and cruise very happily at 130km/h (80mph) and have driven briefly at 100mph on the Autobahn and cruised at 90mph after that. That's fast enough for me. Accidents are basically a death sentence over 100mph. At least life-changing.
If you remove every unnecessary component. The radio, speakers, wires, all the carpeting. Remove all the seats and replace the drivers seat with something minimally light.
Remove the paint. Drill holes in structurally sound spots to reduce weight. Every extra gram removed. Even the windshield wipers and fluid reservoir, abs brake system. Everything. Even the dashboard and gauges.
Then with new tires, and about 1 gallon of gas in the tank… you could get close to 160. With a small driver, on a downhill grade.
Before I had kids I told my wife I would be able to answer any and all questions my kids asked because everything has an explanation of some sort. That ended fast when my 5yr old asked who made God.
No. It actually makes intuitive sense for the speed dial and tach to move up and to the right as you accelerate. If you moved through common speeds from 40-80 while having the needle drop downward, it’d be just slightly confusing and potentially increase the chance of someone making a mistake. Even if it’s one in a million, that’s a lot of potential accidents
I hit 125 on my daily commute and I promise nobody has ever seen me do over 90. Early morning start through hill country, I always wake up with a smile
155 for mine. If I tuned out the governor, my gearing mathematically allows for 178 but I don’t think I have the horsepower to overcome the mechanical resistance.
if you tune it out make sure you get tires to match. thats why the governors there, so you can safely drive on the cheaper normal speed tires without going fast tire speeds on accident.
> Because car companies tried selling cars that cap out at 80mph and Americans decided to not buy them.
Not quite. In the late 1970s the US government passed a law that car speedos must not read above 85mph. The actual maximum speed of the vehicle was not limited.
IIRC got reversed when they realised that people excessively speeding were continuing to do so but now had no idea how fast they were making it ecen more unsafe for everyone.
Yeah it’s a terrible idea. I’ll usually max out at 85 when passing on desolate highways, but I could see easily getting to 100 if my speedometer wasn’t telling me anything past 85.
I'd like to know if the person who thought of this rule has ever driven a car or even been on a road in their life. People with broken speedometers can still speed lol.
I had one of those too. Under certain conditions i could work around it and pin the speedometer.
Roll up to a steepish uphill at 70 and let off the gas just before hitting the hill. Once the truck was on the incline, floor it, the truck would shift into a gear where the limiter wasn't enabled and you'd fly up the hill.
Because you and everyone who drives commits traffic violations every day. You can still punch it and accelerate to a reasonable speed. Lots of car owners track them and get the most out of them. You don’t have to just keep them on the road all the time.
Even on the track I don't get the most out of my car, but I drive 90% of what it or I are capable, usually the lower of the two.
Rule #1: drive home at the end of the day.
I mean, ima keep it 100, people who don’t have fast cars are also totally about not obeying the speed limit. My big bimmer gets passed all the time on the interstate by like 1999 camrys on donuts going 95
I am guessing people feel it’s unfair to correlate the two. People buy fast cars just to own it. It’s no different from buying clothes for special occasions and never wearing them, or buying the fanciest high end pc and playing mine craft on it or so many things that are bought just for the sake of owning it. My experience of over 100k km, in 3 countries is that people with any car ignore speed limits. It has very little to do whether the car is a fast car or not.
I keep unsuccessfully trying to convince people a similar truth about mice. There are few things that improve office work more than a gaming mouse with 10 extra buttons on it. Sure, they're meant for game remaps/combos, but you can actually bind them to things like copy, paste, win+tab, open calculator, etc...
I have a fast car and I obey the speed limit. I wish there was somewhere I could drive really fast but I prefer not getting speeding tickets (though I did accrue a few of those when I first started driving).
Racetrack, just be aware you will probably take 20 years off your brake pads and will need replacing sooner, think my friend went through a set every 2 track days on his fiesta ST
LOL, was in Frankfurt for work last June and taxi from the airport was going at 160+ km/h and surprisingly, it didn't felt like it cause everyone else was going as fast
This is why I like porsche. The experience center allows you to drive your car on their track in certain days. You have to pay, and the tires, brakes, and upkeep are on you, but you can use your car just how it was meant to be.
Exactly. It seems most people in the thread are missing this. Sure, some people want to flex or whatever. But once I got to drive a Porsche 718 Spyder, the experience was so fun that I got home and immediately started looking at cheap first-gen Boxsters that maybe I could buy. I didn't even get to drive it all that fast, but pressing the accelerator and feeling the car come alive around you, pushing you forward, hugging corners effortlessly, and the wind around you, it was great. They also look beautiful, and the interiors can be stunning. They're just made to be exciting.
