Episode 1:Yaris On The Autobahn

TopSpeed160? : The Art Of Noticing
TopSpeed160? : The Art Of Noticing
Episode 1:Yaris On The Autobahn
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Podcast Origins : “Is your cars top speed really 160 mph?

5 reasons why your car can’t go as fast as your speedometer says it can.
⦁ Marketing 2.14
⦁ Manufacturing savings .3.25
⦁ Regulation in different countries 4.42
⦁ Psychology of speedometer design 5.14
⦁ General public opinion towards regulation 5.40

Transcript (lightly edited for length and clarity).
Picture yourself going 140 mph down the German Autobahn. With trees and blurry images zipping by as you push your car up to its limit. Now imagine doing that but in a stock Toyota Yaris?

“A stock car, in the original sense of the term, is an automobile that has not been modified from its original factory configuration”

As I was browsing through the Internet, I came across an article about automobile speedometers and got inspired to start podcast based on the article’s premise. According to the article written in 2013, 80% of the cars on the road at that time were not designed for and will not go over 110 mph and yet the top speed limit per the car manufacturer is at 140 to 160 MPH. This revelation absolutely blew my mind. How could something so obvious literally in front of our faces go so unnoticed?

So why do the Yaris and most other cars sold in the US have speedometers that show speeds that the cars can’t possibly reach. There are a number of reasons for this, and so let’s let’s dig into the major ones.

1. Marketing: Automakers marketing departments are happy to give people the illusion that their family car can travel at speeds rivaling a NASCAR racer. When people are comparison shopping, cars with higher speedometer readings appear to be sportier and buyers favor them even though they have no intention of driving over 100. Apparently as people are car shopping, they want to see bigger numbers as it is an indication of a more powerful engine. Although cars with higher horsepower engines can come close to the top speedometer speeds most are limited by engine control computers. That’s because the tires can overheat and fail at higher speeds.

1Many tires, especially in older cars, are not rated over 130 mph or they can fail. Many automobile models have speed limits as low as 112 mph, but that’s still faster than most people will ever drive.

2. Cost savings. Because most automakers are global companies, they need to be able to make vehicles that can be used in various countries around the world. Due to different speed limits set up by different countries, the automobile manufacturers have found it cheaper to use speedometers that can work in different models that are marketed in these different countries that they sell in. More like the one-size-fits-all instead of having to build a speedometer for each jurisdiction. In addition, the major auto manufacturers have at some point formed alliances resulting in collaborations on different aspects of automobile manufacturing and sales. In our Toyota Yaris example, the the car was actually a rebranded Mazda model. Depending on the country where it was sold, it was either sold as a Mazda or a Toyota. They would just rebrand it. The Yaris is actually the Mazda 2 with the Toyota imprint on it .

3. Regulations in different countries. Posted speed limits vary in different jurisdictions. in the US for example, the maximum legal speed limits varies from a high speed limit range of between 65 to 80 mph at the highest and at the lowest, it’s gonna be around 30 mph. Speed limits also vary widely international and in Germany, for example, the Autobahn has no speed limit (in some areas).

4. Speedometer design reflects research that found that most people like the needle to hit highway speed at the top of the speedometer circle. The common freeway cruising speed of 70 to 80 mph is right at the middle of the 140 to 160 mile per hour speedometer.

5. Local regulation and General Public Opinion :Did you know that for US automobiles manufactured starting in the late 1979, the US government had required that the speedometers have a special emphasis on 50 mph and display no more than the maximum speed of 85 mph. However, this was later discontinued in early 1982 due to pushback from both the public as well as automobile manufacturers

So, next time you’re driving, take a moment to reflect on this one aspect of your car and it’s hidden story. Hope you enjoyed this show, like and subscribe to this show for more episodes and support us by sharing a show via your social media.
Thank you.

1.https://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/auto/learn/tires-101/tire-speed-rating-and-tread-life
2.https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mazda/2/361979/new-mazda-2-hybrid-toyota-yaris-clone-gets-2024-facelift#:~:text=If%20you%20thought%20the%20latest,and%20technology%20upgr https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a26062013/toyota-yaris-hatchback-mazda-2-confirmed-2020/ 5.https://www.yahoo.com/news/question-of-the-day-why-did-1980s-cars-have-233212628.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMJuk4FzLDe7wy5wayhLjRoEM60arMTerUpXghGs2irpIce5wJrnXtUtvGYrS-2aU7FfYTlyTsAD1NH7zLcjrMTO2Xo-u-g3X1BtYSAMl4otb5DocRfL64C3kjwo9Pq-VbsLnXjf9uFVROzqYS_ApuE42ALJDagAvs5PDc5oB-wJ

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