seanl

I was always under the impression that from day 1 the LS400 will run 150 top speed. Is that accurate?

A friend of mine who drives a '97 Ford Taurus SHO (FWD 3.5V8, 235HP) says his car will take mine on a highway roll. I think the SHO can hit 140mph, tops.

I will get out on the expressway and run him from 60-100 though, but I was just curious as to what my car's top speed is?

I've no intention of running up to 150mph, but I'm sure some of you have already tried.....

Thanks,

Sean
'97 LS400 Coach Edition

LOTC

i believe the 95-97 LS 400's have a top speed of 155 mph,the fast top speed of all LS models.

JBrady

150mph seems to be the agreed on top speed by all the manufacturers of high output luxury cars. According to Car and Driver magazine the 1st gen cars (90-94, 250hp) and 2nd gen cars (95-97, 260hp) did not have speed limiters and top speed was limited by aerodynamic drag. Interesting the increase from 215 section width to 225 section width tires (1993?) resulted in slightly higher friction and more aero drag and dropped top speed from 150mph to 145mph. The better aero shape of the 95 models along with +10hp gave these cars a reported top speed of 156mph. Understand that these are terminal speeds without electronic limiters. As such weather conditions, road surface, wind, temperature, etc could reduce this speed for any given car depending on variable.

In 1998 the cars got a big power increase to 290hp/300tq and required a limiter as they would probably top 160mph maybe 165mph without one. Too fast for the Toyota and the limiter comes into play. This makes the 95-97 models the FASTEST LS cars, not quickest, just fastest... there is a difference!

As far as the Taurus? My money is on the LS400.

Lvangundy

Nice explanation..makes good sense...Do you have your LS supercharged? I'm interested in doing this possibly someday.

Lee

retrodrive

jbrady...unless you try it yourself, guesses or estimations do not give you an exact number. LS has one of the lowest drag co-efficient on the market. It is even lower then vette's. If your car is lowered, your drag reduses even further. I did 158 with a friend in a car and above 160 alone (don't know exactly since I ran out of speedometer marks) on stock rated tires. These cars have some serious speed potential.

seanl

Thanks for all the good info!

unkow007

i have gone 160 in my 95
on highway 5

Horta

Hey All

Well as some of you may remember I just bought my 98 LS400 a couple of months ago. I can not express how ecstatic I am with my purchase. This is by far the smoothest, quietest, and fastest car I have ever owned. Speed is why I'm writing this thread.

Many of you talk about improving you performance, 1/4 mile and 0-60 times. It is fun reading and good info for me one day down the road, but honestly my car has more than enough performance for me at this point. What I like is Top Speed. I commute about 25 miles each way to work. Half highway half city. I am not a speed demon by any means. I use the cruise control all of the time even in the city. I don't like stop light racers, but when the highway allows I love to see what my car can do.

Well here on the Florida Turnpike you do get empty spots where there is no traffic or cops and two or three miles of straight road. About four weeks ago I got my LS to 140mph by far the fastest I have ever driven. I must say it was easier than I ever imagined. I did not have a timer going but from 80mph where I punched it all I saw was 90, 100, 110, 120 and so on until 140 just came along like nothing. The I then said enough, WOW! The wind noise was not much at all I was amazed. The car drove perfectly straight and was not wanting to pull not much if any correction was needed to stay in the middle lane. I did have both hands on the well but no big deal.

Anyways I thought after that I was hot **** and nothing could impress me. Well today at lunch time I was back on the same stretch today and the weather was perfect, so was traffic. I punched it and again with no effort really I hit 150 mph. I must say there were no other cars and I passed no one. I did not put any one at harm except myself. I do know how stupid this is to do but I bought a high end Luxery/Perfomace car and I have to test it out at least once, ok maybe twice.

So my question is to all of you, what is my cars Top Speed. I really don't need to be trying this again so help me out. On my other cars there has been a speed limiter where the fuel gets cut off and the speedometer just bounces. I though our cars toped out at 150? Did I just not hold it there long enough? I have read in the past about some of you going over 160mph, how?

Anyways I know many of you love speed and may like to hear my story. If you have the right road and can spare the points or money for the ticket I say try it at least once. It is so amazing to have such a big car at that kind or speed. The car did feel 100% safe and I was never worried. I had the A/C on at 74 and the radio playing some jazz. All I needed was to be on the Autobahn.

PS Please give your self plenty of room to slow down, at least 1/2 a mile. Do not slam the brakes just apply slowly. The car will slow down with out effort but our cars are so arrow dynamic that we just cut through the air.

PSS I tried this in my old 91 LS400 on the same stretch of road before I sold it. Well I only got to about 120mph in the same distance so this shows you the big horsepower difference between the two models. Also breaking from 120mph in the 91 was absolutely terrifying, all kinds of break vibrations. Be very careful.

Lvangundy

Ahh the joy of the LS..

Reaching the stop speed in my car became a thrill and a challenge. The rush of going that fast went from hitting a 100, to 120, to 130, and then shortly after that I knew I had to top it off. I coudn't get enough.

Years 90-94 the speed limiter was set to 149mph. 95-97 it was raised (why? to prove something i think) to 157mph. More recently it has been lowered to some other numbers.

