In a rather interesting turn of events, a curious and courageous daredevil with a BMW 320d xDrive sedan model accidentally discovered that his car is actually limited to a top speed of 230 km/h or 143 mph.
The discovery came while driving on one of Germany’s unrestricted Autobahns and pushing the car to the limit. As the video posted online suggests, the car was software limited to that speed (recorded on the GPS and not with the onboard speedometer), prohibiting the engine from revving above around 3,600 RPM in the 8-speed of the automatic ZF gearbox.
However, BMW doesn’t mention such a limit on its website or in the technical specs of the car. The 184 HP car is rated at a top speed of 233 km/h with the manual 6-speed gearbox and 228 km/h with the 8-speed auto. There’s no mention anywhere that these limits are purposely set, leaving us to think that they are simply the result of the performance figures of the 2-liter engine under the bonnet.
On other, higher performance models, usually the top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/h (155 mph) per a gentlemen’s agreement that German manufacturers are silently abiding. However, in their case, the limits are specified as being specifically induced. Not in this case though, which raises a couple of question marks.
The one that troubles us the most is just how high would the 320d be able to go without the limitation. The rev counter is standing still at around 3,600 RPM, leaving some 1,500 RPM more in between this limitation and the engine’s redline. Our guess would be around 250 km/h (155 mph) on the GPS but that’s just a stab in the dark. What’s you guess and why do you think this limit has been put in place by BMW?
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