how fast you can drive your smart in the US?

[wahi]

Originally Posted by fuzzdecay

i'm trying to get it up to 90, i want to see what happens when i hit the speed limiter, as i've never done that before.

You'll go "Back to the Future"....

[iwantmysmart]

I had mine up to 90 on the NJ turnpike. It felt the same at 90 as it did at 65 or 70. It felt like it would go faster but because it is limited the needle stopped at 90. It was running at 4000 rpm (which, I think??, is good for such a small engine). I'm not one to drive consistently that fast but usually keep it around 80 or so.

[race911]

A big "yawn" to run this thing flat out on the street. Got my first racing license almost 25 years ago and never really looked back on putting the mostly clueless motoring public in harm's way. Not that you would do much damage to anyone else in one of these!

[bumblebee]

I've gotten to around 80 but not any higher. Handling is great, very stable even at that speed. I have no desire to take this to 90 as I drive monstly on city streets with it. But the fastest I've gone was 130 in a regular Mini Cooper with the speed limiter taken off

[CM50K]

i know the speed limiter from the 328i coupé of my little brother.
when reaching 155 mp/h it feels like someone is touching the brake pedal softly so the actual speed can´t go higher!

sorry my english is not so good...

[mdfortwoguy]

No, it makes sense.

I think it depends on the car. I am fortunate to have a bug in my VUE that a few of us 4 cyl 5 speed owners seem to have. When you hit the 100MPH limiter, it is usually very abrupt and jerks hard as the fuel gets cut off and on repeatedly (enough to think - did I just get rear ended?). If you hit it hard in 4th gear on flat or downhill ground, after 4 or 5 jerks, it will stop cutting fuel and continue on, and will pull to speeds that I won't mention here .

I'm glad the smart is limited to 90... I'm not sure I would want to go much faster, and on the roads around here, 90 is not uncommon to hit.

[fuzzdecay]

Originally Posted by mdfortwoguy

When you hit the 100MPH limiter, it is usually very abrupt and jerks hard as the fuel gets cut off and on repeatedly

that's precisely what i'm scared of. the smart is so twitchy that if the fuel cuts out like that and jerks that car, i'm scared i'll wreck. however, it's it's a gentle slowdown like was also mentioned it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

i swapped ecu and engine into my last car so it didn't have any speed limiter and the redline was something ridiculous like 94000, so i never even got to bounce it off the rev limiter. i've already accomplished that in the smart, my first time passing some idiot that almost merged into me.

[SmartPassion]

No one exceeds the speed limit in LA. We all drive a maximum of 75 mph on the freeways.

[geochemistry]

Driving back from the dealer was 80 mph highway (~135 km/h), headwinds were tough, but on some of the level and downhill passes I hit 91 - 92 mph. I do run at 80 - 85 regularly on IH20 west of Odessa. Crosswinds are a beach though.

[Smartman]

On I-10 between Mobile & P'cola the limit is posted at 70. Even on the
Mobile Bay Bridge it's 65, which is pretty liberal as speed limits go, Thats about as fast as I drive anyway.