Speedometer off.

[MattD]

AFAIK standard consumer GPS receivers are still accurate to something like 0.1mph or better. I'm not convinced by any claim about the software introducing error either.

The only car I've ever seen tested where the speedo matched the VBox data exactly was a Porsche Carrera GT a few years back

[Mad Dragon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedom...nal_agreements



I swear, people will complain about anything on these cars. Here's the source:

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

Are you somehow suggesting that being off by 3MPH isn't an error?

What law states that the speedometer should be 3MPH off? I don't care what you do for a living, that is misinformation. If you've got a source for this law, lets see it.

They may be choosing to err on the side of caution, but they're certainly not required by law to do so, and the fact that they do it on every car still doesn't make it right.

http://www.pvdwiki.com/index.php?tit...er_Calibration

Jeremy, this has been discussed extensively in the BMW Roadfly forums. The concensus was that there are some Euorpean countries which have laws stating that a speedometer cannot read below the true speed, therefore BMW and others set them to read slightly high. Personally, my experience with 4 BMW cars is that the error is within 1~5%.
If the OP is so concerned about speed accuracy, he can ascertain his true speed by doing the necessary calculations from the tachometer.
Tom

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Tom K.

http://www.pvdwiki.com/index.php?tit...er_Calibration

Jeremy, this has been discussed extensively in the BMW Roadfly forums. The concensus was that there are some Euorpean countries which have laws stating that a speedometer cannot read below the true speed, therefore BMW and others set them to read slightly high. Personally, my experience with 4 BMW cars is that the error is within 1~5%.
If the OP is so concerned about speed accuracy, he can ascertain his true speed by doing the necessary calculations from the tachometer.
Tom

I can understand a law stating that it can't read low, but that isn't a requirement to make them read high. With the tolerences capable in todays manufacturing environment, there's just no reason for a speedometer to be this far off. The requirements for a Ford pickup cluster are tighter than that.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedom...nal_agreements



I swear, people will complain about anything on these cars. Here's the source:

I swear some people will defend a car no matter how obviously wrong they are! There's nothing in there that states a speedometer needs to read low, and no technical reason for it to do so.

[ARES45]

Why should I do the calculations? Isn't that what the f'ing speedometer is for? I was curious to see if the dealer would fix it or if it would affect the odometer. Both those questions seem to be answered as a no.

I wouldn't accept a watch that always ran fast even if it 'was for my own good' and I don't like that I will have to do it with my speedo.

It probably isn't a big deal to most, but it annoys the crap out of me. Yeah we complain a lot, but it is 'the ultimate driving machine' with 'the ultimate service' and yada yada so if you work for them and you don't like when people complain about the little things maybe you should suggest to your marketing team they use phrases like 'the acceptable driving machine' and 'service within tollerances' yada yada.

I can't believe that so many would think one is being an Ahole for wanting an instrument that is probably accurate to less than .1% to be correct to .5%.

And here I thought you get what you pay for.

[vivid]

sorry but I am a little confused... In what direction is the speedo off? Does it read too fast or too slow?

Speedo 60mph actual 63mph OR Speedo 63mph actual 60mph?


Anything has to be better than my GTI where the speedo was off by 10%, it read 60mph actual speed was 54mph... VW said 10% was normal anything over 10% is abnormal...

[InsaneSkippy]

Originally Posted by Vivid

sorry but I am a little confused... In what direction is the speedo off? Does it read too fast or too slow?

Speedo 60mph actual 63mph OR Speedo 63mph actual 60mph?


Anything has to be better than my GTI where the speedo was off by 10%, it read 60mph actual speed was 54mph... VW said 10% was normal anything over 10% is abnormal...

The speedometer reads FASTER than your actual speed.

[Mad Dragon]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

I swear some people will defend a car no matter how obviously wrong they are! There's nothing in there that states a speedometer needs to read low, and no technical reason for it to do so.

It states a speedometer shall not read lower than actual vehicle speed, according to paragraph 5.3 of the PDF I attached. Since tires make it impossible for a speedometer to be 100% accurate all of the time, manufacturers err conservatively.

Every BMW has this, even 7-series which cost 4 times as much as our 1ers. Maybe you should stop watching your speedometers constantly and keep your eyes on the road ahead of you.

[atr_hugo]

It should read fast - in your example going 60 the speedo would read 63.

I sold a Dodge once that did exactly the opposite - it read 10 mph slow. The guy I sold it to came back to me with a tale of a cop giving him a ticket for twenty over and he KNOWS he was only going ten over. ; -)

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

It states a speedometer shall not read lower than actual vehicle speed, according to paragraph 5.3 of the PDF I attached. Since tires make it impossible for a speedometer to be 100% accurate all of the time, manufacturers err conservatively.

Every BMW has this, even 7-series which cost 4 times as much as our 1ers. Maybe you should stop watching your speedometers constantly and keep your eyes on the road ahead of you.

