Driving Impressions when going fast

[inertiadrifto86]

I've had my Si within a few MPH of it's limiter on an abandoned straightaway, and I have to say I was surprised at how well it handled the speed. I half expected the chassis to be on the verge of falling apart at that speed, but aside from road noise and the trees blurring by my senses could have been fooled into believing I was traveling at my normal cruising speed.

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[Micah]

Nah, I think you're off here. In my opinion hitting 100mph for a minute here and there while not legal isn't going to wear out an engine.

As a matter of opinion, everyone is entitled to theirs.

Consider this:

Driving an engine that small at those speeds will shorten its lifespan for a few reasons.

1. your engine has to overcome much higher aerodynamic resistance, so it has to work harder. That means bigger explosions in the cylinders. Each explosion produces forces that drive the compression rings into the cylinder walls. Bigger explosions mean larger forces. Larger forces mean more wear.
   
   
2. the parts that operate your reciprocating parts together, your crankshaft and your connecting rods etc., put more load on the bearings upon which they ride. The crankshaft experiences lateral flex, and sustained high loads could cause it to contact the bearings that support it. That could result in premature bearing failure.
   

Bottom line, the engine is not likely to experience sudden catastrophoc failure as long as it’s below redline, but if you’re pushing 5000 rpm at these speeds, you may experience premature engine wear. If you’re comfortable with that, drive on. If not, perhaps something that doesn't need to push so hard would be a better vehicle for you.

source - https://community.cartalk.com/t/is-fast-driving-bad/77668/28

 

[inertiadrifto86]

As a matter of opinion, everyone is entitled to theirs.

Consider this:



source - https://community.cartalk.com/t/is-fast-driving-bad/77668/28

The question in the thread you posted was about asking if commuting at 100-120mph on the autobahn was bad for OP's engine. I think we can all agree that commuting for 30k+ miles a year at speeds exceeding 120mph is going to put excessive wear on an engine.

The discussion here in this thread is about holding speeds of 100+mph for a few minutes at a time. Not consistently for tens of thousands of miles a year.

What about people who track their cars? You can easily exceed 100mph on any given track. And depending on the track you can sustain those speeds for long periods of time, lap after lap.

 

[gtman]

Micah...

No one is talking about driving the car at 100mph+ for extended periods of time. I've certainly driven my cars at those speeds on occasion but just like the OP, only for a minute or two at a time. A modern engine capable of top speeds of 130mph+ can certainly sustain 100mph for a minute here and there with no issues.

 

[tacthecat]

Doesn't anyone remember (or can GOOGLE) the fleet of Mercury Comets that ran 100,000 miles, with normal maintenance intervals, averaging over 100 mph?
This was in the 60's. Most modern cars (except perhaps the Corvette and the CTR) can run at full throttle (to REDLINE RPM) for long periods (ie a tank of gas) without any issue.

 

[cfleegle]

Nope I was doing karate in the garage.

I was gonna ask, do you like guacamole?

 

[CIVICSPORT]

I was gonna ask, do you like guacamole?

Did we just become best friends?

 

[Deleted member]

That's quite a bit of extra load and wear to be putting on an engine.

In Germany people drive 100+ every day on their commute to work for years with no problems no questions asked. At 100mph your engine won't be at all that high of an rpm so the workload is not all that high and the airflow will be keeping things well within comfortable temp ranges. Doing a full throttle launch from 0 to 60 is significantly harder on the engine than simply cruising at 100.

Unless you are cruising close to top speed or in a lower gear than necessary, cruising is always easier on the engine than accelerating.

 

[BarracksSi]

In Germany people drive 100+ every day on their commute to work for years with no problems no questions asked. At 100mph your engine won't be at all that high of an rpm so the workload is not all that high and the airflow will be keeping things well within comfortable temp ranges. Doing a full throttle launch from 0 to 60 is significantly harder on the engine than simply cruising at 100.

Unless you are cruising close to top speed or in a lower gear than necessary, cruising is always easier on the engine than accelerating.

+1

My '86 Civic DX hatchback, with a fresh wheel alignment n' balance, hustled along in cattle ranch country in the Midwest at 100-110 mph for at least half an hour one morning. Hell, we were driving our Ford passenger van flat-out, foot-to-the-floor at about 97 mph in Germany and didn't have any problems. I passed maybe three other vehicles in two hours of driving; EVERYBODY else passed us.

This isn't like a 1970's American car that's only set up for the old 55-mph speed limit. These cars will cruise all day at high speed if your country allows it.

 

[Charley-TX]

Engine would be at about 3000 RPM with CVT. Hardly "over working". It probably loves it at that speed. Right in the meet of the powerband.

 

[DevilDoc8542]

I’ve been over 100mph several times for sustained periods of times in my Civic Type R. Doesn’t seem to be any wear on the engine or vehicle. Done speeds over 100mph on racetracks and airport runways.

 

[CivicXI]

High speeds don't really wear your engine. In dynamic equilibrium, almost everything is riding on a hydro dynamic oil film.
It's acceleration that wears it.

 

[charleswrivers]

The main negative thing I could see about going 120 would either be a sudden stop against a hard object or your car sitting in impound for an extended period of time... with maybe a little bit of tire flat spotting and rotor rust.

Seriously though... we're still talking about speeds our European bretheren take their equivalent cars and sustain speeds for extended periods of time. I'm not even sure you'd be sustaining boost to maintain said speed. Maybe. That'd be a good indicator of load. I know the 9th gens had a not-so-fancy load indicatior... but manifold vacuum/pressure is a good gauge if it. I'd roughly say it takes a bit less than 1/2 the cars power rating to maintain that kind of speed. The NA L15 made more power than that.

I am beginning to think I'm the only one around here who's only gone about 88 MPH to verify... indeed.. I wasn't going to see some serious shit.

 

[DevilDoc8542]

The main negative thing I could see about going 120 would either be a sudden stop against a hard object or your car sitting in impound for an extended period of time... with maybe a little bit of tire flat spotting and rotor rust.

Seriously though... we're still talking about speeds our European bretheren take their equivalent cars and sustain speeds for extended periods of time. I'm not even sure you'd be sustaining boost to maintain said speed. Maybe. That'd be a good indicator of load. I know the 9th gens had a not-so-fancy load indicatior... but manifold vacuum/pressure is a good gauge if it. I'd roughly say it takes a bit less than 1/2 the cars power rating to maintain that kind of speed. The NA L15 made more power than that.

I am beginning to think I'm the only one around here who's only gone about 88 MPH to verify... indeed.. I wasn't going to see some serious shit.

Actually,
We need you to go 88mph into the future to see if there will be a MY19 CTR. LOL. Too many rumors and “fake” news about the MY19 Civics in general. Sorry I got off track. No, on public roads I don’t speed. Lots have tried to egg me to gun it, but don’t want to kill anyone or myself. Yes track days are hard on any car. A few CTR owners have gone into limp mode so there was some cooling issues with the CTR’s, but I have a PRL Intercooler, a PTP Turbo Blanket and thermal wrapped my downpipe. On the plus side, over 100mph the CTR feels very stable and planted.

 

[DevilDoc8542]

High speeds don't really wear your engine. In dynamic equilibrium, almost everything is riding on a hydro dynamic oil film.
It's acceleration that wears it.

Yes I can see hard stops and fast acceleration wear our engines. I’m sure our engines are wet sump and not dry?

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