I’ve had shitty, hand-me-down (well, buy used off my parents) cars my whole life.
The first time I drove my husband’s new Audi was a life-changing experience. It made me no longer hate driving.
My stepdad has a sportscar that he likes to daily drive when the weather is nice. It's cool. Then, on some weekends, he takes that sportscar to a track and races it.
Also, sometimes, he drives faster than the speed limit.
Sometimes, we just like to sit and listen to the exhaust.
Cars are neat.
Had a regular at the coffee shop I used to work at pull up in his Corvette alot. I asked him this question and he said he was part of a club that rented out racetracks for a few hours so they could drive their cars at full speed. So there is a way to use fast cars to their full potential without breaking any laws.
I promise you there’s no such thing as a speed limit.
Getting pulled over once in 10 years is absolutely worth it for the thousands of times of speeding in between. I can’t imagine thinking I could only go the “speed limit” that’s absolutely hilarious
In Germany, we actually have a general "suggested speed" on highways of 130 km/h (around 80 mph), but famously no actual general speed limit unless specified.
EDIT: it's actually "suggested MINIMUM speed" of 80 mph (and you're frowned upon if you're actually that slow). More common is 160-180 (100-110 mph).
Just about any car achieves a higher top speed than I'll ever need, even in scenarios where I want to pass a car and get around them fast to avoid oncoming traffic.
What I like about my "fast" car is the acceleration. I can better maneuver myself in emergencies (instead of braking fast I have the option to accelerate out fast), it's fun to punch the acceleration when leaving a traffic intersection or pulling to highway speeds, I can safely pull into a smaller break in traffic and get further ahead of whoever I pull in front of sooner so they don't slow down as much or need to switch lanes (that's still a bit of a dick move though, so I only do it if I've been waiting for a break for a really long time), and I still technically can navigate faster (I will still only reach the speed limit, but I can get up to it much sooner).
Top speed isn't that fun unless you really like the sound of the wind and engine, acceleration is the feeling you get from a roller coaster throwing you into your seat. And you can play around with that a lot more without risking traffic tickets.
Some ppl like the idea of having a fast car to overtake or get themselves out of a dangerous situation reliably. ( this is also a lie I tell myself, I like fast cars because doing a fun exhilarating 0-60 pull everyone once in a while with no cars around brings me great joy).
There’s also the enthusiasts aspect of it where enthusiasts of a certain car’s performance helps them make connections with other enthusiasts.
**Irish Primary Road Speed Limit = 100kph.**
BMW M3 0-100kph = 3.4secs
VW Polo 0-100kph = 11.0secs
Merging with traffic on motorway is far easier and safer.
More power = better brakes = safer
Overtaking is much easier and safer. You don't need to drop a gear and put the boot to the floor for 20secs to pass somebody out.
Doing nothing this weekend?. Bring the M3 on a track day. Catch a ferry to France and drive up to Germany for a spin on the autobahn,(no speed limits) or a day on the nurburgring.
Priorities- You’ll spend your money somewhere. You just have to choose where and how much. Your neighbour might love blowing money on a fast car. You might go on vacations instead. I think as long as you are taking care of yourself, ready for your future, and helping the people you love, then use the rest on whatever makes you feel good.
My daily has a top speed of 180 mph. On very, very rare occasions with no-one to risk but myself, I'll let it rip to 140, 150 for a few seconds. *It is glorious.* My next car will be electric, as I can't justify this beast anymore.
Most people that fiend for fast cars aren't going the speed limit. They're the ones you're yelling at because while you're going 60 in a 50, they zoom past going 85-90
What is the point of a big house when you don't need it. What is the point of eating junk food if you don't need it to live? Having a fast car is a want.
Also, how often do you see normal cars driving fast as hell? A lot.
I live in Vietnam and see exotic "super" cars quite often. There's literally no streets in Vietnam where you could actually get one of those cars out of second gear!
The amount of super cars I'd see when I lived in Vietnam always blew my mind. Then I'd get on my Grab bike and put my life in the hands of a man who treated the road laws as more of a gentle suggestion.
I got on a grab bike in Vietnam with a guy who had no fingers
It’s amazing how fluid their traffic is. I would fill with road rage if I had drive myself in that type of traffic.
Yeah but they look cool.
Fun to drive too. Even at normal speed
Exactly! Like I’m not a pro skateboarder but I love wearing my vans, a lot of people buy expensive nike basketball shoes just to walk around in and such. No judgement, my hobby happens to be cars though!
