Fastest you’ve driven your b5.5

CBM

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2016
Location
VA, Williamsburg
TDI
2005 Passat
I’m just curious really, not encouraging anybody to test it lol. I’ve had mine up to about 90mph or so passing semis and such, not much past that. Speedo says 160 top speed. Passat feels like a solid car but 160 is 160! Anybody been there and if so how was it?
 

afarfalla

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Location
sugar land tx
TDI
05 Passat sedan and 05 wagen
130 on I75 in Florida for about 50 miles following a Cadillac, the fastest I've driven was 180 alone in a Busch car at the LV speedway for 7 laps, my daughter was in front of me, we did that two years in a row, sponsored by MGM.
 
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Zambee500

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Location
Atlanta, GA
TDI
2005 Passat TDI GLS, 2014 NMS Passat TDI SEL Premium
Funny, my 9 year old son asked me this exact question just yesterday on the way to sports practice. I think I have topped out at around 90. I also explained I have a healthy (me thinks) dose of fear when it comes to speed (as well as heights and working with electricity).

Google Assistant told us the VR6 max speed is 140 mph, but did not have numbers for the 2.0L diesel. Mentioned 1.8L turbo gasser and 1.6L and 1.9L diesels, but I don't recall any numbers for those.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I think the speed limiter is set at 130. I have had mine up to that when it was stock, as well as after RC1... the latter gets it there faster. It may go a bit more, but there is only so much road before I had to slow back down.

Assuming the speed limiter is NOT 130 (but I am pretty sure it is), it should be able to pull until redline in 5th if you had enough road. It takes a lot of energy to move a car that fast due to the drag of the air. I forget what the formula is, but as an example it takes more than twice the energy to move at 100 than it does 50. And 150 might be something like 5x the energy or something substantial.
 

DivineChaos

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Location
Minnesota
TDI
mk6 jetta sportwagen tdi
my 2011 mk6 jsw tdi tops out at 135 on speedo. Gets to 115 pretty quick, the last 20mph takes a bit pretty good for a boat with a 2.0
 

CBM

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2016
Location
VA, Williamsburg
TDI
2005 Passat
Funny, my 9 year old son asked me this exact question just yesterday on the way to sports practice. I think I have topped out at around 90. I also explained I have a healthy (me thinks) dose of fear when it comes to speed (as well as heights and working with electricity).
When I was 28 or so I had a Honda F3i (motorcycle) that I had up to 125mph or so on I64 outside Richmond. I remember thinking if anything got in front of me I'm probably dead. Funny thing I haven't felt the need to go that fast since.

I wonder if the speed limiter can be removed in VagCom?
 

Tom in PT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2017
Location
Twilight Zone, WA State
TDI
2005 Passat sedan - SOLD; 2013 Passat DSG; both purchased new
As to Oilhammer's comment: "I forget what the formula is, but as an example it takes more than twice the energy to move at 100 than it does 50. And 150 might be something like 5x the energy or something substantial."

I dusted off my college physics book and it discusses this issue clearly:

The drag forces for vehicles travelling at moderate to high speed is a constant multiplied by the square of the velocity. Thus, the drag force at 100 mph is four times the drag force at 50 mph. At 150, the drag force is nine times the drag force at 50.

This (along with increase drag forces within the engine itself as rpms increase) is why your mileage tanks when you take the B5.5 to 80 to 100 mph.

Note: at low speeds where the car is not creating turbulence drag force rises linearly with speed, not quadratically as it does at high speed.
 
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