Max speed for an M3?

[retro-wheels]

What is the max speed for a standard E30 M3?

just curious really

[Simon]

So many different figures, and claims, but the official BMW figure is 150mph.

[maxfield]

About 145 mph i believe.

[Simon]

About 145 mph i believe.

My point exactly!

[maxfield]

There is something in the FAO section for you.

[retro-wheels]

so somewhere between 140mph and 150mph?

thats a bit more than i thought fairly impressive though!! is that limited or is that max?

[maxfield]

Max speed defiantly not limited.

[Rosc0PColtrane]

70mph on a British road.

[78dude]

100 Km/h on a Norwegian road.

[retro-wheels]

150mph on a private British road

i wasnt trying to see what my car should be doing, i was just curious really as my father had said 125mph which i thought was total pish considering my mk1 golf would do that, posting here has confirmed this

[maxfield]

What ever you want on an auto-bahn with no limits.

[Ryan_Salt]

We've seen 150MPH on many ocasions - in a certain white M3

[maxfield]

Baring in mind speedo's over read by 5%ish and rolling radius puts it out aswell.

[d6dph]

Baring in mind speedo's over read by 5%ish and rolling radius puts it out aswell.

Jamie, can you clarify what you mean by this?

Rolling radius is affected by a change of wheel or tyre size, ie if you go from 205/40/17 to 225/40/17 the latter is larger and will make the speedo read incorrectly.

[maxfield]

Yes, spot on.

[oakey]

On the poster on my wall it says that the 192BHP M3 does 143MPH top speed (0-62mph in 6.9secs) (BMW figures) So the 215 must do a fair bit more.

[d6dph]

Probably wouldn't do that much more Oakey, Remember these are not overly aerodynamic cars. It must be like trying to push a brick through cold treacle!

[zimmerbimmer1]

Official Figure is 152MPH as far as
i am aware

But I have seen one be clocked at 160

It was screaming its t*ts off though

[Simon]

I knew there would be loads of different figures!

I have the BMW owners manual here in front of me and it states 150mph and 148 for the convertible.

[zimmerbimmer1]

Nice one Simon

Though the Manuals always under estimate

[oakey]

Probably wouldn't do that much more Oakey, Remember these are not overly aerodynamic cars. It must be like trying to push a brick through cold treacle!

I should have said a 215 would probably make it to 150mph. 23BHP extra?

[Rich_W]

You know in over 3 years of ownership. Ive never VMaxed the M. I tend to get up to around (indicated) 240 and feel terrified for my licence I have a GPS thingy too but Ive decided its probably best to look at the road at that sort of speed.

Its VERY stable at those speeds though. The flipside to all that square-ness and wing drag is that the car is pretty good for downforce.

[HenryM3]

The E30 M3 might do 150mph if you had a 10 mile straight and a wind up your arse. I have a rolling road tested 340bhp and mine, with PBMW mag timing gear did 158.6mph at Bruntingthorpe.

[maxfield]

The E30 M3 might do 150mph if you had a 10 mile straight and a wind up your arse. I have a rolling road tested 340bhp and mine, with PBMW mag timing gear did 158.6mph at Bruntingthorpe.

Surely that wasn't maxxed out?

[oakey]

standard gearbox/ratios- would explain it. I doubt the m3 is geared to go much faster than that

[HenryM3]

Yes, it was doing that half way down the straight, It is possible I suppose that the road speed limiter was stopping it going any faster, I don't know if that would still work in a converted car as I don't know now or in what way it's wired up. I just asumed it was the brick wall effect due to the boxy shape of the car. Interestingly it lapped 3 seconds a lap quicker than the E46 M3's

[maxfield]

I would be expecting it to do much more than that.

My dads M3 does 163 (gps) with 200rpm to go with 270hp, so i was expecting 170 ish.

Video here

Private road of course.

[1an]

jamie you wont get another 7mph from 200rpm i wouldnt of thought, otherwise he would fo hit that, i wouldnt of thought it would pull any more

[HenryM3]

I have no answer to that, all I can say is it got to the speed quickly and wouldn't go any faster.

[maxfield]

jamie you wont get another 7mph from 200rpm i wouldnt of thought, otherwise he would fo hit that, i wouldnt of thought it would pull any more

No i meant HenryM3's car, with 340hp i would be expecting 170mph.

200rpm would probably only be 2mph but the power drops off about then so I'm guessing that's why.

[1an]

oh sorry wasnt really following just commenting on what you said.

[HenryM3]

Anyone who want's to comment on how the road speed limiter{ ie 155mph }is activated then I'm listening.

[Ryan_Salt]

Not that I recommend taking photos while driving, but....

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/ryan_ ... inggt5.jpg

[1an]

sorry but the speedo on cars is most likely to be way out, the only way to do it is to use a satnav to get true speed figure.

[Falkster]

You can use the link below and input all the ratios and this will tell you what the M3 is capable of with the standard gearing.

http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/revs.html

Ive entered the figures and this is what it came out at @ 6700 revs which is unlikely unless you have had some work done to be able to pull 6700 in top gear