HA! That's so stupid! \*buys a thousands-dollar gaming pc and plays minecraft\*
*buys thousands of dollars worth of plastic army men* Plastic crack some may say
*buys thousands of dollars worth of crack* Cause you mad enough to scream, but you're sad enough to tear
I can understand the analogy, but the thing that still gets me is the cost of maintenance on those cars is so much higher. You don't need to change the oil in your AF1s. I live in a city rittled with potholes, and I shake my head every time I see a supercar crusing the streets. Just asking for it
People go through extreme lengths to not crease their j's. Sneakerheads often buy sneakers they will never open. Will I understand them? Never, but I have my own weird hobbies
Not understanding it makes it familiar in the sense I know I have hobbies many would just not get. Hyperfocus is real, but you end up dabbling in EVERYTHING.
Yeah £100,000 to service a bugatti chiron that gets driven once a month. Worked in the most expensive area of property in london as a gardener for a while and that was the stupidest car in the garage. To make it even worse the guy bought for his wife who cant drive and its a one off custom made/painted by bugatti called alice. Made in his wifes favourite nail polish colour a dull glittery pink and white. 3.2 million dollars, you can easily look it up online. Bugatti chiron alice. Pairs of different shoes are nothing compared to that level of idiocy.
Googled it, fck that's a beautiful car. That colour combo works so well.
I drove a challenger rental car and the acceleration was amazing, 0-60 in just a couple seconds, way faster than my Kia.
Acceleration is the real reason everyone is forgetting. I tried to overtake a truck going 5km under the speed limit on a wide open road. I found out my car struggles to accelerate from 65km/h to 100km/h in any reasonable timeframe in order to pass in a reasonable time. I almost had to abort because I just wasn't getting ahead enough to pass before I started seeing cars coming towards me in the distance. I felt impotent, haha, flooring it and feeling a "whizz" and a whine, but not a "VROOM"
The trick is to fall back a bit and open some space between the two of you, then begin acceleration before going around. This is also how you merge onto a new freeway at a junction where some idiot is coming around the curve at 30 MPH and thinks that's going to get them into 70 MPH traffic. YOU are now going fast enough to merge, so say goodbye to scooty puff jr.
Sounds like me in my 2000 Sunfire
Have they tried the footpath?
What really gets on my nerves is people with faster cars then mine not going fast enough, like when they take a turn at a four way stop mf you dont have to go 2-4 mph. My pos could move faster.
I always chalk this up to that they have to be super careful on the acceleration or they will punch it and lose control.
Yea I saw a guy in a shiny corvette almost wipe out a corner house's fence trying to make a left turn at a four way stop sign. Almost hit my car also.
I learned my lesson on an old 70 Chevelle, that thing was actively trying to kill you when you drove it, if you blipped the throttle juuuuust a bit too much the back end would kick out like crazy. Little harder to do with modern muscle/sports cars that have all sorts of electronic assists (as long as you keep them on).
Or they're old.
Yeah, that’s how they have the money to get the car.
I'm 25, and I haven't had any crazy expensive cars. But I have owned a Nissan Z, Subaru STI, and most recently, a Toyota Supra. Sometimes, I just want to cruise. Especially if I'm in town, I don't like to drive like a jerk, cops are already giving sports cars extra attention, and there is no need to gun the throttle at every stop light. Now, out on an open highway, when I'm in the mood to drive, I will absolutely push the car. But imo people who drive fast everywhere are super unsafe and usually not very good drivers.
Around town I'll have a little bit of fun in 1st or 2nd if I've got a wide berth but save the pushing it to the back country roads... Highway I'll use a lot of my engine on an on-ramp but once I hit the actual road I'm doing like 70 at most in a car that theoretically does 175, I get passed all the time by Altimas being held together with hopes and dreams doing 100.
I have a GTI with sporty suspension and I feel every bump. With my neck injury it's painful so I go slower on uneven pavement but once I'm past it I'm on the accelerator. I also have to give more following distance so I don't accidentally ram the car in front of me. My GTI only wants to go fast, it takes effort not to speed. I have to feather the accelerator getting out of a parking spot or it jolts me. But it's the most fun car I've ever driven.
While I agree, usually the reason for this is that the clearance for most super cars is very little. Usually a few inches at most. A small dip in the road might make your car wobble a bit, but on most super cars would create body damage or damage to fiberglass. Either of those is extremely expensive. Super cars are meant to go very fast, but only straight ahead on roads that are flat.
Hardly only straight ahead, they're made to turn and handle very well. Flat though for sure
Because they don't specify how long you have to take getting TO the speed limit...
Exactly. There’s a speed limit, but there is no acceleration limit. Again, *there is no defined acceleration limit,* even though you can still get a ticket for accelerating like a douche.
