[Tenspeed]

I have always wondered what my top speed limiter was since I read that automatic cars (mine has a DCT) would be 130 and M Sport/Manual cars would be 150. Other than taking it out and testing (which could get very expensive if discovered) I could think of no easy way to verify this without having to pay the dealer to tell me.

Well, I was on a rural interstate last week when a GL 550 Mercedes blew by driving pretty fast (around 90). They were driving pretty aggressively in heavy traffic, so I let them go by. A few miles down the road traffic allowed me to catch them, and as traffic cleared and I approached them from behind, they nailed it. I decided to play and followed suit.

Surprisingly, we were evenly paired at these high speeds. I was waiting for the engine to cut out at 130 and was happy when it didn't. They let off at 142 after realizing they couldn't shake me (but I couldn't pass them either with their 429 HP turbo V8 against my stock 300 horse 135i).

My car was rock solid at these speeds and exhibited no signs of instability.

So now I assume my car has the 150 mph top speed limiter which makes me happier (not that I will go there again regularly though).