[fresnocougar]

hey you guys what is the top speed on the 2.5L v6 cougar engine. i have had it up to about 145 but i was going down hill. so i would like to know what the actual speed is. And with the chip is there a total diff?

 

[EricF]

fresno, you got it, 145-147 at that speed the cougar is drag limited...
Chip won't make much if any difference.

 

[99SilverCougarV6]

how big was this hill and how steep.
side note - you must be insane to want to go that fast down a hill

 

[GrandMasterKhan]

so by saying the "cougar is drag limited"

thats in stock form.

what about areodynamic improvements such as body kits or even more power...would that allow for a higher top speed?

 

[EricF]

I think with stock gearing you would run out of RPMs soon after 147 with no drag.. someone did the calculations once.. of what speed you'd be at at redline(fuel cut off) but I don't know.

 

[99CouGSweetRide]

yea but you're not going to go any slower while going downhill.

Mike

 

[sonza68]

On stock diameter tires, a V6 manual Cougar is redline limited at about 156. So regardless of aero aid or power increases, without taller tires or a Zetec final drive, that's as fast as it will ever go.

 

[Foeraus]

without taller tires or a Zetec final drive, that's as fast as it will ever go.

Don't some Contours or Cougars have a 3.80 axle instead of the 4.10? Or is this the Zetec final drive we are referring to?

 

[DemonSVT]

Originally posted by: EricF
fresno, you got it, 145-147 at that speed the cougar is drag limited...
Chip won't make much if any difference.

No it's not.

The 200HP SVT which has a better coefficient of drag is aerodynamically limited to ~144mph. (tested via a radar gun)

Now drop 30HP and add a little drag. Mid 130's is a decent estimation of "actual" drag limited speed.


DO NOT believe what the overzealous speedometer tells you! It is a blatant liar. It has been known in some cases to be off by over 10% at high speeds. This get's exponentially worse if you changed the tire diameter too.

 

[arskiracer]

I agree. I've had my car up to about 125 on some country roads and I was at about 6000 RPM. I wouldn't think the car could go much past 135, maybe 140 by the time the rpms get up to 7100.

If you don't have a chip and therefore still have your RPM limiter set at 6200 (6200 is stock, right?), you probably wouldn't be able to go much past 130 (if the speed limiter didn't kick in first).

This was judging from my car's speedometer though, from my experiences at highway speeds my car usually reads about 2-3mph faster than I'm actually going.

 

[tropiccougar01]

I have seen my car hit 142 on the LCD screens in DTC mode. So i dont know what you are saying DemonSVT. The hosepower isnt gonna keep a car from hitting that speed, its just gonna take a little longer to get there.

 

[fresnocougar]

well for those of you that know cali the mountian i was coming down from was the "grape vine". anyway coming to fresno there are a few straight aways and i still managed to get to 140 on flat landt and it didnt take that much time. though it did want to go faster but it felt like it was being held back.

 

[ZEXCougar]

Every time I read a thread about the top speed on a cougar I just laugh... Are you ever actually going to have the car in the 150MPH range anyways? What is the difference if your car goes 130 or 150 or 200MPH? There is never a time that you will be going that fast anyways. Personally, I would rather have a car that has great accelleration than one with a really high top speed. I guess that top speed is the cool thing nowadays though...

 

[sonza68]

If you don't have a chip and therefore still have your RPM limiter set at 6200 (6200 is stock, right?), you probably wouldn't be able to go much past 130 (if the speed limiter didn't kick in first).

The manual lists it at 6925 rpm, and from my experience that's about right.

 

[arskiracer]

Originally posted by: sonza68

If you don't have a chip and therefore still have your RPM limiter set at 6200 (6200 is stock, right?), you probably wouldn't be able to go much past 130 (if the speed limiter didn't kick in first).

The manual lists it at 6925 rpm, and from my experience that's about right.

really? My rev limiter was at 6200 when I was stock. My secondaries were also set to open at 3200 instead of 3500. Maybe someone at the factory screwed up my programming.

 

[CbOy2000]

Originally posted by: DemonSVT

No it's not.

The 200HP SVT which has a better coefficient of drag is aerodynamically limited to ~144mph. (tested via a radar gun).

The Cougar has a coefficient drag of 0.31 in stock. While the SVT Contour has a coefficient of 0.32, the lower the number the better. Like tropiccougar01 states that horsepower doesnt matter to get to a certain top speed becuase I have also hit 140 going down a hill and i can stay at a constant 130 on a long highway with no problem.

 

[Zalec]

Originally posted by: 99SilverCougarV6
how big was this hill and how steep.
side note - you must be insane to want to go that fast down a hill

or sucidial