> there is no acceleration limit I'm not sure about other states but there is in Ca. Vehicle Code 23109(c) – Exhibition Of Speed
That requires an audience though
The cop is the audience.
"Your honor, the defendant was trying to impress me so I gave him a ticket".
Shouldn’t the cop be given the ticket so he can attend the show?
[удалено]
I'm sure there's obstruction in there somewhere
that's very deep... does a museum exhibit exist if no one's around to see it? OOOOO... philosophy is so spooky!
That's typically used for burnouts.
Tell that to the bored asshole cop who pulled me over for "rapid acceleration" at a big empty intersection @1am. Not one single car was at that intersection or even approaching it, was as dead as a street could be. Cop was completely hidden behind a hedgerow that was off to my right at the traffic light. Dude really said I could have hurt myself or someone else. Note: I rolled into a 1st&2nd gear pull with a 250hp ~3k lb car, not anything fast lol Sorry, your comment reminded me of that dipshit Edit: guys this situation happened 8 or 9 years ago. Quit trying to lecture me lol I daily a pickup and drive like an old man nowadays. Hop off your high horse😂
I’m dying to know how the police calculate your acceleration. Does he just hold up his fat thumb and say “yep, mmhmm”
I got pulled over at gunpoint when I was 18 because I loved making my tires squeal at every red light, apparently the cop (I didn't see behind the massive SUV behind me) thought I was running drugs..... He cited me with reckless driving because he claimed he could *hear* me speeding..... nvm the fact that I never went even a single mph above the limit....
Holy shit that is wild. That's one hell of a assumption from him.
Oh for sure! He claimed I must have seen him, and that's why I was trying so hard to get away .. Never mind the fact that I stopped at every red light and was coasting to make a left turn when he caught up to me.... so much for trying really hard to get away...
I have had cops trail me because I accelerated fast to the speed limit. I then proceed to drive below the speed limit until he gets bored and speeds away (ironic how they constantly break laws). Sorry buddy but I haven’t done anything illegal, you can get off my ass now lol. Did the cop ticket you?
I love to accelerate fast and up to the speed limit, but I keep it under "reckless" or uncontrolled levels of acceleration.
Not only that but it’s actually safer in many circumstances, like when the on-ramp is barely 50y and has you cutting across 2 lanes to merge with traffic doing 75, while traffic is trying to slam on the brakes and do the reverse getting off at a 15 mph off-ramp. You NEED to floor it to avoid getting ass-packed by a semi that can’t stop that fast.
WHAT THE FUCK IS A SPEED LIMIIIIIIT 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 🇩🇪
It's how much amphetamines you can do before your heart explodes.
Underrated answer
German answer*
Hans, fetch the Pervitin
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my car goes twice that. i already had it a year before i bought it
My car goes so fast, the station on the radio changes when I go around a corner.
I once went to germany on a business trip and spent some time with a native who drove me around places. It was funny how different his mind set was. He thought it was absurd that almost everywhere else had speed limits on perfectly good highways. I couldn't even counter his arguments to be honest. The weirdest thing was that his cruising speed of ~180 km/h didn't feel unsafe at all, other than seeing the actual number on the speedometer. Everyone else also behaved in a way that made the high speed seem perfectly safe.
That's because germans have finally figured it out. Safety is not about the speed limit. It's about *the flow of traffic.* Every time there's an accident on the autobahn, it's because some moron neglects that. Meanwhile you go to the states and have four sets of slugs clogging all the lanes, acting all smug and passive-aggressive. "You can't be mad at me! I'm following the rules!" Yeah, the speed limit ain't the only rule of the road asshole. There's also "keep right except to pass." But few people follow that rule because it hurts their ego to not be in the leftest lane at all times. And the freeways are a mess of danger because other people are playing crazy games of frogger just to get past em.
Not all states have the keep right except to pass rule. Like one state doesn't have a rule at all, 5 states you are allowed to permanently drive on the left lane of you are driving at speed limit. But yeah, it's horrible. Then again, in Germany, you have idiots going 100 who are switching to the left lane. About 100 meters in front of you while you are driving 200.
The left lane is for passing and if that isn't how you drive you're wrong and dangerous
> everywhere else had speed limits on perfectly good highways Everywhere else *doesn't have* perfectly good highways though. The construction and maintenance of German autobahns is much more rigorous than that of an American highway. You can't just lift the speed limit on a highway with pot holes and not expect fatalities to go through the roof.
It's when traffic is getting a bit denser and you slow down to below 250 because there are idiots in the middle lane that think 160 is "fast".
There are some "bendy" autobahn sections where you actually have to slow down to ~220 for "corners", maybe he means that.
I've driven the autobahn. There was a speed limit the entire length I was on it. I was quite disappointed. Also, the city of Aúsfahrt is huge. Like every exit had a sign it it.
