wizlb

I asked this thread Question about a month ago.

But my top speed with a M3 bimmer behind was 130MPH.
I was travaling South on I15 toward LA from Vegas...
A three lane Hwy to hollywood. Catch this hwy early in the morning any weekday and the road is yours. You will start your fast trip at lakemead east and fly all the way to Jean. Jean is about 20 miles from Vegas.

04AcuraTL

I Cranked Mine Up To 135MPH ON interstate 84..car was stable bout it didnt seem it would be any faster than that....but she was still pullin as if she was doing 80.

Acuraluvr

iTrader: (2)

me being on 12(shhhh) has gotten to 40 in 2nd gear lol

Twenties

I HIT 149 MPH as indicated on the SPEEDOMETER in 4th gear (automatic).

I was on Hwy 15 heading to Las Vegas. Felt fairly solid and composed.

The car is VERY fast up to about 110 MPH but then when it shifts to 4th gear it feels like it almost cruising from 110-150 MPH, taking its time. (compared to other cars i've driven that were slower to get to 110 MPH but seemed faster from 110-140 MPH).

By the way at 149 MPH it was NOT close to redline ---- it was just gaining speed at a relatively slow rate compared to how much free space i had ahead so i had to back off. Plus i can't risk getting a ticket at that speed.

Makes me think if this car was not limited it should reach 160 to 165.

Twenties.

avs007

Just because you aren't close to redline, doesn't mean the car is capable of redlining that gear. Take the Z06 Vette for example. It's top speed of 186mph is achieved in 5th gear, not 6th gear. The car doesn't have enough power to redline 6th gear, because as your speeds increases, the amount of power needed to overcome wind-resistance is EXPONENTIAL! Now the Z06 has 400hp and 400 pound feet of torque. If this thing can't redline 6th gear, you really think a 270hp 232 pound feet torque V6 is able to achieve 170mph speeds in top gear? There is a reason your car is gaining speeds very slowly at those speeds. I mean, the top speed of the NSX is only 168mph, and it has a better engine than the TL. When acura reduced the coefficent of drag of the NSX by 0.02, top speed increased to 175mph. And I'm pretty sure, the NSX weighs significantly less than a TL, in addition to having a slipperier body.. (is that even a word?)

Twenties

i see your point about the final gear being weak. and i've driven a 2004 Corvette Z06 on a test track. that is a pure beast.

but as far as the TL, i said it will probably make 160-165MPH, 170.

as far as the NSX, i think its engine specs (until the last few years when they boosted it to 290hp?) were about the same as the TL so i don't know about it having a stronger engine....although the weight was much less....

i'd still like to see someone chip this car and see what it tops out at. i'd bet it make low to mid 160s, possibly in 4th gear (automatic trans.). I still had plenty of room left before redline in 4th and I was doing 150.

avs007

The NSX already was at 290hp in manual trim, when the top speed was drag limited to 168. It got bumped to 175 with the body update. (lower drag coefficient)

Either way, 150+ is pretty darn fast
I'd be curious to see what it actually tops out at...

I know the G35 Coupe, will redline 5th gear on a 6MT at a shade under 160. Engine didn't have enough power to accelerate in 6th gear at that speed.

The 5AT G Coupe tops out 5th gear at 153 or something like that. But my wife's TL has a much taller 5th gear than my G does, so it may top out in 4th rather than 5th.

subinf

I was a dumb ass once and took my friends 4cly 1994 Toyota camry up to 120 going out to colorado. mind you this was on a downhill slope with no turns in the car. i got out later to look at the speed rating on the tires and found it to be 112. one of the dumber things ive done...in a 98 jag xjr i had it at 145 and it was still climbing...although the drag was getting pretty tough, even with 370hp its hard to get moving quickly above 130 (its a 4dr heavy sedan). the TL is the same way above 130....it does move quickly past 100 and doesnt hesitate, but i could feel the resistance even close to redline (in 5th) 6th still had plenty left in it though.

1995hoo

I hit 120 mph once on I-395 near Washington in my old Accord. It was late on a Friday night and I was on my way home from a concert. Slowed down because it felt too fast for that particular road, and because I was closing on a car up ahead going some 60 mph slower than I was.....oh, and Fairfax County cops impose jail time if they catch you going that fast.

Fastest I've gone so far in the TL was a bit under 100 once when some idiot in a Boxster thought he could keep me from changing lanes. I showed him whose car has more horsepower But I haven't really had the opportunity to take the TL anywhere that would permit opening it up. It sure feels like it would be stable all the way on up to 150 to 160.

Fastest I've ever TRAVELED (as opposed to driven) was 1,350 mph (Mach 2) on a British Airways Concorde.

