26 replies to this topic

[dolph]

i took my first mini off the clock, which went to 90. as you can guess this engine died shortly after.

89 max from now on

[IainStallard]

I'm never going faster than 88mph, not brave enough to find out the consequences ;)

Edited by IainStallard, 09 June 2014 - 09:18 PM.

[cal844]

I have a 998 mayfair, 70 is 3500, we have had 85 out it!!

[BronkoMini]

65 to 70 all day in the 998 however the later and maybe more you can see the fuel gauge going down

[Genji]

Much depends on the car, some have a resonance (vibration) that can be at a certain speed so for instance sitting at 65 makes stuff rattle (like the dash or windows) and clatter about more than 70 so you have to find the sweet spot where the car isn't too stressed. Experiment on where the car feels and sounds happy. Stoically sitting at an specific speed because it's a nice round number is not the way to do it - Gengi will sit at 70 OK then 75 gets a rather rattley as the acre of black plastic Jap dash and a/c vents start to rattle around but take it to 80 and it settles down to a comfortable roar of road and wind noise.

This is obviously on my private road that I use for speed tests and not on the public highway 

These cars were designed before motorways were invented and were not meant for outright speed, it's in the corners that they excel, not on the motorways but like most things, the Mini takes it in it's stride.

[skinnyminny]

I used to sit at 55 because otherwise I couldn't hear my radio!

Car would do 70 fine though if I was in a hurry - but I couldn't hear when I got to my destination for a good 15minutes or so.

You'll know where the sweet spot is when you find it & can then just sit there.

[Gerbil367]

My 1275 does 70 no problems - but as above finding that balance of decent cruising and still able to hear the radio or talk and keep the fillings in my teeth means I usually do about 65!  Plus as others have said, so long as you maintain the engine it will be fine.  Enjoy

[jamesquintin]

My MPI Cooper is great at 70, pulls about 3,200 RPM. Does start shaking a bit between 60-67 but then smooth's out
 

When I was a poor student driving around the M25 in my Beige Mini City 'E', I would sit at 55 and get 60 MPG!

 

[AVV IT]

The Rover 1275's such as the Sprite should sit comfortably at 70 plus with no issues. How comfortable that will be for you though depends a lot on how standard the car is. My 93 sprite has a single box RC40 with no CAT, some of the soundproofing has been removed over the years too, so motorway cruising is rather loud. Before I swapped the cone K&N for an element type filter, motorway runs made your ears bleed and holding a conversation with passengers was just impossible at anything over 50mph. As already mentioned there's also the resonance point to consider too. In my sprite everything shakes and rattles to hell at around 70mph, so if you don't want your fillings to fall out it's much more comfortable cruising around 60mph or 80mph. In my Mayfair the same thing happens at nearer 60mph, so cruising at 70mph is fine.

[dyl003]

Well I look forward to finding the sweet spot on Sunday :)

 

My main thing is I want to be cruising on the motorway doing at least 60 so I don't have wagons up my ass! Sounds like that will be no problem.

 

The car is standard although I have just taken delivery today of a new Maniflow twin box exhaust. This is to attach to the CAT. I expect things will be louder with this but it should be a respectable noise hopefully.

[rik_t]

I would do 70 happily but with my exhaust etc its very loud. Much prefer slower blasts

[Midas Mk1]

My mpi sits best at 85 with a 2.7, my other with a 3.6 around the same! :)
Did best on 1200 miles in a week like that with no complaints.