From what I recall hearing somewhere, there may have been a few first gens imported with the rev limiter disabled. If this is true these numbers HAD to have been pretty early on, maybe the cars actually manufactured in 1989, not 1990. Some people say they have hit 160 or so, but there are many factors such as speedometers being off at higher speeds, tire size etc. I'm not saying nobody has hit 160, maybe the speedo is a little less giving than we think it is, and we could be doing 160+!?

My experience went pretty well when I hit exactly on the dot at 149mph. I had a friend with me and it was all good. There was TONS of wind noise! It was like a jet. No vibrations, and I could still change lanes slowly at around 140.

If anyone thinks about doing this, I'm not writing this as a challenge (and I hope horta isn't eiter) for anyone to try and beat our numbers. This is very dangerous. Let's say you do hit the speed, but a cop spots you, it's instant jail time, plus an impound on the car. People have gotten big enough fines and short jail time for doing 120! I'm sure in most cases it's an automatic for a suspended license.

Here's a shot of close to 140mph.

LSPiNoY

iTrader: (1)

well after i got a wreckless driving ticket goin 90/65 i stopped taking it to the limit. before i got caught i hit about 135mph. when i hit about 135 i didnt feel any difference...the car was nice and quiet...the only difference was that the white lines were passing quicker ...the cop clocked me in at 90mph. i look back till this day and wonder what could have happened if the tire blew out or the accelerator got stuck. and what would u do in a situation like that?*knock on wood 3 times* i'm not sure but it makes me think twice about going top speed without paramedics around.

seanl

While I have only had my LS400 up to approx. 130mph, I believe top speed is around 155mph. I've never bothered to find out, but there's not much to it though, just punch it and go....

However, I've been significantly faster in my previous car, a 1996 Dodge Viper GTS. Significantly.

brian3268

Abcedefghij

Dema

What was RPM at 150MPH? Have you noticed? Try to hit 160 next time.

JBrady

Ok, several have noted the dangers both physical and enforcement. Let me say that the older I get, the more concerned I am about going fast and hearing about others going fast. FAST means just that... everything EVERYthing happens quickly. They are called accidents for a reason, un-intended. Our cars are so smooth and quiet that the sensation of speed is greatly reduced. Remember, a category 5 hurricane has sustained wind of over 155mph

"The powerful, late-season storm is on the threshold of Category 5 status. These rare hurricanes pack sustained winds stronger than 155 mph (248 km/h) and can produce "catastrophic" damage. "

I was in hurricane Andrew in south Florida and the power of even 130mph wind was just phenomenal. That is what is going around a car at speed and is why cars literally "FLY" off the road. If a car loses traction and begins to spin as it turns sideways it becomes an airplane wing and the car FLIES off the road :eek: This is why NASCAR cars have pop-up vents in the bodywork so the pressure is released. Normal cars do not have this or full cages with extinguishers and drivers wearing fire suits.

OK, enough of the preaching:

I took the 96 to 130mph and the 99 to 130mph in a quick blast. The 99 was accelerating much harder to and at that speed than the 96. It was also more stable. I agree with Horta, the 98 and newer cars are better.

Regarding maximum velocity and speed limiters: fvellani was kind enough to post the info I had. According to that write up there is no limiters until 97 and the limit is 150mph. This is the rated limit of V rated tires. Relatively recently and due to legal liability and except for a very few models (Corvette, Viper, etc) cars are no longer sold with a higher speed potential than the tires. Not even BMW M5s or Mercedes AMG models. Any car sold with H rated tires are limited to under 130mph.

1st gen LS400s had a terminal velocity of 150mph as sold. No limiter was needed. The bigger/wider tires on 93-94 models actually created enough extra aero drag to drop 5mph off that. 95-96 models had better aerodynamics AND more power and they would reach 155-157 depending on exact air conditions. In 97 the factory sucumbed to the lawyers and limited the cars to 150mph. 98 and newer cars would probably reach 165mph without limiters since they are even slicker and have 30hp more.

Now, make an early car slicker (less drag) and drive it down wind and you could theoretically hit 160 or so. Add more power and who knows? One of the easiest ways to lower the drag is LOWER the car. Much of the drag is due to under car air flow. Drop a car 2" and it slips through the air much easier and therefore would go faster with the same power.

FINAL word of caution: I am NOT encouraging ANYONE to go fast. If you do you put yourself and others at risk. The most important thing is TIRES. They must be in perfect condition and speed rated with at least a V rating, Z, W, and Y are all higher ratings than V with everything else H, S, T, etc being slower ratings. Just because the tire is rated V or higher it may still be compromised if it has ever hit a curb, deep pothole, had a leak repaired, skidded, or other damage. High mileage greatly increases the probability of one or more of these compromises... even if you are not aware of it. Inflation is critical, at least 36psi and some say 40psi. All tires should be the same. Do I even have to mention brakes...

BE SAFE, stay ALIVE...

JBrady

Here are the specs for a GS400, I do not know the stock diameter of the tires but should be very close on all 98+LS400s and in the ballpark for previous years due to higher axle ratio with a deeper overdrive:

Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-speed automatic with lockup torque converter
Final-drive ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.27:1, limited slip
Gear Ratio Mph/1000 Max. test speed
I 3.36 6.6 42 mph (6350 rpm)
II 2.18 10.2 65 mph (6350 rpm)
III 1.42 15.6 99 mph (6350 rpm)
IV 1.00 22.3 141 mph (6350 rpm)
V 0.75 29.6 150 mph (5075 rpm)