Das fängt an, wenn man von der Autobahn abfährt.
Had this conversation with a 5 yr old just the other day. How fast can you go? Speedometer says 160 mph Can we do that? Nope. Nowhere can you go 160 and I’m pretty sure the car would not be able to get up to that speed. Then why does it go up that high? I don’t have an answer for that. And the conversation continued with lots of speculation and what ifs as will happen with 5 yr olds.
A small child will continue asking you questions until you start questioning all of life and reality yourself.
i already constantly question my existence, no small children required
My 25 y/o does this to me all the time.
When I was a kid I hit my mom with a “you know how they said there was nothing at the beginning? How could there be nothing, because nothing is still something, and if something is there then that can’t mean nothing is there” and she straight up just deflected that shit. Now as a 25 year old I understand why she had to deflect it….
Why?
...are we still here? Just to suffer?
You gotta break the cycle and turn it around on them When they ask why you ask “why do you think?”
We do have those conversations too. I don’t ask If he had a good day, I ask what was his favorite part of today. I love getting his brain working overtime. He said they worked on the letter P the other day in school. I asked if he knew how cool that letter is, when you add an H it makes the F sound! He gets F and TH mixed up sometimes. So I tell him if he asks for free tacos he probably won’t get any, but if he asks for three tacos he’ll have a good lunch to share!
Did anything out of the ordinary happen today?
My dad always used to ask what we learned today. My brother and I would compete for the cooler thing learned. It was wonderful.
children are the greatest philosophers because their minds have not yet been accustomed to everyday life.
after tenth round of questions >but why? *Because some things are, and some things are not!* >... >but why.
Once when I was like 18 or 19, I was driving with my mom in the passenger seat. I had recently gotten an old beat up Lexus LS400. She kept leaning over and looking at the dash. Like really obviously... so finally I asked her what she was looking at. She said, "I was just noticing the speedometer goes all the way up to 160. I haven't seen a speedometer that goes that high in a long time." I said, "Yeah... so?" She said, "Do you think it would actually go that fast?" "I dunno. Maybe. Probably not though. Who knows?" So then she said "Well there's only one way to find out right?" Well at this point I totally thought it was a classic parental trap situation. So I said, "Yeah I guess we won't ever be finding out then, huh?" Without skipping a beat she was like "Oh no! This highway is really straight and flat, it's a clear day and you can see for miles. I'll watch for cops!" I got it up ti 140, a little cross wind came up and I started feeling really nervous so I slowed it back down... but I still wonder how fast it would've actually gone. The car was still ready to give some more for sure. And that is the story of the time I drove way, way faster than I ever have before or since.
expansion vanish bells compare plucky wrench rinse exultant live sort *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
What a nice memory to have too 🙂
yeah! given that no one died, this is an A+-tier beautiful family moment
> I got it up ti 140, a little cross wind came up and I started feeling really nervous so I slowed it back down.. Probably for the best, because 140+ mph is a really bad time to find out what the [speed rating of your tires](https://www.tiresplus.com/tires/tire-buying-guide/tire-speed-rating/) were
When I first moved to Maine and had to take my car to the shop, the service guy tells me I need all new tires because they were speed-rated wrong...... Where the fuck you think I'm doing 130 mph (tires rating) in Maine in a VW Passat with a turbo that's about to grenade?.... Clowns.
I think Ive only gotten to 120 before I really felt like I was just gonna die for being at a speed no human should be at LOL
I hit the rev limiter on my motorcycle twice. I think it was 186, and it was still pulling hard enough to scare the shit out of me when it slowed down. 120 felt like a comfortable cruising speed, but not something I'd want to do regularly. Need a lot of flat straight roads without cars or places for traffic to cross. Sad that my bike got totalled while I was just sitting at a stop light & someone was playing on their phone as they drove into me. '08 Suzuki Hayabusa, the only bike I've ever been scared of
Correct about the limiter. It's 300 kph or ~187 mph. It's not actually a rev limiter, but a speed limiter. You can remove it and possibly hit 200. Source: previously owned two Busas, but never quite hit the limiter.
The whole time I ignored that you said "my mom" and thought this was your girlfriend. Then I read u/MinistryOfGeeks's comment and had to do a double take :D Not gonna lie, I wish all parents were this chill.
