Why does the car register a 140mph if it's against the law?

Well, because the car makers don't make a car just for your country - they also make them for export. In many other countries you can go as fast as you like on some open roads and motorways. You can then explain to your child the benefits of exports, foreign trade, currency markets and international banking! Maybe then she will be interested in banking and grow up and get to earn a million in bonuses every year and be able to keep you in your old age to the manner to which you are accustomed! Worth a try, anyway. haha

uyeah I would tell here about tickets if going over the speed limit also about racer cars well really all the above. ya cant do it in Tenn as no reallay flat straight road to open a car up to see if it goes that fast. BUt if ya lived out west with a straight road with nothing in sight for 50 miles ya might can open one up. I did my 77 grand PRix hit the 160 that was on it and then faster what a thrill but just gant do that in Tenn.

I honestly think you should be open and honest with her about it. If she's going to be driving soon, then she has to be aware of everything. So not knowing something to be honest isn't helping her to learn. She's smart and at least she wants to be very well informed. You have to gtive her credit for that. Most kids rarely take something as serious as driving seriously enough to be asking those questions. There are many reasons that cars can go that fast. One of which is as you said, modified for racing, but those cars aren't street-legal. Another reason varies on where you live. Different states, countries and areas have different speed limits and speed limit ranges. In most urbon cities it is against the law to go past the posteed speed limit, 35- 40 is usually common inside city limits and 70 is normal for the interstate. This is what is typically tought in most areas. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If your traveling say through the desert, then it is actally illigal not to go under 100. This is because the slower you go the more opportunity for sand and junk to get in your engine. Mind you the adverage car isn't designed for desert travel, but our country has some, and there are other countries where that's all it is. Mind you it's rare, but there are places where you are expected to drive that fast. Your engine might not like it, but then again most people don't live in desert country. I only know this because I asked my husband the same questions. I will never have a liance,due to my poor vision. But, I wondered how things work, and why. George told me, and that's when I found out about speed limits and things like that. Otherwise I'd be like um.... but I was told.

Hi JenInTN Quite a good question. Of course, the answer can range from anything serious to hilarious. On lighter notes, I would say - they want the doors to make money open(go beyond the limits pay the tickets - and if you are trapped severely... then it serves like a community service paying to many - right from the clerks to the lawyers) Another one... The makers of the cars just need a number to end their milometer counts and so they have provided these numbers there. If you drive that fast... your car ends up more in the garage and repair centers than on the roads

its a very smart question by your daughter. unanswerable question :D

The answer to this question is our governor might have one. We certainly all want to drive safe dear and not endanger anyone; the answer for young people perhaps. But when we are all alone and lucky enough to get to a place that is safe where we can open it up all the way to see what the thing will do ... not that I have mind you ... As I understand the logic of it all, if you get a good mr mechanic to beef up the motor to go faster and put the car on say the salt flats, after a certain speed because of the air pressures, the back window will blow out. So the moral here is to consider, there are a few things to think about besides looking at that needle. A gauge will show a range. Something we can relate to is our home cooking stoves. They are made to go hotter but if you are not in a real big hurry and/or don’t want your grandmothers recipe to come out looking like burnt surprise, so better knock it down a tad under macho 1.

In my home country a car it at the maximum allowed to go at 70 miles per hour. That is the maximum permitted speed on a motorway. Usually the speed is up to 30 miles hour like in a built up area. A car is able to go much faster than 100 kilometers per hour like 140 miles per hour but it shouldn't be tried out. Your daughter is very smart to see a car can go much faster than it is allowed to. A police car, fire engine or ambulance can as fast as they need to due to accidents happening. The speeding tickets do make money but a driver can get points of their driving license. Car races at a track do happen. You should explain your car is ordinary so it can only go up to the maximum speed allowed. You could detail to your daughter which cars are allowed to go faster than normal traffic.

Some people like to use their cars on race tracks and I think that is why the speedo goes that high. My car's speedo registers 140, but I know it wouldn't do it, because according to the handbook the top speed is 115.. But I wouldn't want to do that either. OK, maybe as a kid, but not these days. I prefer a more peaceful existence. _Derek

firstly, she will have to understand that everyone's ability is different. speed limits are created because not everyone can drive very well. some can take a corner at 60mph while most take it at 30mph. if there is no speed limits, i am sure the accident rate will go so much higher. not everyone knows their own limit and they will only realise it when they are involved in an accident. a car is capable of going at a much higher speed because there are places with much higher speed limits. or better, no speed limit whatsoever. also, i am sure all of us have been in a situation where we have to get to a place five minutes ago. imagine our cars can only do 60mpph, we'd probably be late for whatever it may be...

