Governor?

I have taken most cars I've owned to whatever their top speed is. One may ask, why? But I think the real question is why not? The usual concerns of safety and getting caught should not be. It must be assumed that a proper venue be chosen which allows for safe speed.

My first car, a 4-speed 60HP 1983 Toyota Tercel, I took to its maximum speed on the way home from the dealership. The speedometer only went to 85 and there was no tach, so I estimate that I exceded 85 by some small amount.

Our next car (I use "our" now since by this time I am married and cars are a joint purchase) was a 1996 Buick Regal, also a four speed, but this time an automatic transmission. It has 205HP and was fairly streemlined, so I had high hopes. It would go exactly 105 and then the ignition would cut.

The next car was a 1997 BMW 318Ti. It is a 134HP hatchback with a 5-speed manual. The owner's guide admitted that speed was limited to 116. I found that it did have a governor, but it was set at 120. This was probably for the better since the car is geared very low and is pushing 6000 rpm in 5th gear at that speed.

Next, we purhased a Truck, a GMC Yukon XL with a V8 engine. I have never taken this vehicle in a speed run since I don't feel like it is safe to take it above 100, and it has plenty of power to go faster than that.

Our latest car is a Saab 93 Aero with 250 HP. I still haven't taken it to top speed. It is so fast and there is so much traffic here in the North East that I haven't found optimal conditions, yet. On the way to Long Island to visit relatives, I did hit 130 before becoming alarmed by how fast we were closing in on traffic about 1 mile ahead.