Quite an interesting article.
My beef is also with car manufacturers. I have a bog standard 2015 Mazda 3. The speedometer reads up to 260KMH, the national speed limit in the country is 100KMH, who the fuck are they designing these things for?
My beef is also with car manufacturers. I have a bog standard 2015 Mazda 3. The speedometer reads up to 260KMH, the national speed limit in the country is 100KMH, who the fuck are they designing these things for?
First, speed limits vary from place to place and manufacturers don't need to change the speedometer for each one. For instance, in the US, there are places where the limit is as high as 137KMH, and it used to be unlimited in places. I don't know what Germany is like these days.
Also, the Mazda3 is said to have a governed top speed of 190KMH* so the speedometer reading up to 260 is a red herring with respect to actual performance.
Finally, a high top speed is a side effect of having the acceleration that consumers would like.
*It's a governed speed in order to preserve the tires, but it's unlikely it would make 260KMH even without the governor; maybe 200-220KMH at best - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda3
Large portions of the Autobahn are still unlimited.
This being said, I always assumed this was mostly an effect of a) many cars being able to show fuel consumption on the hud and b) fuel prices having risen considerably.
I realize I'm making some assumptions here, but maybe the maximum speed of a car is an design artifact of maximizing for multiple variables (longevity, fuel consumption, maintenance costs), not just speed.
I'm not an engineer so I have no idea what I'm talking about.
You don't actually need it, but if you can be convinced you need it or want it, then you'll pay more for it. Most people don't buy cars based purely on practicality. They buy the car for the lifestyle they wish they had.
And dammit I wanna be a race car driver!
You step into a basic Toyota, you gauge the speedometer. It reads 0 on end, 160 on the other.
Next you step into a basic Honda, you gauge the speedometer. It reads 0 on one end, 80 on the other.
Which one will most people buy, all other things being equal?
Now, if you want to have an absolute maximum speed, governments can insist on tamper-proof governors. Kinda like Singapore does for its cabs.
Most of them set a range so the standard operating speed on a highway is roughly at the top of the gauge. In this way, people can gauge their speed when driving different vehicles my glancing at the position not reading the numbers.
2. many cars don't have a linear (circumferential) scale on the analogue display (because they put the "highwy speed" at the top of the semi-circle
Obviously you since you own the thing.
If people didn't buy the fast cars they wouldn't build the fast cars...how many Beetles were sold worldwide and those things could barely do 110kph with a good tailwind?
There are countries with higher limits as well, i.e. they have not designed to be sold in your own country solely.
The Germans.