It does make you wonder but I did read somewhere that an engine is most efficient when it is running at 50% of its maximum speed and of course there are some parts of the world where speed limits don't count so you could not sell your cars there if they could only do 70 mph

Hmm I've often wondered that myself. Why does it go that fast? I guess for modding the car for racing, or for emergencies, but no emergency should ever be big enough to make the car go that fast, ya know. I've gone that fast, not with me driving but a friend, and well it was really only 120 mph that we went, and it was scary.

It's ALL about selling cars to jocks who believe that their manhood is tied to how fast their car will go. Silly??? YES!!! They know they will NEVER go that fast, but their fantasy is how it will feel when they do!!!

Good Question but I also don't have an answer exept that in Germany you can drive that fast.

Hi Jen. Congratulations on reaching the "today's top" list with this one! They tend to make cars "one type fits all" - that's all countries, all roads, all laws, all purposes. Our Holden factory, pretty much next-door to where I live, exports police cars to the US currently. We also make them to suit the Northern Territory's unrestricted speed limits. That's one aspect - it makes your car cheasper to buy & run & insure & maintain due to mass production. The other aspect you can "feel good" about is that you have in your car an engine capable of high speeds, but you are running it probably at less than half its capability most of the time. This means it'll last longer, perform better at the top end, have less chance of breaking down under high temperature (because every component in the car is purpose designed to withstand high temperatures as well as vibration as well as high currents where electronics is at its most unreliable under extremes of all of these at once). So even when you're really "pushing the envelope" as far as local laws go, you can be rest assured that your car will be "running cool" compared to what it's capable of.

I live in Austria now, where they have kilometres instead of miles. If one were to translate 140 mph to kilometres kph, the answer would be 224 kph, which is very fast indeed! The normal speed limit on the highway is 130 kph and people only dare to exceed the limit by some 10 kph, as fines would be great if one were caught!

I have often thought the same thing. I don't understand why they have cars that go that fast as passenger cars if they dont want us to drive that fast.

I am sure if you asked someone who actually took the car up to this speed they would probably say....Because I can! Yup.....maybe with some people it's a selling point....my son when he first got his motorcycle brought it up to top speed even though it was scary for several reasons like getting a ticket etc.....I am not sure why they do it....but maybe just because then can! LOL

hi jenintn my theory is that they make all speedometers in one or two factories and they make them for passenger cars, vans and truck, and race cars so to save money they only make the one kind, the kind that goes to 140 mph. most companies in the US are adroit at cutting corners thats why a lot of modern stuff is not built as well as in past years. lol lol thats my theory any way. lol lol Your daughter really is a smart cookie indeed.so modern cars are not meant to be driven at that speed but its there on the speedometerlol.

Cars are provided with high speeds but that does not mean that one should drive at that speed all the time.In cities there is a restriction on speeding and certain limits are given.This is because there is heavy traffic and speeding can result in serious car accidents.However outside the city and usually on highways one can increase the speed and travel at a faster rate.There are lanes dedicated to certain speeds on which one can travel at either a high speed or at a lower speed.Even within city limits there are special lanes for fast moving traffic and for slow moving traffic.There are lanes for two wheelers, four wheelers and also for buses and trucks.One can get penalised for travelling on the wrong lane.

That's an interesting question. The silly answer is, it's so if you ever want to take your car over to Germany and drive it on the Autobahn, you'll be covered. I remember back a ways when they were making the cars with speedometers that only went up to like 85 or so. They looked kind of weird though and I suspect it's one of the reasons they changed them back. When gauges in a vehicle are set up, they usually set them so all the needles are pointing in a similar direction when they are in the "normal" range. That's so you can check them for normal with a quick glance, instead of actually having to read the graduations on the gauge. You actually do read the numbers on the speedo though, and that's why it's usually the biggest gauge, but they still look more normal when they aren't pegged all the way to the top of the scale. Most U.S. cars are set up so the gauges all read normal in the upright or 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock range. A lot of speedometers are 120-140 mph which would put the 60-70 mph cruising speed in the middle area of the range. The speedometers with higher ranges like 160 or 180 or more, are usually reserved for the sportier cars that can approach that speed. I know on some of the older cars, the speedometers had more error and sometimes the higher they got on the scale, the bigger the error was, so you didn't want a huge error in the readout at highway speeds. I don't know if that's the reason they built them that way then or not but I think the ones they have today are much more accurate. Anyway, those are some logical reasons for it.