So i was driving along a safe road, and attempted to unleash the automatic beast. Smooth as hell, going 95 mph in 4th gear.

Push on the accelorator a bit harder and hit 98.. push a bit more.. stays at 98!?!?!?!?!?!?


I say what the hell!? so after a few errands i go back to the secluded road and attempt it again (although this time i only had a chance to just barely touch 98 then i had to slow down) so no luck to attempt it again.

In your automatic what has been ur speed so far? Has it been above 98!?

Why would it be sticking to 98?! govenor?!?!? no way!

please respond asap!

Don't know.....not sure when I will ever go that fast! Weird though! I have done 80 tops.

Come on Monte, you should know that the Auto only goes 98 max top speed. ..... j/k


I pushed mine last night to 129 no prob. No cars on the freeway at 3am. Not sure what top speed was, I'll try to go above 129 next time.

Outlaws eXtreme

you have a auto correct?


And the first thing i read..
"Come on Monte, you should know that the Auto only goes 98 max top speed. ....."

DAMN U FOR SCAREING ME! : )

anyway..
you have a auto correct?

Yup auto, got sick of driving stick in my civic for the last 5 years going to downtown LA, and coming back to OC area. 129 top speed...so far. I'll let you know if I hit faster.

Don't try this on the road before 3am, only experience reckless drivers should ever attempt speeds beyond 99. Remember to always wear your seat belt, and leave a will in your desk in case of an accident.

:( 99 miles.. good thing i'm not considered reckless then :-/

Were you driving in full auto mode or using the manual sport mode?

I've gone 132 in a auto on a track before slowing for a turn. Maybe check with dealer. There is no governor. Doesn't seem right. I've done this in full auto and paddle mode.

I've gone 101 in my 8 before I had to slow down. 132 must be flying!! How did the car feel at that speed? At 101 if felt like I was cruising along at 75 :)

I've read several places that there is a govener at 148 mph. This is pretty much industry standard for this type of car. If they go 150 or over, they need much more expensive Z rated tires. I understand the RX-8 reaches this speed in both 5th and 6th gear. I haven't read that the Automatic is not capable of same, but with fewer ponies, wouldn't be surprised if it is less (and with no govener as a result).

I could take a nice nap at 129 in the 8. Smooth as a baby's bottom.

Maybe it didn't get the chance to rev high enough in 3rd before hitting 4th? I suppose it could be a long wait to get above 100 mph if the revs start too low in high gear.

I know I hit...umm...a much higher speed than I thought I was going much more quickly than I thought I would a couple weeks ago with the 6sp.

Originally posted by monte
Why would it be sticking to 98?! govenor?!?!? no way!

please respond asap!

You've probably damaged your car with those attempts at drag racing... it looks like it's just your AT RX-8 that can't do over 99.

Regards,
Gordon

my (MTX) car was pulling strong at 110 mph when i let off. 240hp, and decent aero, it could go 148. the 240hp porsche 968 was supposed to go 156.

james

Mine stops at 125, haven't tried topping it out going downhill though but I can feel it cut off the throttle at 125. I'll have to try it with manual mode on next time.

Umm...98 MPH? Dude...I'm pretty sure I've taken it up to 110 in 3rd gear over here...Taken it up to 123 MPH and didn't have the heart to go on...I'm sure I'll find it my Zen someday to do it. Perhaps on the way to Vegas at 1:30 AM in the morning or something...

o bah gordon, i have not tried to drag race, however just casual fun races :).

Anyways, i'll hit another attempt today to try and go over 98.. i hope its successful, i hadn't the time to try to go over it whe i did hit is (i pushed a bit but it wouldn't and i had to slow down asap.. i was in 4th gear

Originally posted by monte
o bah gordon, i have not tried to drag race, however just casual fun races :).

hmmm.... (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16972)

How many times did you do a neutral drop at high rpm? You know how people told you it was a bad thing to do to your trans? Well, it is a very bad thing to do to an auto trans. I was only half-joking when I suggested you had damaged something.

Anyways, i'll hit another attempt today to try and go over 98.. i hope its successful, i hadn't the time to try to go over it whe i did hit is (i pushed a bit but it wouldn't and i had to slow down asap.. i was in 4th gear

What rpm are you getting at 98 mph in 4th gear?

