On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, W. Lee Hendrick wrote:

> At 4:19 PM -0500 1/28/00, Andrew Traenkner wrote:
> >My '88 hits the rev limiter at 7300RPM(recently checked).  That means it
> >would be spinning 3650RPM at 62MPH.  I could be wrong, but me thinks that's
> >a little high.
> 
>       That would be too high. I believe the 124mph is based on 
> 6800RPM, with the 0.91 5th and 3.67 final drive. That would give an 
> engine speed of 3290 rpm at 60 mph, which sounds about right. If you 
> see much less than 3000RPM @ 60mph with stock tires and this gearing, 
> then your tach or speedo (or both) are way off. BTW, I believe the 
> 6800RPM is the maximum recommended _continuous_ engine speed for the 
> 1.8l (and the redline for the 2.0l) 16V motors, whereas 7200 (or is 
> it 7400?) is the maximum recommended _instantateous_ engine speed. 
> Yes, the rev limiter on a 1.8l usually doesn't usually kick in until 
> over 7K, and it's fine to rev it up that high during acceleration, 
> but I personally would not punish my car by top speed testing over 
> 6800RPM. So, the car is limited to a top speed of124mph following the 
> _factory_ specs and recommended engine speed and is, in that respect, 
> rev limited. I guess my point is that even if the car didn't have a 
> rev limiter, it would still be 'rev limited' to the speed at factory 
> redline, even if it could still accelerate. YMMV, of course, if 
> you're willing to push it past that point!
> 


Ok, time to finish this. I've seen a billion numbers flying around and
they are almost all wrong.  According to
http://www.volkswagen.org/tiresize.htm:


With
        3.67 R&P
        .91 5th
        185/60-14 tires

        3000 RPM = 60 MPH

        4000 RPM = 81 MPH

        5000 RPM = 101 MPH

        6000 RPM = 121 MPH
        6150 RPM = 124 MPH
        6800 RPM = 137 MPH

        7000 RPM = 141 MPH
        7200 RPM = 145 MPH

This jibes exactly with the behavior that I've seen on my 89 GTI.
Honestly, did no one else notice this? It's too perfect to miss. In 5th
gear, 1000 RPM translates almost EXACTLY to 20 mph.  There's nothing that
can change this, short of tire size or gear changes (but you all already
knew that!)  As for the 124 MPH top speed- I believe this is drag limited.
It may be electronically limited, but I doubt that's the case on my CIS-E
car... not possible.


-- 
John Caldwell
[email protected]

89 GTI 16v

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