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Old 02-23-2011, 07:52 PM   #24 (permalink)
cfg83
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1999 Saturn SW2 - '99 Saturn SW2 Wagon
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zonker -

Quote:
Originally Posted by zonker View Post
nothing the government ever does is purely scientific. throw a few special interest lobbyists in the mix and then you have the real reason on the 55mph selection.

i'm sure the best vehicle speed has to do when the aerodynamic drag starts to contribute substantially to the speed equation.

as for engine speed, i'm going to guess it's on the idle speed side of the peak torque curve, so in my engine's case, it produces peak tq numbers at 2500 rpm, so somewhere between 1000 rpm and 2500 rpm would be ideal.
I think basjoos likes to maintain a higher average MPH than most of us because of his aeromods. For the majority of cars, however, this is the way things play out :



In all cases the trend is downward, and it was going down *before* 55 MPH. The only special car in all of this is the Mercedes C 180 K. It "bucks the trend", but it is still going down.

CarloSW2
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