One of the greatest joys in driving is being able to max out your vehicle, be it hitting apexes or clocking in low numbers at the drag strip. We often champion the idea of “slow car fast,” or a vehicle you can push to its limit without hitting Warp. Still, the far end of a speedometer is a temptress, and sometimes a car enthusiast just wants to register triple-digit speeds. What’s the fastest you’ve driven? What were you driving or riding when you hit it?
Now, to be clear here, we are not the police. At least, when I pinched myself this morning I was pretty sure I still work at a transportation publication. I’m not going to tattle on you. That said, you should always be careful what you say on the Internet!
I’ve lived with slow vehicles all of my life. My first car, a 2001 Kia Rio, wouldn’t go any faster than 110 mph indicated, which was probably closer to 105 mph actual. Things got slower from there. The fastest I’ve gotten in my 2012 Smart Fortwo was 98 mph, beating the electronic limiter by 8 mph. GPS confirmed that as well as uh … the police officer who pulled me over. As a twist, he was laughing way so hard at the thought of my car going that fast that he didn’t even give me a ticket for it. The Honda Prelude driver that blew by going even faster wasn’t as lucky.
Ok, so Peter made this as the original topshot and I have to put it here. It’s not a 2012 Smart but it makes me giggle:
I’m generally familiar with the far end of the speedometers of everything I drive. I’ve hit 83 mph in my Honda Beat, 70 mph in my Suzuki Every, 70 mph in my bus, and about 130 mph in my Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI.
The absolute fastest I’ve been in a car was about 155 mph behind the wheel of the second-generation Acura NSX. Sadly, the course was too short for more, but there’s only one other time in life when my heart pumped that hard, and that had nothing to do with cars.
Weirdly, I have owned some fast-ish motorcycles, but haven’t gone that fast on them. At one point, I owned a Honda CBR600F3, which could theoretically hit around 173 mph. However, mine never went faster than the speed limit during my ownership. Instead, the fastest I’ve been on a bike was my Triumph Rocket III, which hit a touch over 130 mph before my senses kicked in and I slowed down. Before that, it was 120 mph on a modified and naked 1980 Honda GL1100.
A part of me is afraid to own my “unattainable” dream car, a first-generation Audi R8 V10. Will I bury the needle and end up under a jail somewhere? Will I become an insatiable speed junkie and have to tie myself to faster and faster vehicles? I don’t have the answers to these questions right now. For now, I will happily continue putt-putting around on 20 HP Royal Enfields and giving myself occasional blasts of speed via Triumphs with threatening auras and supercharged Ford trucks that exist to convert rubber into smoke.
What about you? What’s the fastest you’ve gone and in what vehicle?
120-130 for about 60 miles
In the late 90’s I was in my 1988 S-10 with a fuel injected 350, heading south from STL on I-55, just past the Hwy 67 interchange. I wanted to get home fast, but I was chugging along as fast as I dared. Then a 4th gen Camaro passed me going faaaast. I figured he probably had radar detectors and knew the lay of the land better than I did so I decided to floor it and keep pace. We cruised at 120+ all the way to Cape Girardeau before I lost my nerve. The steering in that black brick I was driving was soooo light it was super scary. I had to pull over in Cape and have a cookie after the adrenaline crash.
A 350 S10 sounds like so much fun! Was it TPI? I always liked the idea of a TPI motor in a truck, Soooo much low end torque. I had the L98 in my 3rd gen, and it ran out of breath around 4500 but was a monster off the line.
Fun doesn’t even begin to describe it. Smooth, powerful, fast. It wasn’t a beast or anything, but there were few cars on the road as fast as I was off the line, which is a heady thing. It was pretty rad driving around with that kind of confidence. I miss that truck so much.
I want to say it was TPI, but I honestly can’t remember. What I remember more than anything was that it kept eating left side engine mounts. Eventually I had a muffler shop weld a log chain to the frame so I could bolt it to the accessory bracket on that side to supplement a new mount. Every time I’d floor it from a stop I’d loose steering for a while because the steering shaft went through the header and when the engine mount gave up the engine would jump up and the header would grab my steering when the torque hit.
Haha! Sounds like a blast. I forget about the chain trick, my buddy did that to his Foxbody Mustang back in the day.