TL Driver

I believe that Car and Driver listed the top speed at 157 mph.

wavshrdr

I ran a few computer sims based on the best data I could get taking dyno curves that I saw for a typical TL 5AT and it shows that max speed is drag (hp limited) to 159 mph under perfect conditions (no or speed rev limiter). That speed will be achieved at 6066 rpm with the stock tires. It will take 190 seconds 39,758 feet to achieve this from a standing start. It will reach this in 4th gear only. Car could go slightly faster if it had a very slightly lower (higher numerically) 4th gear. Acura geared 4th almost perfectly to realize the top speed of this car. Typically to reach top speed of the car you want the engine to actually be turning slightly past the rpm at which the car makes peak HP. So we could actually improve the top speed of the 5AT if we could slightly change the gearing by about 4-6%.

ludachrisvt

iTrader: (2)

wow ... points to you wav

H2sails

Hello

Talking about speedometers, tires, governors chips, etc is fun but ultimately its physics. Two very important parameters increase with the square of the speed: aerodynamic drag and kinetic energy. “Increase with the square of the speed” means they increase MUCH more rapidly than the speed. For instance, the drag and KE at 120mph are 4 times as much as they are at 60mph, and at 147mph the drag and KE are 6 times what they are at 60mph. In the real world this means that it takes a LOT more power to go a little faster. This is why many/most production cars can get to 100mph, but only a few can get to 125mph, and only a very few can approach 150mph.

While drag limits speed, the increased kinetic energy makes it much harder to stop. To slow from 120mph to 60mph the brakes must get rid of 4 times as much energy as they do to going from 60mph to stop. Braking down 27mph from 147 to 120 the brakes must dissipate twice the energy that they do going from 60mph to stop. Kinetic energy is also what tares a car apart if it crashes. Hit a wall at 120mph and 4 times as much energy is available to rip, tare, bend, etc, as there is at 60mph. High speed crashes are BAD and I agree with the pilot, JetJoc, anyone who drives much above 100mph on American Hwys is stupid.

wavshrdr

An easier way to look at the relationships of drag is that aerodynamic drag goes up by the square of speed and horsepower required goes up by the cube! So if you if you double your speed you need 8 times the horsepower to compensate for the aerodynamic drag. Drag due to rolling resistance is a factor but is is much more linear. Most drag at low speeds is due to rolling resistance and about 30-40mph aerodynamic drag becomes the more dominant factor. To dramatically increase a cars speed shows that you MUST pay attention to aerodynamic drag. A little gain there can equal 100HP or so at high speeds.

wavshrdr

OK, I've done some more analysis of the 5AT vs. the 6MT. It looks like both cars have about the same theoretical top speed. I have done a lot of computer modeling of the 2 cars back to back. It appears that the AT & MT run neck and neck until about 111mph. At that point the 6MT has a clear advantage in acceleration until they both reach about the sam top speed.

So the lesson to learn here is the 6MT is not really going to trump the 5AT in acceleration until you are at seriously go to jail speeds. It also appears the 6MT is very sensitive to launch technique as well. Do it wrong and a 5AT can easily beat you in the 1/4 or if you are lucky you can just nip them at the end.

Bernard1973

I had approx 155 as well here in Poland

Twenties

i like your research, 159 MPH sounds about right based on how it felt at 149 MPH. can you post those results?

and the other comments about wind/drag resistance, yeah i was in moderate wind at the time so i thought this may have been slowing me down, but i guess just getting to the car to break low winds at a high rate at that speed is more difficult than i thought.

as far as TL 6spd vs TL auto, i test drove both extensively, i mean murdered the cars at various times over a one month period and , i could not feel a real advantage in the 6spd. i was suprised. my last car was a manual trans. BMW and it felt significantly stronger and faster than its automatic counterpart. . . . in fact it was a whole 1.0 seconds faster to 60MPH.

In the TL this advantage in acceleration and even the sensation of additional power is completely gone. I mean maybe its 0.2 of a second but i can't feel it and i'd probably have to murder to 6spd to ring that out.
So it was easy to choose the automatic ..... feels very strong.

has anyone taken the TL to where they felt the hi-end rev limiter kick them back?

and as far as the comments about braking from high speeds and not trying this at home that is well taken as well. this is risky .. . no doubt. i used to drive at these speeds regularly but now i save it for rare moments of glory.

wavshrdr

Twenties- I'll see if there is some easy way to export from my program. Normally it gets output to a graph. I could maybe screen shot it and then post the file somewhere. I am sort of wary doing it on my on site as last time my site got buried on hits and I pay for the traffic and my month's allocation got shut down in about 2 days of posting a few pics and files.

I personally didn't see a huge difference between the AT&MT versions while driving them in normal usage. I was surprised and I was really leaning toward the 6MT last year when I first looked at one. I wouldn't even consider the 5AT last year and that is what I ended up buying this year. Go figure!

Snowwolfe

Has anyone put a gps unit on there dash to verify the speed? Gauges are usually way off. I ask because the top speed in my corvette is 165 mph. It has 375 hp and weighs 3100 pounds. The basic numbers of the TL just don't support it is capable of these high speeds quoted here.

tl_soso

are u guys all serious?? 150?? 140?? that sounds a little crazy to me, i've gone up to 115 and the car felt like it couldn't handle anymore. i will surely try to get up to 150 one of these days. I just don't think thats possible with this car.

wavshrdr

I have put a GPS on my TL and the speedo is almost dead nuts on. Then again so was the speedo in my '02 Vette. My MB is accurate to the .1 mph with respect to the GPS but the GPS can be off slightly but usually pretty close. One of my motorcycles is far and away the most optimistic. It will say you are doing 210+ mph when it reality you are running according to the GPS upper 180's. At that point I don't look at the GPS but just use it's peak speed feature. Gets a little dicey at that speed to look away from the road at all.

