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Day 4 with the E420 ... speedometer issue ...
Day 4, and still loving the new (to me) E420.
Still appreciating the power over my 300E. But ..... I put my GPS in, and noticed that my car speedometer is optimistic by about 10%, at 100 kmh. My first thought was, hmmmm, undersized tires? a lower rear end? (higher numerically) But then, I zeroed both my trip odometer on the car, and the distance travelled on the GPS. Now, after having done about 100 kms since zeroing, I find that the car odometer is optimistic, but only by about 1% compared to the GPS. So, that would indicate correct gearing and tire size. In any case, I double checked the tire size and those are correct. So, any idea? What causes a speedometer to be 9% different than the odometer?
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MB 1986 190D in my past MB 1987 300E on the street MB 1994 'Smoke Silver' E420 in my driveway 1999 Mazda Miata in the fun stable 1964 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1970 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1968 Corvair Monza Conv. with Turbo Transplant- Sold 1986 Merkur Xr4ti- abandoned various mundane American autos If I'd known then what I know now... Hell, I'd probably still have done it anyways. |
#2
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Actually - GPS VS car speedo
1992 W124 300E 2.6 - no difference 1995 W124 E320 - 10% speedo is cheating 1995 A124 E320 - 5 % The general idea is psychological - you can tell your friend / significant other how fast you drove, or your significant other can scream on you to slow down before entering "Street racing" zone. Regards |
#3
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I thought someone had said that car manufacturers set speedometers to be slightly off. or something like that.
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Cruise Control not working? Send me PM or email (jamesdean59@gmail.com). I might be able to help out. Check here for compatibility, diagnostics, and availability! (4/11/2020: Hi Everyone! I am still taking orders and replying to emails/PMs/etc, I appreciate your patience in these crazy times. Stay safe and healthy!) 82 300SD 145k 89 420SEL 210k 89 560SEL 118k 90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010 90 560SEL 154k 91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k 93 190E 3.0 235k 93 300E 195k |
#4
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+-3% would be one thing, 9% is a bit much. If it really bugs you (it would me ), I'd look into finding a speedo repair shop that specializes in European (VDO) cars & have yours sent off to be (re)calibrated. There are a few places in the US, not sure about Canada.
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#5
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I thought I heard or read somewhere that it's actually a law (possibly in Europe only) that the speedo reads higher than actual. Not sure by how much. I can try researching that.
Gilly
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Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold) |
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Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold) |
#7
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Speedometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Interesting. I read the article, and I understand the rationale behind mandating that the displayed speed must be greater than actual road speed. But it raises a further question. It seems highly unlikely that Mercedes would randomly choose a different design error for each car, although it is possible that the manufacturing process itself introduces random error. In either case, I can't imagine that some 1994 E420s would have 10% error, while others had 1 or 2%. A reminder that, although the article cites improper tire size as a source of error, my odometer reads within 1% of the GPS, so tire size is not an issue here. So, have others here compared their GPS speed readings with speedometer readings?
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MB 1986 190D in my past MB 1987 300E on the street MB 1994 'Smoke Silver' E420 in my driveway 1999 Mazda Miata in the fun stable 1964 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1970 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold 1968 Corvair Monza Conv. with Turbo Transplant- Sold 1986 Merkur Xr4ti- abandoned various mundane American autos If I'd known then what I know now... Hell, I'd probably still have done it anyways. |
#8
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Here is another article with test results of various makes/models speedometer accuracy in kilometers.
All of the Mercedes (albeit all recent models) on the list tested within 5kmh or 3mph at 100kmh. Click 2 How | High quality instructables, reviews and recipies. |
#9
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German cars in particular seem to have way optimistic speedometers, maybe all the "autobahn" hype is just BS because the pointer is 20 degrees further
Meanwhile typical American car is often right on the money... |
#10
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Well, yeah. It's a "Euro" thing, they have to be optimistic, it's the law. Not here in the US, but the Europeans just do it on all of them i guess. Since they have to have different speedometers in the US cars you think they would make them more accurate than the Euro-spec cars.
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Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold) |
#11
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I have an E420 and a CL500. There is an informational speed sign on a main road. The speed limit here is 45MPH and the device is a way to slow you down. I have noticed no problems with either of my two cars. They are both dead on at 45MPH (or faster). Same with my recently sold 320CE.
Anziani |
#12
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There IS a law.
It states that the indicated speed on the speedometer cannot be lower than the actual speed, but it can display a speed that is higher by up to 10%.
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'O=00=O' bmw 2002. long live the legend |
#13
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Quote:
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