My GTA was like that, great at stoplights but nothing special in the quarter. The thing barely broke into the 14’s but FELT so fast. I thought my auto LS1 car felt slower than the GTA, till I ran a 13.7 first time out at the track.
The fastest car in the world- a rental.
It was a 2014 Camaro v6 convertible, in southern Utah. It was a straight road for miles, no traffic. Layed onto it- topped it at 134mph. I.made sure to reset ‘highest speed’ before turning it in. It also had a transmission noise after.
I dunno, the speedometer in my ’99 Dakota didn’t go very high; but I made a normally half hour trip in 7 minutes, for my aunts funeral.
Fastest verified speed: 124 MPH in my 2013 Chevy Sonic after getting it’s third round of Mail-A-Tune tweaks that removed the 112 MPH speed limiter. This was on a closed course not at all a state highway. The car had more shove left, but the front started to lift and I didn’t want to find out what came next.
112 in an 07 Grand Caravan. I in a great mood and wondered how fast it could go. Thanks to this experience, I can report that the 90mph shakes in the steering smooth out past about 103. Also that the trip from 30-112 takes about as long as you think it does
What’s the fastest car in the world? A rental. I was in a rented first gen Mazda 6 on a stretch of US HWY 287 in Wyoming where it’s long, smooth, straight and no visual obstructions. I took it up to 115 before it started feeling a little light and I got uncomfortable. I had the ’03 Mini up to 106 once. I’m looking to get the ’05 GTO somewhere where I can safely explore its top speed. But I think the driver needs some better education first.
150mph indicated (probably more like 140-145mph) on my ’05 Z1000, 2 laner out in the country. I don’t ride that bike much anymore, but it was fun. My 690ER starts to get a bit wobbly above 85mph, but I have cracked the 3 digit mark on it.
Funny enough, when I had my Camaro SS I don’t think I made it over 120mph or so.
My sister calls me in tears. Dad’s had a massive stroke, prognosis not good. This Normally hour-plus long trip was essentially halved.
I remember getting on the Mass Pike heading west from I-91 and just BURYING the loud pedal on my ’95 Mustang GT. Hit an indicated 140 with a decent bit of gear left at one point.
Dad made it out of that stroke in very good shape…..he passed in February of ’22, and that Mustang is still in my garage. I promised him I’d finish it….so I need to get to work.
Many years ago, while driving my ’97 Grand Cherokee back home from a nice vacation, I found myself on the Garden State Parkway. It was early afternoon on a very pretty Sunday, and traffic was unusually light. I decided to set the cruise, and looked down at the speedometer to find that I was going 85. The vehicle didn’t feel like it was going more than 70. O_o
1977 Chrysler New Yorker with a 400 4bbl. It had a big rectangular speedometer. The waitress owned it at the place where I delivered Pizza. It needed gas so she told me to take it. The spedo clocked to 100mph and the needle kept going. It buried the needle and the counterweight came up the other side and hit about 50. Then I ran out of gas 🙂
On I95… somewhere in NJ. 135mph in my 07 XKR, only because I was curious what the top speed of 3rd gear was (it is around 130). The steering did feel lighter than I was comfortable with so I think I need a front splitter.
Far more terrifying though, was 70-73mph (idk exact speed, the speedo needle tends to bounce a lot but I know I was north of 70mph) in a 1968 Land Rover Series IIa 88″. The engine was screaming in terror, I was screaming in terror, the drive train was wailing. Good times.
If you’re wondering how that is possible, it has Disco 1 axles and an overdrive. Plus I believe I had a tail wind that day.
FWIW, I’m always curious about top speeds in various gears. The F900XR will do 51mph in first gear. The other gears I’m sure are rather fast but I wouldn’t know anything about that.
This is a pathetic answer…
1990 Plymouth Acclaim. 110mph, down a hill, floored. Somewhere between Cedar City and St. George. Nearly 25 years ago.
132 MPH driving a 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe on Northbound I-75, somewhere in Troy Michigan at 5:00 in the morning on a crisp, clear Fall Saturday morning, This was many years ago.
Those old Turbo Coupes were quick in their day!!! Handled pretty well too.
I loved that car!!!!! I was so obsessed with it!!
I managed to knock the exhaust system off of one from bottoming out at 100+ hill hopping on a back road. I was quite stupid back then, but it was fun!
129 mph in my Fiat 500 Abarth. It was on a track that actually was a closed runway. FCA said that Abarth models were electronically governed at 131 mph.
