Speedo Adjustment?

[Disco Stew]

My BMW speedo was about 5 mph higher than actual consistently from about 40 and up. I saw one post that seemed to acknowledge Audi has the same optimistic 5 mph higher reading? True? Anybody with GPS check this at 60 - 75 range?

Like a lot of people, I try to keep it about 9 mph over posted on the highway and had to manually calibrate for the 5 mph on the cruise control with the BMW.

Thanks!

[EMAXX]

I did notice that my spedo was a little off. I had a navi unit in the car for a trip, and the navi said I was only doing 71 when the spedo said 75, and the faster I went, the more it seemed to be off.

I was wondering about that. I was going to have the dealer look at it when I go in for service. Any fixes?

[NorcalPB]

I also noticed that at the speed limiter even tho your going only 130, it says your going 133-134 I think thats kinda weird because the car actually knows how fast its going even though its telling you something different.

[a4dc89]

it is supposed to save the "simple man" from speeding tickets lol

I can imagine someone saying "Wow ive never gotten a speeding ticket in my audi, what a great car!"

[cstarky15]

If you have running anything but stock wheels then your speedo will be off.

[pyro]

If you have running anything but stock wheels then your speedo will be off.

even stock wheels show an incorrect speed on the speedo. it is to reduce the chance of someone getting a speeding ticket by making them think they are going faster than they are.

[cstarky15]

maybe i'm dumb, but why would the car company care if you got a speeding ticket?

[pyro]

over in europe, a speeding ticket can easily get your license revoked. what good is a car manufacturer if their customers keep getting revoked licenses? lol

[cstarky15]

But it isn't the Companies fault that you got a ticket! You know the limit. In the US you can get a ticket and have your license revoked. No one is going to go to Audi and say. "hey your speedo was so accurate that i got a ticket. I'm sueing you"

[Brent27]

I confirmed with my 9500i radar detetector and my megellan that my speedometer is off by 4 mph. At firstI thought it was just my radar detector thinking the gps isn't mean to be that accurate but its dead on when im passing speed signs and its the same as my gps system.

[NorcalPB]

But it isn't the Companies fault that you got a ticket! You know the limit. In the US you can get a ticket and have your license revoked. No one is going to go to Audi and say. "hey your speedo was so accurate that i got a ticket. I'm sueing you"

lol. Dammit Audi!

[matttl16]

my car consistantly shows 4mph off of what the gps says... from about 25-120 ish then it just gets more off

[jayphil82]

If the speedo is of, does the Odo is automatically of or they work separately?

It's bad if our cars show more milage than it really have...

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

I guess is different in every car, in mine is close to 2.5 miles, no mater what speed you are doing.

[DeMOROlized]

maybe i'm dumb, but why would the car company care if you got a speeding ticket?

Because in some countries (Germany comes to mind at the moment) there are laws that say the speedo can't be slower than actual speed. So calibration is on the high side to cover their butt.

[nick71692]

checked min e against gps, and with my aftermarket 19 over the stock 18's i running 2 mph over gps. In the past the gps and stock wheels have been spot on.

[NorcalPB]

If the speedo is of, does the Odo is automatically of or they work separately?

It's bad if our cars show more milage than it really have...

No I'm pretty sure the milage is exact.

[gyroscope]

Anything over the 17 inch stock wheel and you will need to recalibrate the speedo.

[nycmalu]

I noticed the same thing on a very long drive up to Toronto last weekend. GPS would say 85, speedo would say 90... Passport was silent most of the way

And I have stock 17" split spokes...

[johntesi]

Does VAG COM have a function to calibrate the speedo at multiple speeds relative to a GPS? Since reading this thread I have become a little self-conscious about my speed versus indicated. I have 19s and will be doing an indicated 7 over but get passed by several cars and have my tail ridden constantly in the left lane.. I'm thinking it must be off by at least 3 or 4 mph...

[upstateA4]

i used to own an E32 bmw 7 series and i know that the speedo was calibrated to over-read by a couple percentage points. ive also seen how my a4 will have an indicated speed that is several mph off what the radar unit that posts your speed says. ill bet that the audi engineers set it to overstate the speed by maybe 5 or 6 percentage points. more importantly, does anyone out there know if it is possible to correct the values using VAG-COM? i'm tired of guessing my speed based on how fast the car thinks i should know that i'm going....

[volcomic]

Anything over the 17 inch stock wheel and you will need to recalibrate the speedo.

That's not necessarily true. If you get the right size tires the nominal rolling diameter will be so close it won't effect the speedometer at all (at least not noticeably)

[EMAXX]

If I just take it to the dealer, would they be able to recalibrate the spedo so that it is accurate?

[Disco Stew]

Thanks guys. Looks like 4 mph under is the general answer. BTW FWIW - One explanation (other than the German laws about understating speed) for why Audi cares about tickets was that more tickets for a vehicle brand / model means higher base insurance rates = higher ownership costs = lower sales.

[airbornerifleman]

But it isn't the Companies fault that you got a ticket! You know the limit. In the US you can get a ticket and have your license revoked. No one is going to go to Audi and say. "hey your speedo was so accurate that i got a ticket. I'm sueing you"

If you can't drive your car (license suspension, due to speeding), you can’t bring it in for service, if you don’t bring it in for service, Audi aint making any money off you. At the end of the day it's all about the dollar.

[Silverbird]

I found that the speedometer has been off a needle width, up to 100km/h, it reads about 2 km/h high. past that (where the scale changes and tightens up) it's been reading about 4-5 km/h high.

Interesting that the speed alert, when set for 120 km/h goes off exactly when the GPS hits 120, not the speedometer.

I've got the stock S-Line 18's

[eMacPaul]

Ah... that speed alert is probably a good way to calibrate, then, for those of us that lack GPS.

[Who Needs 8]

There is a Dallas suburb that is known every where as the "will pull you over for anything" town. I drive through it every day on my way to work. They had one of their "Your Speed" trailers out and it showed my speedo was 5 mph fast.

I figured it was a trick by the police to make you think that you're going 35mph when your speedo says 40mph so they can pull more people over for going 40mph. They're just that kind of crooked police force.

[johntesi]

Which suburb are you referring to?!