Speedometers

It really grinds my gears when I see how absurd speedometers have become. I drive a '91 Toyota sports car, and the speedometer goes to a whopping 160 miles per hour. That's insane! I can't imagine ever going that fast in my life in my tiny car.

The absurd part about all this is that although my car's speedometer reads up to 160 mph, my car will never go that fast. Why? Because no car is not able to go that fast when it gets off the car lot. A major limiting factor in the equation is that tires would burst way before hitting the end mark because they are not designed for the speeds of the car they were put on! Tires have a rating of what speeds they can handle, and it would require expensive racing tires to fully experience the limits of a car's speed. It makes no sense why a car should have a speedometer and engine that are ready for insane speeds but have tires that aren't.

Another thing that grinds my gears even more is that since my speedometer goes all the way the way to 160, the markers are closer together and much harder to read! I almost never go 80 mph. I cannot remember the last time I have gone that fast. Even if I drive 80 mph constantly, I would still only be using 50% of my precious gauge! Imagine a world where speedometers are the same size, but they only read up to a rediculously fast 100 mph. The meters would be so much easier to read.

Perhaps I'm just growing old and appreciating the finer aspects of cars instead of the teenage-lust of high speeds. I appreciate torque, breaking power, cornering, safety, and interior comfort far more than I did when I was a teen. It grinds my gears to see many of these aspects of fine automobiles being ignored while top speed is idolized, even though those blazing speeds will never be seen by any sane person.