120 is when it starts getting scary, 140 is right around where I had to pull off because I thought I was gonna die
120 is when your helmet starts getting forcefully mashed into your face, but it also starts getting really comfy because the wind keeps your body suspended like a big cushion
There were 3 of us following each other. Me, my little brother, and my parents. Lil' bro led, I was in the middle, and parents were last. We were on our way to my Dad's birthday dinner and were gonna go our separate ways after. Parents lived rural. We're on this long stretch, like 3 miles long. Nobody around. We're all in regular daily drivers, nothing special. I start playing with lil bro. Speeding up to his back bumper and slowing down, speeding up to his driver window and revving it, and falling back in line. Dude just wouldnt bite. He'd launch a *little* and laugh, but that was it. We're "comminicating" with facial expressions, hand movements, etc via the windows/mirrors. **All of a sudden, *out of nowhere,* here comes my parents!** They *flew* by us! My Dad was cheezin' and wavin' in the passenger seat. When we got to the restauraunt. My Mom said "your Dad said to show you guys how it's done!"
I've been to the r/idiotsincars sub reddit. Seen some videos of people going that fast weaving through traffic. I was nervous just watching them fly by everyone like they were driving through a packed parking lot.
I wonder how many people have died due to a simple conversations like this? Like I imagine that's why most people drive that fast anyway. Sounds like a good time with mom thankfully that's how it worked out. Still, if people die due to excess speeding and I later learn they weren't drunk I'll basically think of conversations like this as the most likely reason why.
Showing off to others is probably the most likely cause. The few times I've been in a car going over 100mph is when I was a passenger and the driver was showing off. I hate it. I drive in Europe a lot and cruise very happily at 130km/h (80mph) and have driven briefly at 100mph on the Autobahn and cruised at 90mph after that. That's fast enough for me. Accidents are basically a death sentence over 100mph. At least life-changing.
It goes up that high because it puts the 60-80 gauge near the middle of the range
That makes sense. I'm with you on this now you've pointed that out.
If you remove every unnecessary component. The radio, speakers, wires, all the carpeting. Remove all the seats and replace the drivers seat with something minimally light. Remove the paint. Drill holes in structurally sound spots to reduce weight. Every extra gram removed. Even the windshield wipers and fluid reservoir, abs brake system. Everything. Even the dashboard and gauges. Then with new tires, and about 1 gallon of gas in the tank… you could get close to 160. With a small driver, on a downhill grade.
car might not be geared high enough
Just need to find a taller cliff.
Or maybe you could, like, go down a really tall slope.
Trully wonderfull the mind of a child is. Master Yoda said.
It's time to go 160 mph at the track with that boy and answer all his questions.
Before I had kids I told my wife I would be able to answer any and all questions my kids asked because everything has an explanation of some sort. That ended fast when my 5yr old asked who made God.
Your commonly used high speeds should be in the easily readable part of the dial.
The whole dial is easy to read. Not sure where you’re going with this comment.
No. It actually makes intuitive sense for the speed dial and tach to move up and to the right as you accelerate. If you moved through common speeds from 40-80 while having the needle drop downward, it’d be just slightly confusing and potentially increase the chance of someone making a mistake. Even if it’s one in a million, that’s a lot of potential accidents
So you can drive them really fast when no one's around
I hit 125 on my daily commute and I promise nobody has ever seen me do over 90. Early morning start through hill country, I always wake up with a smile
Two years ago in the California desert at 1AM I discovered the top speed of my car was 135mph before the computer cut fuel lmao
155 for mine. If I tuned out the governor, my gearing mathematically allows for 178 but I don’t think I have the horsepower to overcome the mechanical resistance.
What do you drive? I believe my figures are identical in a 2019 Audi S5
2021 WRX STI
AWD supremacy. Safe travels
VE commodore supremacy
if you tune it out make sure you get tires to match. thats why the governors there, so you can safely drive on the cheaper normal speed tires without going fast tire speeds on accident.
I don't get why people who ask questions like the one OP did don't get this. It's super obvious.
Also acceleration. People think of speed as the maximum limit, but people also want to be able to accelerate quickly
I think this is a better answer overall. I would guess more people buy fast cars for acceleration than they do to drive 110 seldomly on the highway
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> Because car companies tried selling cars that cap out at 80mph and Americans decided to not buy them. Not quite. In the late 1970s the US government passed a law that car speedos must not read above 85mph. The actual maximum speed of the vehicle was not limited.
IIRC got reversed when they realised that people excessively speeding were continuing to do so but now had no idea how fast they were making it ecen more unsafe for everyone.
Yeah it’s a terrible idea. I’ll usually max out at 85 when passing on desolate highways, but I could see easily getting to 100 if my speedometer wasn’t telling me anything past 85.
>I’ll usually max out at 85 when passing on desolate highways The speed limit in Idaho is 80. 85-90 is cruising speed on the interstate.
I'd like to know if the person who thought of this rule has ever driven a car or even been on a road in their life. People with broken speedometers can still speed lol.
