tcr01

hi, i just joined this forum couple months ago and this is my first post, so bare with me.
I did a search for what is the top speed on my car and some people say it's 135 and some say it's 155. Can some one please clarify that for me?
thanks

whoover

155.

tcr01

thank you for the quick response.

Untertürkheim

Well, the car is limited to 155, but the top speed is a good bit higher.

tcr01

so why do some people say it's 135?
is it the 07 and up that are 135?

Untertürkheim

They are misinformed. MB limits some cars in the US to 135 so they can sell them with cheap H rated tires.

Kwik SC

My 03 S600 had a 135 limiter..

Untertürkheim

I was under the impression that the V12 models always get the 155 instead of 135, that is very strange.

absent

All W220 S/CL600s were limited to 130mph(US market).
55 series had 155mph limiter.

Kwik SC

Yea I thought it was 155 until I had a rude awakening by my friend's C43/55 LoL..

Oxygen

Okay guys, it's NOT 135 and it's NOT 155 either. Regardless if it has the sports package or not, the S600's are limited to 130MPH...

I've hit the limiter many times, it was always at 130MPH, sometimes it got a chance to get to 132MPH but that was very short lived.

Having your ECU tuned will surely remove the limiter.

After I had my ECU flashed I've reached 167MPH like it was a walk in the park.

Oxygen

I think with enough distance, these cars should be able to reach 200MPH or close to there.

If the Bentley can do it, I think the Benz can too.

absent

Maybe yes, maybe not.
All major tuners are able to remove the first limiter but not the secondary that kicks in at 186mph.
Bentley has no limiter at all...

whoover

The S600 has always been quoted in the press as 155.

http://www.forbes.com/2000/11/20/1120lifestyle.html
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=100283
http://www.fantasycars.com/sedans/HT...s600_w220.html

These had to have been based on factory information. Did they change if for the US?

absent

The info was correct for Euro spec cars,US cars had the limiter at 130mph.
Goofy? Stupid?
Certainly but these are the facts...

DrJfrmLA

The reason for the 130 limiter is the H-rated tires. MB chose not to put Z-rated tires on the W220, so the limiter was necessary to hold the car to the speed rating for the tires. It's an idiotic reason to hamstring a long-legged car like the W220; if you paid $80k or so for a new one, the extra couple of hundred bucks wouldn't make any diff.

Of course if you have taken off the limiter, you should be careful to have tires that are speed rated for the new unfettered top end. Disastrous things sometimes happen when you run a tire 20 or 30 mph over its speed rating for any length of time.

Benz5656

I know i'm not the first to ask, but is there anyway to reflash to delimit the top speed with out spending $2000 for it?

Dino I

As already said, US specs W220 are always limited to 130 mph, euro specs W220 are either limited to 250 km/h (i.e. 155,4 mph) or open, if they have a top speed lower to that limit.

You may calculate the theoretical top speed by looking at your speedometer. Take the rpm of where the red zone starts (for my S500 it is 6000), divide by two or three and get to the speed at that rpm, then just double or triple the actual speed. That should give you a good hint on the absolute top speed possible (even if you raise the top hp). The real top speed achievable will be a little bit lower, because the power tops out below the red zone.

whoover

That's pretty sucky. I've had my W220 to 150 a couple of times (the longest stretch at that speed was about 15 miles on Interstate-5). It felt absolutely solid -- like it was on rails. I must say I wasn't tempted to go any faster, even to test the limiter. But I would have felt very short changed to have been cut off at 130. 155 is a reasonable limit for the V12. 130 sucks.

newton22

Yeah, just make sure the car in the gear in which top speed is reached. For 5-speed transmissions, I believe we obtain top speed in 4th gear, so I would have to by cruising in 4th gear to get an idea of my theoretical top speed. Wind resistance becomes quite the fighter in the real world though.

And I also believe tire ratings, safety and a certain legal agreement (German) all play a part in why our cars are limited.

Anyway, as far as top speed capabilities go, I firmly believe both the S430 and S500 can go 150-160 mph without issues. The S55K should walk pass the 170-180 mph range, and given enough room, both the S600 Bi-Turbo and S65 would close in on 200 mph.

Dino I

The reason for the limit is self-imposed by the manufacturers... There is no legal agreement (in Germany) whatsoever regarding the speed limit of cars.

Just think of a Porsche with a speed limit...

The top speed should be reached in the 5th gear of the 5speed transmission, but you are fully right on the wind resistance and hey, my old S500 (W140) ran a speed limited 258 km/h (160 mph) on german autobahn. Unlimited it would have been 275 km/h (170 mph), I've been told. And it was indeed like running on rails at that speed. And funny enough, you even could hear what your other passengers would say at that speed... amazingly quiet.

For my new one, I don't know, because I am currently in the States for a longer period of time. But we will see...

ssonss1

canadian model 2001 s600...ive hit over 220 km/h = 137.5 mph

kenstudios

Cars are not built around the tire. Tires are built around the cars. The tire ratings are assigned to cars based on the top speed. S class with sports package comes with ZR tire but are still limited at 130. That sucks considering that these days most car makers get their cars in the 130-140 mph range. Pontiac G8 gets to 140 without any mods and comes with 180 speedo.

trustz

This remind me two years ago, I drive my 06 Evo 9 RS and my friend drive 02 S600 when we were on the way(I-15) to Las Vegas to see the SEMA show. About 12 PM at night, there is no car around us , we race from 80 mph to 150 mph(me only). at first he pull a few cars from me, but when I reach 135 mph, I start to pull on him slowly, by the time I got 150, I am about 10 cars ahead !! Since I have tune ECU, I may go faster than that, but I slow down for coming traffics. My friend so **** and had his S600 ECU tuned after we got back !! He said he thought his S600 was limied around 150 mph stock ! But we never got chance to race the top speed again. I may see his tail lights if we do !!

Gondon

The 00-02 S500's go to 155 and 03+ are limited to 130.