Speedo - accurate?

2 questions

1 - Has anyone done a proper check on how accurate the speedo really is?

2 - Does anyone use the analog dial - both my wife and myself find ourselves just using the digital readout.

It will read over, the same as all cars do.

You could check quickly using a tomtom etc. Both our Kuga and C70 show 74 at a real 70.

Cheers

Mark H

All cars generally read 4-5% fast by design,Hence 74 at 70 (actually 73.5 is 5%).

I find use the analog dial during normal driving, but look at the digital around speed cameras.

Mine is 6% over.

Only use the digital readout, no need for Analogue...

It's designed in to allow a tolerance for wheel/tyre differences and tyre wear (tyre wear can account for around 2% difference, gearbox/driveline differences etc on different models and options. This avoids ever selling a car that underreads and so causes an unsuspecting customer to get a speeding ticket because of the car speedo.

Imagine the litigation that could come back on a car company if that were to ever be proven, e.g if every Ford Mondeo owner that got a speeding ticket could suddenly blame the car manufactuer and claim costs!

I checked against my iPhone GPS and the speedo was within 2 kph.

(18-08-2012 10:23pm)Barneyridge Wrote:  I checked against my iPhone GPS and the speedo was within 2 kph.

You might as well have checked it with a windsock

I just use the digital readout. It would be great if you could make the speed reading bigger..

(18-08-2012 10:23pm)Barneyridge Wrote:  I checked against my iPhone GPS and the speedo was within 2 kph.

52kph = 50 actual speed
73kph = 70
124 = 120

There is also some kind of tolerance on the speed cameras in Belgium. So I can drive around 130kph on the speedo without getting a ticket (120 allowed). Most people drive around 120 on the speedo to avoid getting tickets, which gives me a comfortable speed to overtake them. Unfortunately that speed also explains my poor mpg, but I like driving at this speed.