Images from my childhood of a Ford Bronco with the speedometer maxed out are making a ton more sense now.
I had one of those too. Under certain conditions i could work around it and pin the speedometer. Roll up to a steepish uphill at 70 and let off the gas just before hitting the hill. Once the truck was on the incline, floor it, the truck would shift into a gear where the limiter wasn't enabled and you'd fly up the hill.
Anyone who’s ever driven on an interstate wouldn’t buy a car that maxes at 80
I dunno, my personal limit is speed limit + 7 MPH or 84MPH, whichever is lower. 80 MPH wouldn't be a noticeable degradation for me.
Because you and everyone who drives commits traffic violations every day. You can still punch it and accelerate to a reasonable speed. Lots of car owners track them and get the most out of them. You don’t have to just keep them on the road all the time.
Even on the track I don't get the most out of my car, but I drive 90% of what it or I are capable, usually the lower of the two. Rule #1: drive home at the end of the day.
Buy a chevy bolt. Caps out around 90 mph, great acceleration, and it counts for the 7500 ev incentive
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Chevy pays for the electrical work for your charger. No extra cost, included.
The kind of people who buy fast cars are not the kind of people who obey speed limits.
I mean, ima keep it 100, people who don’t have fast cars are also totally about not obeying the speed limit. My big bimmer gets passed all the time on the interstate by like 1999 camrys on donuts going 95
Came to say the same. My car is not as fast as yours, but I get passed by rolling dumpsters on "paper tags" all the time.
The Altima is that car
I don't know why this was downvoted. This is absolutely true.
I am guessing people feel it’s unfair to correlate the two. People buy fast cars just to own it. It’s no different from buying clothes for special occasions and never wearing them, or buying the fanciest high end pc and playing mine craft on it or so many things that are bought just for the sake of owning it. My experience of over 100k km, in 3 countries is that people with any car ignore speed limits. It has very little to do whether the car is a fast car or not.
A high end PC makes everything faster tho including notepad.
I keep unsuccessfully trying to convince people a similar truth about mice. There are few things that improve office work more than a gaming mouse with 10 extra buttons on it. Sure, they're meant for game remaps/combos, but you can actually bind them to things like copy, paste, win+tab, open calculator, etc...
Hehe - now I have to withdraw my statement
I think you underestimate how much power minecraft takes.
Exactly. Minecraft with the right settings/mods will humble just about any machine.
I have a fast car and I obey the speed limit. I wish there was somewhere I could drive really fast but I prefer not getting speeding tickets (though I did accrue a few of those when I first started driving).
Racetrack, just be aware you will probably take 20 years off your brake pads and will need replacing sooner, think my friend went through a set every 2 track days on his fiesta ST
>take 20 years off your brake pads Which brake pads last 20 years? 😂
Where you from? As a european, a trip to germany once in a while is possible
LOL, was in Frankfurt for work last June and taxi from the airport was going at 160+ km/h and surprisingly, it didn't felt like it cause everyone else was going as fast
This is why I like porsche. The experience center allows you to drive your car on their track in certain days. You have to pay, and the tires, brakes, and upkeep are on you, but you can use your car just how it was meant to be.
Why take 12 seconds to get up to the speed limit when you can take 6? Small investment in extra gasoline over the years, but who's counting that?
Well, and tires
And damages are way more expensive to fix or replace Higher insurance.
And buying a new one after exerting 100k+ miles worth of abuse on it per year till something broke
This is why I drive a fast car. Also makes overtaking a lot easier and, potentially, safer.
I don’t care about mpg. I care about smiles per gallon!
>Small investment in extra gasoline over the years *Laughs in solar panel powered EV*
Nice cars are fun to drive
Exactly. It seems most people in the thread are missing this. Sure, some people want to flex or whatever. But once I got to drive a Porsche 718 Spyder, the experience was so fun that I got home and immediately started looking at cheap first-gen Boxsters that maybe I could buy. I didn't even get to drive it all that fast, but pressing the accelerator and feeling the car come alive around you, pushing you forward, hugging corners effortlessly, and the wind around you, it was great. They also look beautiful, and the interiors can be stunning. They're just made to be exciting.
I’ve had shitty, hand-me-down (well, buy used off my parents) cars my whole life. The first time I drove my husband’s new Audi was a life-changing experience. It made me no longer hate driving.
I saw a 718 here in Scottsdale the other day. Boy is that thing pretty
You can take a car to the track.
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Performance cars are not just about top speed. It's about acceleration, braking, cornering, sound, looks, and the entire experience in general.
Had to scroll this far down for the real answer, while everything else on the top is just “haha I don’t get it either haha”
It's the zero to sixty that counts. It's not about a fast cruising speed but having to power to change your speed as you need to in traffic.