Regards,
Gordon

yup, 98 is def not right. I will have a 6 speed manual this week coming up...but i can get my SVT contour to 140 EASY. so ya..u should be able to work the 120 spot easy. lata

CM

nm nm its all good, i did 106 (ish) in 3rd now with my a/t :p

i dunno what happened that day

thanks for all your replies.

Originally posted by RX-8 Pimpin'
Mine stops at 125, haven't tried topping it out going downhill though but I can feel it cut off the throttle at 125. I'll have to try it with manual mode on next time.

That's because the AT model is speed limited to 124.5 MPH

Originally posted by Mazda Monkey
That's because the AT model is speed limited to 124.5 MPH
I have not seen anyone else report that the AT is limited to 124.5mph. In fact, mmmdowning reported a track speed of 132mph in his AT in this thread:

AT Drivers ONLY - How Much Do You Use Manual Mode? (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18082)

Umm...I did 110 or something in 3rd gear. I'm pretty sure I the governor isn't limited to 124.5. Something along the lines of 130 or something. I'll test it out myself someday.

Zeqs I'm pretty sure he said the AUTOMATIC is governed at 124.5... not the manual though. Which is probably what you were driving...

Brit

Sorry guys itis true. My auto Rx8 wont go above 125. Manual mode doesnt make a difference. I dont remember what RPM it stops at but theres definitely some speed left in 4th gear that it stops us from using. I was thinking that maybe if the DSC and TCS is turned off you could pass 125 but after reading the posts here it sounds like 125 is the set limit on thegovener. I dont see how those 2 features could limit the speed anyway.

There really aren't many reasons to go over 125 anyway. On a track, yeah, but how many have done that or more importantly, plan to do it regularly?

I'll get mine to 115 or so every now and then but feel guilty doing it on public roads even with no one else visible, and slow down to the 90's.

The car is very smooth at high speed, and speed becomes addicting, but I wouldn't mind if my MT was limited to 125.

I doubt if I'll ever take it above that, I just don't trust the other drivers on the road and it's really not worth the risk of arrest or injury to myself or others.

It would be fun to see "what it'll do," but thankfully others have done that for me. :)

I don't understand why some of the auto 8's are being restricted to 125. It just doesn't make sense. I'll call Mazda today and see if I can get some answers to this.

On my 132 run at a track, I had no problems reaching that. It was very smooth. It built my confidence in the car like you wouldn't believe.

I haven't done any mods related to exhuast, engine, or intake.
Just a stock *8*.

I want to say please only do this at a track. NOT ON OUR HIGHWAYS!!!!!!

Since our speedometers don't register tenths, Mazda Monkey's obviously getting his information from somewhere else. It should be interesting to see why 125mph is set as the top speed-- as someone may have already said, ECUs often govern speed out of concern that the tires will fail, but I can't understand why the AT should be set lower than the MT, unless there is potential engine damage. The engine in the AT is very different than the MT engine, so that's a possibility. That leaves the question as to what mmmdowning is doing ripping around a track at 132mph in an AT. Perhaps Mazda reflashed the ECUs and his hasn't been reflashed?

I think all of us should hold off high speed track runs until we get an answer. I'd hate to see our engines get fried or have something worse happen. As far as driving that fast on the road, think about what happens when a deer decides it wants to jump into your lane. (I've seen deer on interstate roads more than once, trapped by the fencing - it's really scary.) Be safe.

Agree. Can't go to the track in winter.

Originally posted by MEGAREDS
Since our speedometers don't register tenths, Mazda Monkey's obviously getting his information from somewhere else. It should be interesting to see why 125mph is set as the top speed

124.5 mph is rounding error. Remember, the RX-8 is a metric car in a metric world, and the USA is the anomoly. The limit will be 200 km/h, which converts to 124.2xxx mph, which some technical writer has rounded up to the nearest 0.5 mph at 124.5 mph. What seems like an arbitrary and random number to Americans (124.5 mph) is actually a nice round number (200 km/h) to those of us in the rest of the world! :D

Why it's limited to 200 km/h, I don't know - if it were tires, the limit would be 180 or 210. Possibly transmission heat capacity?

Regards,
Gordon

Possibly the transmission as Gordon just mentioned. The A/T's don't even like the front air dams. The front air dam is actually functional in this case, as it would help the car maintain stability above 90 MPH, which one would definately be doing if they were trying to hit the "absolute" top speed of the car.

If adding the front air damn causes a significant risk to the A/T's, then running about 110 MPH for extended periods of time would pose just as much of one to the mechanics, if not more so.