As for your Vette if you have the Z06 body style, it is not as fast as the more fastback although it is stronger structurally. Keep in mind that weight doesn't have much to do with top speed an more to do with accleration and how much distance needed to achieve top speed. Bigger issues are frontal area, rolling resistance and drag coefficient (CD). Vette is wide, not too tall but not with good (but not great) CD (newest model is much better) and a lot of rolling resistance due to the fat tires.

Typicall the HT Vette with your motor should run close to 171, the fastback 177 and the convertible about 165 (w/top up). I'd say you are down a bit on HP or at a higher altitude than sea level.

searstream

About Once a week I get my TL up to 153 MPH, where it cuts out. Thats with VSA off (like usual) and 6sp mt. 1 month ago, I was pulled over for 149 MPH, ticketed, and I took a class to get it removed

Bob In Miami

<<About Once a week I get my TL up to 153 MPH, where it cuts out. Thats with VSA off (like usual) and 6sp mt. 1 month ago, I was pulled over for 149 MPH, ticketed, and I took a class to get it removed>>

I think it is terrific that your drive at those speeds on a regular basis. Soon enough the gene pool will be cleared of the likes of you. You are endangering the lives of others. I don't care how empty the road is or what time it is, at those speeds you have no time to react to the unexpected, and eventually the unexpected WILL occur. Unless you are driving once a week on a track, you have no business driving at those speeds on public roads.

Bob

aspectl2005

I was driving my 2005 5at tl, from brooklyn to ohio on the I-80 this weekend and its an 8 hour drive (about 500 miles). This was the first time i got to test out the car on dry road and on snow. Its was 2am and there was not a single car on the road, where i decided to see how fast i can go. I hit 154 mph and had i good speed going 140 for about a hour (driving 90-100mph on the snow ). The car handled like a dream, i got there in 5 hours

producrdel

I have been up to 110 mph in my 2004 5sp at. I had no problems, car felt real nice and smooth on the road.

Twenties

so i guess its limited to 154 MPH.

Twenties

i got ticketed for going 101 MPH (not in TL).

they wouldn't let me take a class and it was two points----under California law over 100 MPH is 2 pts. They could have dropped it 1MPH and given me one point but the judge really wanted me to learn a lesson and slow down in the future.

By the way the speed limit was 45MPH but it was a long open stretch i know well and i was having a little fun with a Corvette. They stopped us both.

now i watach my speed or lose my license... Happy Motoring.

nfnsquared

What jet are you flying that has a V2 of 130 knots?

xelvic

If you hit map/menu/cancel at the same time on your nav and hold it for a few seconds you can see your gps speed on your screen. My speedo is always dead on at normal speeds. I don't know how accurate the speedo is at high speeds because I have not yet got the balls to do it. Also be carefull when you hit the map/menu/cancel on your nav. There are all kinds of stuff in there you can mess up. I just mess with the gps side of it. Have fun!

steel6

There are speedlimits on portions of the Autobahn. I had a german spec BMW 3 series when I lived there and topped it out at around 150 mph. Before I left I bought an American spec 94 Mustang and at 105 the governer kicks in. The first time it happened I thought I had blown the engine, scared the crap out of me.

DarkWraith33

120-125 the other day... did NOT like how it felt... it didn't feel nearly as stable as a I thought it would... 05 TL stock tires, slight uphill straightaway....

Beckles

I wonder if that's new, I had my 1989 Cutlass Ciera sedan up to 110 one time with no problem (back when I was young and dumb).

FugittiveTLS`03

Most GM cars shut off at 110mph, unless you have a vette or camaro or T/A
GM trucks 95-100mph

1998 T/A 6spd going 145 but its built to go that fast...... steady as a rock

`03 TL-S i had upto 130-135mph......kind of falls on its face after that...no VTEC

`05 TL has only seen 115mph

jj87

You're sounding like my mother Go away.

ONAGER

why no vtec? if the engine is above vtec range it should still be there....

FugittiveTLS`03

I doubt you were ticketed.....b/c you should have been in jail! I don't see any police officer letting you go with a ticket....unless you were????

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

140 is literally like taking a gamble with your life

it's you vs. God at that point. Good luck to all those brave enough to even try it.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Searstream,

You should go to jail for going 149mph... i'm sorry you didn't end up there.

aw1

the highest ever in the TL is 100 mph. the only other time I went higher was in my dads corolla which hit 110 mph. the cars steering wheel was about to fall off from all the shaking. stayed at the speed for 5 secs then backed off to 75. i cant even imagine going over that speed again. 1 small misjudgment will cost you your life or someone elses. but the thrill of hitting 100 got my blood boiling.

Dr.Murdock

Rofl...149 and ticketed, and a class removed it? You sir, are a big box of animal shit.