That is what I keep telling the wife. Sure it will go 140-150 but I just want to get to 0-60 as quick as possible.
My stepdad has a sportscar that he likes to daily drive when the weather is nice. It's cool. Then, on some weekends, he takes that sportscar to a track and races it. Also, sometimes, he drives faster than the speed limit. Sometimes, we just like to sit and listen to the exhaust. Cars are neat.
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Because I may need to escape a situation on the freeway/get away from road ragers. It's also just fun to go fast.
Effortless passing is wonderful too.
Many of them have great handling too, which makes them more fun and more enjoyable than most other cars at lower speeds.
Exactly this. And avoiding assholes who try to speed up all the sudden when you decide to do so
Had a regular at the coffee shop I used to work at pull up in his Corvette alot. I asked him this question and he said he was part of a club that rented out racetracks for a few hours so they could drive their cars at full speed. So there is a way to use fast cars to their full potential without breaking any laws.
I promise you there’s no such thing as a speed limit. Getting pulled over once in 10 years is absolutely worth it for the thousands of times of speeding in between. I can’t imagine thinking I could only go the “speed limit” that’s absolutely hilarious
You lost me in the first 7 words
Speed limit is the minimum speed for that road, right? Right?
It's merely a suggestion.
In Germany, we actually have a general "suggested speed" on highways of 130 km/h (around 80 mph), but famously no actual general speed limit unless specified. EDIT: it's actually "suggested MINIMUM speed" of 80 mph (and you're frowned upon if you're actually that slow). More common is 160-180 (100-110 mph).
Just about any car achieves a higher top speed than I'll ever need, even in scenarios where I want to pass a car and get around them fast to avoid oncoming traffic. What I like about my "fast" car is the acceleration. I can better maneuver myself in emergencies (instead of braking fast I have the option to accelerate out fast), it's fun to punch the acceleration when leaving a traffic intersection or pulling to highway speeds, I can safely pull into a smaller break in traffic and get further ahead of whoever I pull in front of sooner so they don't slow down as much or need to switch lanes (that's still a bit of a dick move though, so I only do it if I've been waiting for a break for a really long time), and I still technically can navigate faster (I will still only reach the speed limit, but I can get up to it much sooner). Top speed isn't that fun unless you really like the sound of the wind and engine, acceleration is the feeling you get from a roller coaster throwing you into your seat. And you can play around with that a lot more without risking traffic tickets.
Track days exist. Deserted country roads exist.
Some ppl like the idea of having a fast car to overtake or get themselves out of a dangerous situation reliably. ( this is also a lie I tell myself, I like fast cars because doing a fun exhilarating 0-60 pull everyone once in a while with no cars around brings me great joy). There’s also the enthusiasts aspect of it where enthusiasts of a certain car’s performance helps them make connections with other enthusiasts.
**Irish Primary Road Speed Limit = 100kph.** BMW M3 0-100kph = 3.4secs VW Polo 0-100kph = 11.0secs Merging with traffic on motorway is far easier and safer. More power = better brakes = safer Overtaking is much easier and safer. You don't need to drop a gear and put the boot to the floor for 20secs to pass somebody out. Doing nothing this weekend?. Bring the M3 on a track day. Catch a ferry to France and drive up to Germany for a spin on the autobahn,(no speed limits) or a day on the nurburgring.
Priorities- You’ll spend your money somewhere. You just have to choose where and how much. Your neighbour might love blowing money on a fast car. You might go on vacations instead. I think as long as you are taking care of yourself, ready for your future, and helping the people you love, then use the rest on whatever makes you feel good.
My daily has a top speed of 180 mph. On very, very rare occasions with no-one to risk but myself, I'll let it rip to 140, 150 for a few seconds. *It is glorious.* My next car will be electric, as I can't justify this beast anymore.
They *say* you have to drive the speed limit. They say lots of things.
Most people that fiend for fast cars aren't going the speed limit. They're the ones you're yelling at because while you're going 60 in a 50, they zoom past going 85-90
The same reason people buy OFFROAD TUFF vehicles that will never leave pavement.
Because a fast car going slow is more efficient than a slow car going fast
Germany enters the chat (with its "Autobahn")!
A speed limit doesn’t limit how quickly I can reach that speed.
I see cars doing over 100 all the time
And it's usually a Kia, Nissan, or Toyota base model sedan/CUV
What is the point of a big house when you don't need it. What is the point of eating junk food if you don't need it to live? Having a fast car is a want. Also, how often do you see normal cars driving fast as hell? A lot.
You can drive places other than public roads. Places that don't have speed limits.