What car should you buy once speed limiters become standard?
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The recent announcement that the EU plans to introduce mandatory speed limiters to all vehicles sold in Europe from 2022-on has been met with a broad range of emotions from motorists across the UK and Europe. Initial outrage has subsided in the last few months and most people have realised that the introduction if such an initiative was only a matter of time, after all, what issue is more crucial than saving lives?
Of course, the age-old argument that speed doesn’t kill, it is rather the inappropriate use of it that is the real problem has been a central argument in those opposing the new law. A valid point but even so, it is hard to justify the existence of 200mph+ supercars in a world where 70mph is about as fast as you are legally allowed to go.
Amidst all the questions posed by road users, one particular issue has not been delved into in any real detail, and that is what car should you actually buy once this law comes into force? To help you make the right choice we need to look at how the speed limiting technology will be used and enforced and to start with, will the UK actually be part of this new law post-Brexit?
The Brexit Issue
Those of us thinking that one upside to all this Brexit chaos would be that the UK would be exempt from the upcoming speed-limiter law should not get their hopes up.
The Department for Transport has stated that the UK will follow the EU’s lead regarding the law even after the withdrawal.
Implementation
After being approved by the European Commission the mandatory speed limiting technology euphemistically called ‘Intelligent Speed Assistance’ (ISA) may be fitted to all new cars within just three years.
Initially, the Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) system will not apply the vehicle’s brakes once the speed limit is passed, it will merely limit the engine power unless it is overridden by a hard press on the accelerator pedal.
The Technology
The ISA system will use a combination of speed sign recognition and GPS-linked speed limit data to advise drivers of the prevailing speed limit and automatically limit the vehicle speed as needed.
As mentioned before, the initial setup will not stop a driver from overriding the system, but it is quite clear that stricter controls will be put into place in the future.
The fact that every car will also be fitted with a data logger to track what the driver does may be a great way to ensure compliance, and help insurers but it is also a scary window into the controlled driving experience that we will be forced to be a part of.
Claimed benefits
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), says that the limiters would reduce collisions by 30%, and save around 25,000 lives within 15 years.
A difficult statistic to argue against although one that can only be proven once the law is actually in place.
Speed-limiters are nothing new
While such a wide-ranging speed limiter system has never been used before, limiting the top speed of vehicles is nothing new.
The earliest steam-powered vehicles required a man to walk in front of them with a flag to warn other road users and in more recent years most German auto manufacturers imposed a 155mph speed limit on their cars.
Japanese manufacturers too had a 276bhp power limit for years and all JDM vehicles are limited to 112mph.
Is driving fun a thing of the past?
Is driving fun a thing of the past?
While on the face of it, limiting the top speed of every new car to at most 80mph seems a little heavy-handed, few of us travel faster than that anyway and there is nothing stopping you enjoying yourself on deserted back roads or twisty mountain passes where ultimate speed is less important than cornering and accelerative capabilities.
A shift in focus
With manufacturers not having to spend their development budgets on building cars to travel safely at 100mph+, we may even see vehicle prices drop and ride comfort improve.
Without needing to have ultra-stiff suspensions and high-speed rated tires, your average family car could become far more enjoyable to drive at the speeds most of us go at anyway.
What about supercars?
Most modern supercars dispatch the 0-60mph sprint in a little more than three seconds, while such vicious acceleration may still be a big selling point, their accelerative capabilities beyond that level will become far less relevant.
So, unless they too shift their focus to what happens below 80mph we may see more and more ‘track-only’ supercars being built for those wealthy enough to indulge their need for speed.
Alternative powerplants
The huge push by motor manufacturers to introduce electric vehicles onto the roads may be coming at just the right time to take advantage of a world where high top speeds are largely irrelevant.
That is because most EVs have one fixed gear which is all they require thanks to the huge instant slug of torque they deliver right from the word go; this does, however, slow their rate of acceleration once up to higher velocities.
It’s all about that initial surge and in-gear performance, two areas where EVs rule supreme.
BMW i3
The i3 is four-years-old now and while it may not be around come 2022, upcoming electric BMWs like the iX3 SUV and fully electric sedans will be where your money should go.
For now, though, the i3 is a great buy and makes perfect sense in a world where immediate acceleration and low emissions are key.
Jaguar I-Pace
The I-Pace is Jaguar’s first ever all-electric road car and aside from a somewhat steep price tag (£64,495 is the base price), is a superb SUV that performs like a sports car and has space for five adults.
Its 124mph top speed is impressive for an EV but is easily bettered by just about any petrol-powered car on the road.
It is still a totally irrelevant performance metric as the I-Pace’s 4.5-second 0-60mph time is something that you will be able to enjoy far more often anyway.
Tesla Roadster
As we suggested earlier, the future of the supercar will be either limited to track-only special editions or they will have to be modified to provide their knock-out punch at legal speeds.
Upcoming supercars like the Tesla Roadster may be just the sort of thing, it may claim a 250mph+ top speed but it is the 1.9-second 0-60mph time that will be the most relevant.
What about petrol power?
Thanks to a combination of misinformation and cover-ups, diesels have been doomed to a slow death in the passenger vehicle sector, that means that it is up to petrol-powered cars to keep the internal combustion engine going for a little while longer.
High-revving, high power output motors will become rather pointless so low-geared, low-capacity engines with turbochargers to help deliver low-end torque are what we will need.
City fun
The new VW Up! GTI is just the sort of practical performance car that will make sense in the future. It comes fitted with a 113bhp 1.0-litre turbocharged which gives it strong performance at lower speeds and its 122mph top speed will seem extravagant post-2022.
This segment may see some serious growth as other manufacturers start offering their versions of this quick compact city hatch.
Hot Hatches
The Golf R offers serious all-wheel-drive traction off the line and thanks to its 306bhp power output will hit 62mph in a claimed 4.6-seconds.
The Audi RS3 and Mercedes-AMG A45 are even quicker. Currently all are limited to 155mph but once that is cut down to almost half that number, the manufacturers might as well reprofile their engine to give them even quicker acceleration away from the lights.
Motorway cruisers
While the current BMW M5 and Mercedes-AMG E63S are as quick as a supercar, it will be the base models that will make far more sense in the years to come.
Turbocharged 2.0-litre engines producing no more than 180bhp and a big slug of torque for overtaking duties will be perfectly suited for the motorway slog.
Then again, you could just keep your old car
Some observers have said that cars built just before the speed-limiter law comes into force may end up becoming coveted collector’s items.
Time will tell whether that does indeed happen but those not wanting to have the heavy hand of EU law weighing down on them just yet can hold on to their existing cars until either they become financially unviable to maintain or the law is expanded to cater for pre-2022 vehicles.
With the way older diesels have been pushed out of city centres, we wouldn’t be surprised if a similar system is put into place for older cars that don’t have retrofitted speed limiters.