Stock P5 on Autobahn
 

As a member of the united states military stationed overseas I get to "legaly" see how fast my car will get up to.

I spent spent the past few days in Germany for work. I have read some of the old post of people getting P5s up to 140 (I think that is what I read), and I am here to say the most she will get up to is 125-127, drag limited. Now I had about 300lbs of extra weight and that is all I got out of it. Now if it was just me in the car going down hill I might have gotten up to 130-132, but not much higher than that. Just what I have experienced so try not to flame me too much:D

I can't vouch for everyone else, the most Ive done in my p5 so far is about 120ish....my MSP however hit 138mph....i know it was 138mph cause my friend said, "Damn dude slow down you're going 138mph!". Thats better than any guage!

I am pretty sure MSP got up to 138 but the wagon without forced enduction wont get nowere near that. Her ass is just too big.

actually, check the numbers. The P5 weighs 224lbs LESS than a msp.

When I said the 5 was too big I ment that it creates to much drag with the whole "5th" door thing. Weight really has nothing to do with it . My bad:D

oh well weight is a factor...almost as much as drag. I agree though the Proteges would be much faster should they be more aerodynamic....however I dont know ANYONE who buys an entry level mazda for top speed tests on the autobahn!!

p.s. Thank you for your service.

i've had my p5 up to 132...with more room to go.

Aha! the exception to the rule!

I didnt do it as a test and like you said I didnt buy my 5 to break the land speed record either. That is why I own an EVO

I was in Germany and I did what any other car guy would have done. If they drive a Metro or a Mercialago they would have done the same thing I did. Thanks

Actually the wagon will have better aerodynamics due to a delayed flow seperation over the back of the car...less drag..its the front that creates the most, with those large flat round lamps and the frontal area....

woot, and the engineer speaks out! What do you think about me pulling the stock fogs and triming out the mounting brackets to get better flow??

Remember that European market cars are geared differently for the autobahn... They have to lope along at a reasonable rpm at 120mph speeds, in order to deliver good fuel economy. Drive a US market car that fast, and we are revving up much higher than 3,000 rpm.
Pick up a good European car mag (available at Borders for like, eight bucks), and take a look at the 0-60 times (roughly 0-100km). You'll probably see that most Euro market cars accelerate more slowly, but have higher top ends than US market cars. Oh, and in case anybody is curious, Japan market cars (all of them) are governed to a top speed of 112 mph (180km) - it's the law. Of course, they've got much better (curvy) roads than we've got here in the midwestern US. I don't know about you, but I would rather hammer that excellent chassis through a few turns than to go fast in a straight line!

Prime,
yank 'em out, fair them over and you'll be in better shape. Look at older Subaru Imprexza STi's, they used covers over the fogs, something similar could be done with the P5, even using clear lexan so the lights could be used still... you could also use some ducts to ram air into the intake, brakes, etc..I did this with my LX bumper, channels nice cold air right to my air box...

I sorry but that makes absolutly no sense:( The wagon creates a bigger pocket of air behind it= more drag. I aint got no degree, but I understand that the front is what is responsible for the whole "effect", but I am not understanding please help.

Like I said earlier I didnt by my 5 for top speed runs. I bought it for its sporty handling. Hands down the car handles like a dream. I like to drive cars not drag them. I could careless how fast it goes as long as it will hug the road it is good by me. I own an EVO and P5 IMO two of the best handling cars on earth. Its not like I woke up one morning and said Ima go to Germany to see how fast my car goes. I was there on work and said why not. It was the safest most legal way I could do it. My bad.:(

RB, Yeah, I'm going to make a special ducting. That should be very nice to vent the brakes maybe or help flush the engine bay of it's excessive heat.

In all honesty. I've been thinking about making FUNCTIONAL Z3 vents on the fenders to help the heat escape. This is merely a whim right now thoug. As I have a new project/GB I'm about to offer...I think you P5 guys will be happy about!

actaully, the air flowing over a sedan seperates and gets very turbulent, the air going over a wagon sticks longer then seperates further behind it creating vortices and turbelnce bhind the car not on it (aka the trunk)

true dat RB. I know that to be true but didn't have the where-withall to explain it.

I think for now I'm going to stick to making vents from the foglights into the engine bay and saving up for EVO hood....not for looks...purely function!!

hey matty...i have a plan for that...pm me or give me a call one day 800-846-3181 (work) and i'll fill you in.
-Chris

Sounds like somebody doesn't want to play nice and share with the other kids!:p

they got a land speed record (for its class) out of a focus wagon a couple of years ago...it was pretty bitchin'

well...it's still in "R&D" right now...as soon as we have it complete and actually "feel" gains out of it (we live no where near a dyno) i'll post a how-to.

uh-oh, can I guinnea pig for ya??

Phantom, yeah I love those wagons...anyone ever see "Turbo" Joe Morgan's RWD 2.3 turbo'd focus wagon?? 1/4mile @ 9.7s....WTH?!??!

Joe was the guy who helped me design my pinto block. He's a guru when it comes to ford tubo motors. He used to be a 7th grade history teacher in Cali but was recruited by ford and K&N when his full interior, stock block pinto broke into the 10's on drag radials. The rest is.....history!

the amount of air you can cram into the engine bay by using a front mount duct is awesome, as I've stated, makes a big difference on my car with moded intake and heats shield...the airbox is cool to touch even after hard driving...

The fastest I've ever had my car, a '01 Protege ES, was 105-110. The weather was perfect--clear, around 60 degrees, with a gentle wind that I was driving into! It was perfect! Thanks to the wind I felt confident that I could keep pushing the motor... but the aerodynamics and the suspension began to show their limits, and those damn dunlops started to scare me, I let off slowly.

That's actually the second fastest I've been in a car I own. The fastest was my '90 SHO... 125mph... I came up over a hill and felt the wind pick me up, she started to fishtail--a trait not normal to the SHO. I backed off slowly and told myself I wouldn't do anything that stupid again... until I got the protege ;)

gotta love the SHO's for top gear pulls!

110MPH? That's it? I burried my EX Coupe when it was stock to way past 120MPH (per the speedo). Okay, now I have to see what my protege can do. hell I also burried my old 2000 Maxima SE at 140 or so.

my fastest (top speed) car I've owned was my supercharged Contour SVT...that thing is scarey even bone stock. Imagine a contour running 155mph bouncing off the rev limiter!! When I added the blower it came with a chip that bumped the redline and lost the rev-limiter...I got it up to 160-ish and had to back off due to lift. I wish I had it lowered now!

No offense but I hate those SVT contours. There is a guy at the track every wednesday with one and he talks more crap than you know (I'm gonna do this and then I'll run this, you know, that kind of crap) He gets spanked but just about everything, including my best friends stock 02' Stang GT Auto. i just think those cars are emant to be rental cars and that's it. different strokes I guess.

well, if we're judging people/cars by the amount of smack they talk then you're the king of losers.......diferent strokes I guess (wink).

In case you're wondering post counts don't give you any special privalages....you can let some things go.

the fastest I had was a moded VR6 Jetta, hit 155 through Illinois running with an older M5...what a blast..the car had more to give too....

Topher, whats the deal man?? I haven't heard from you about this project.