I couldn’t get it any higher,not because the car wouldn’t go any faster but because I was running out of runway!!
I’ve been in 6th because I’ve run out of 5th gear. I’ll leave it at that.
In general, I wouldn’t want to do 120+ in anything with at least some real aero design, because front end lift is very much a thing. I don’t need a car with wings, but cars that focus on zero lift are a world of difference than those that aren’t.
I’ve found cars are most fun between 30 and 120, with the best between 30 and 80.
I bought my Kawasaki Concours from a farm 45 minutes out of town. I knew it was an American import with an MPH speedo but forgot that by the time I picked it up, got on the freeway back to the city, and pushed the needle up to to the speed limit of 110…kmh. Wondered why everyone seemed to be driving so slow.
106 mph in a Geo Storm hatchback. My goal was to find out the top speed of my first new car. Turned out the car had more in it than I did, as it was still accelerating when I backed off.
This was several years before and several miles up the same road from where Janklow Fett took out the motorcyclist when he blew through the stop sign in his Caddy, while his “driver” sat in the passenger seat.
My excuse is I was young and stupid, and I’ve never been into triple digits since. If I ever do, it will be on a track or some type of major emergency situation. Hopefully a track.
I live in Virginia, I’m not getting a reckless driving ticket/arrest. So until I own something worth taking to a track, no fun for me.
So do I. Weekend drives take me up into southern WV mountains where the curves & decaying pavement generally act as a decent governor 🙂
129 in a Forester XT (2005). That’s apparently the limited speed. It was plenty fast
I have been over 100mph in a 78 vw rabbit, 91 subaru just, and 89 Plymouth colt, Young and dumb for sure.
Same here in an 82 Rabbit and an 87 Subaru XT—and still have the ticket a nice officer dropped to 99 in the latter: was proud of that for awhile as I was going up a mountain.
—I’m damn lucky I survived those urges back then.
I’ve done 118 in my Kona N. I will simply mention that I do track it, so my NSA agent can remember. When I was around 20 I went recklessly fast in my mom’s Audi A4 convertible on country roads…but I genuinely can’t recall the exact speed/definitely increased it each time I bragged about it to my dumbass friends.
It was certainly an excessive speed, though. I’ve also been in a car that hit 150 but I wasn’t the one driving it. At this point in my life with a baby due in July I don’t see any point to going above 90 or so unless it’s in a controlled environment.
Indicated 105 in my 300SD years ago. Felt just as stable as 65.
On empty roads during the lockdown I aimed to see what my 02 WRX would do, then backed off around indicated 115: I ain’t 16 anymore, and what’s the point?
Fell in with an AMG & a stout Audi in my Roadster on the way back from the Chapel Hill meetup. Too busy to look at the speedometer, but the tach was up near redline in 5th, so way too far above the Ton for a public road.
In general, I’ll run out 3rd (90+ in both cars), but don’t pull hard in 4th much as I don’t need to hit triple digits in public. I don’t have anything to prove—and I’m not that self-destructive anymore.
I can say that a 1969 Galaxie 500 with a 390 v8 can go faster than the speedometer goes up to (120+mph).
Fastest I’ve driven is 140mph. Not only was it 100% legal, it was also for work.
I’ll also add that given the car and the location it was pretty boring.
The maximum speed of my ’97 Econoline was about 95 (which I’m told is where most Ford trucks and vans are governed?), and the max of my Prius v is 106. I seem to have developed a habit of “find the max speed just once” during the ownership of a vehicle.
I did like that the van’s speedometer went up to 100. Max speeds and speedometers should be fairly close together like that, dangit.
The Prius’s speedometer is digital, but at least it’s realistic enough that the 7-segment display only has room for a “1” in the leftmost column.
I’ve somehow done the same. Once has always been enough for me.
I used to do that… until my last car (A110GT). I must be getting old…
I’m astonishly boring. The fastest I’ve ever gone (and almost certainly will go) was in a late 80’s Chevy Celebrity (Eurosport!). Going to a friend’s house out in the boonies, I got turned around and was wicked late, so I floored it and bottomed out the speedometer. I’m pretty sure I hit 100, but it only went up to 85, so I’ll never know…
Once I got there, I was told that the police patrol that road aggressively, and that I was WAY lucky…