It is possible to make them more accurate than 3MPH off at 60MPH. I know this for a fact. As I said earlier, the requirements for a Ford truck are tighter than this.

I don't care if EVERY BMW ever made has the error built in. That doesn't make it right, and maybe you should stop trying tap dance around the issue by trying to give driving advice, and just admit that it's wrong.

[Mad Dragon]

Sell your BMW and buy a Ford, then.

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

Sell your BMW and buy a Ford, then.

But not a Euro Ford.
Tom

[Mad Dragon]

I'd drive a Focus ST. I hear it's pretty quick from 0-57.:biggrin:

[vivid]

Originally Posted by atr_hugo

It should read fast - in your example going 60 the speedo would read 63.

I sold a Dodge once that did exactly the opposite - it read 10 mph slow. The guy I sold it to came back to me with a tale of a cop giving him a ticket for twenty over and he KNOWS he was only going ten over. ; -)

Good the other way could really cause some issues... I will be more than happy to exchange my 10% difference with the GTI to a 5% difference with the 135i

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

Sell your BMW and buy a Ford, then.

So just because I don't think this car is perfect, I shouldn't drive it? Get real. That's a cop out.

[ARES45]

Originally Posted by Mad Dragon

It states a speedometer shall not read lower than actual vehicle speed, according to paragraph 5.3 of the PDF I attached. Since tires make it impossible for a speedometer to be 100% accurate all of the time, manufacturers err conservatively.

Every BMW has this, even 7-series which cost 4 times as much as our 1ers. Maybe you should stop watching your speedometers constantly and keep your eyes on the road ahead of you.

I will have to tell the cop that when he writes me a ticket.

As the owner of the vehicle, I take full responsibility if I put mudding tires on my 135i to get the speedo adjusted accordingly. If I am anal enough to want it adjusted correctly if it is reading high, don't you think I would want it adjusted to read correctly if I put bigger tires on and it starts reading low?

I appologize that this thread went a bad direction, I guess I was ok with arguing about it some but I didn't want it to become insulting.

I love the car and it is great, but I wish the speedo didn't read 3mph high. My cheap ass couldn't afford a 7 series this year, I would probably take a B7 if you happen to feel charitable, but if I had bought one and the speedo was off the same I would still be just as annoyed by it as I am now with my 1er.

Greater tragedies in the world I know, but alas I am off to enjoy my wife and I's 135.

[trashcan]

This thread is proceeding like most of the seatbelt gong threads, half of the people arguing about the importance. I am not terribly concerened about the speedometer accuracy as its easier to look at the digital readout on my GPS. Also I'm used to my sportbike which is consistently about 10% off.

With that said it would be nice if there was an adjustment factor hidden in one of the service menus.

[1Ronnie]

Originally Posted by trashcan

With that said it would be nice if there was an adjustment factor hidden in one of the service menus.

To reiterate ... the Secret menus have both the "safe" and accurate speeds. The accurate speed is extremely close to GPS speed, so you can actually calculare the fudge factor BMW puts on the Speedo ... Option 8.0 ...

http://e90.wetpaint.com/page/BC+hidden+menus?t=anon

[1Ronnie]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

I don't care if EVERY BMW ever made has the error built in. That doesn't make it right, and maybe you should stop trying tap dance around the issue by trying to give driving advice, and just admit that it's wrong.

What a load of bollocks ... BMW make a lot of decisions in building this car based on meeting or exceeding the expectations of safety laws around the world. Look at speed limiting on non-sport models ... you probably don't want it, but it's there. you have to hack the chip to get around it. Feel free to get an engine chip hacker to mod your car to fix the speedo ... I'm sure it's worth the thousands it would cost !!

[trashcan]

Originally Posted by arrons1969

To reiterate ... the Secret menus have both the "safe" and accurate speeds. The accurate speed is extremely close to GPS speed, so you can actually calculare the fudge factor BMW puts on the Speedo ... Option 8.0 ...

http://e90.wetpaint.com/page/BC+hidden+menus?t=anon

That's not what I meant. It would be nice if you could recalibrate the speedo yourself. Doesn't seem like you can do that from your link.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by arrons1969

What a load of bollocks ... BMW make a lot of decisions in building this car based on meeting or exceeding the expectations of safety laws around the world. Look at speed limiting on non-sport models ... you probably don't want it, but it's there. you have to hack the chip to get around it. Feel free to get an engine chip hacker to mod your car to fix the speedo ... I'm sure it's worth the thousands it would cost !!

You're missing the entire point.

The point is, we think they made a wrong decision by making the speedometer read this much below actual speed. There's no law anywhere that requires that, and modern manufacturing doesn't require the tolerence to be that high to keep the car within international laws either. No one here is even suggesting hacking into the computer to fix it.