Speedo Accuracy

[hertsnminds]

Had my Verso for 3 days now and just taken it out for a run with my Garmin GPS plugged in. According to the Garmin the speedo is reading between 5 and 10mph faster than the speedo is showing. e.g. speedo shows 70mph, Garmin reads 65mph.

I only mention this as I have just changed from a Citroen with a digital speedo that pretty much always gave the same reading as the GPS.

My concern is that when using cruise control or passing cameras I can rely on the speedo to know I am not speeding.

Is this accuracy what other owners are getting?

[smoftah]

From my experience from my Corolla (hatch) this is a normal over read, by law cars have to over read by a certain amount I believe.

You will always be over-reading never the other way around so as long as you are doing the speed limit with or without the cruise control you should never be going faster than it says on the speedo.

I had a Citroen C3 before my Corolla and it was the same about 5 mph over-read from actual speed.

I have not had a big over read such as 10mph though, 5mph is usually the max.

Have a look at your wheels if they are not the correct size with the correct tyre size for your car then this will also make your speedo give an inaccurate reading.

Hope this helps.

[Zwart_Verso]

From my experience from my Corolla (hatch) this is a normal over read, by law cars have to over read by a certain amount I believe.

You will always be over-reading never the other way around so as long as you are doing the speed limit with or without the cruise control you should never be going faster than it says on the speedo.

I had a Citroen C3 before my Corolla and it was the same about 5 mph over-read from actual speed.

I have not had a big over read such as 10mph though, 5mph is usually the max.

Have a look at your wheels if they are not the correct size with the correct tyre size for your car then this will also make your speedo give an inaccurate reading.

Hope this helps.

I checked the speedo of my Verso with my Garmin GPS when I bought it last month and it over-reads by about 7% over the complete range. For example 120 KPH on the GPS is 128 KPH on the Speedo, 50 is 54 etc. It is common that speedo's over-read but as far as I know GPS speed reading are extremely accurate.

Hope this helps,

[hertsnminds]

Thanks for the replies.

The last car I had with a dial speedo was like this. I have also had a C3 (Pluriel) and the car I just traded in was a C4. I think it's just coming back to a dial feels less precise than seeing mph as a number on the dash.

I was sticking to the correct speeds on the dial but just felt people behind me thought I was crawling especially in 30 and 40mph zones.

[bjw]

That's pretty much standard for the car !!! Mine runs about4-5 miles an hour faster than the GPS which is a good thing in a way .

I believe the GPS is more accurate than the speedo

[Blurt]

There is one of those speed display units close to my house. My VW Polo speedometer and the unit were always identical, 30 MPH on the speedo always showed 30 on the speed display unit (matched Satnav too, so unit more accurate than I expected). My Skoda Fabia is 1-2 MPH different (speedo overreads). The Verso...crikey, at 30MPH indicated on speedo the speed unit shows 24 MPH... When I first picked it up I thought the car just gave a relaxed ride making it feel slower than it was actually travelling, it isn't, the speedometer is just crazilly innacurate. My wife now adds 6 MPH to any speed to do the limit and not have a trail on cars stuck behind her. I can see the advantage of having a speedo overread slightly, but around 6 MPH at 30 MPH is a whopping 20% out.

[Zwart_Verso]

My wife now adds 6 MPH to any speed to do the limit and not have a trail on cars stuck behind her. I can see the advantage of having a speedo overread slightly, but around 6 MPH at 30 MPH is a whopping 20% out.

As I said above, by checking my speedo with my GPS, I conclude that it overreads by about 7% over the complete range (I haven't tested it above 130KPH). 20% sounds to me like something is wrong. I would get it checked by the dealer. Another alternative is to test drive another one, drive behind and compare speedo readings by mobile.

One other thought, do you have standard wheels and tryes? These will also influence the speedo reading.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

[Widget]

Hi,

we took delivery of our 08 plate verso TSpirit a week ago and its speedo is 6mph out.

...its exactly the same as the 07 plate demontstrator we had a month or so ago.

...this is either a Corolla/Verso or general Toyota issue I would say.....

Graham

[Zwart_Verso]

...this is either a Corolla/Verso or general Toyota issue I would say.....

Graham

I am wondering if this is something to do with MPH speedos as opposed to KPH speedos. MY KPH speedo is about 7% low over the complete range. This I can understand (although I still find 7% too much) and by the way is about the same as my old Carina E.

If you are 6 MPH over the complete range it would seeem like the mechanism is not aligned with the scale. If all MPH versions have this, (or a number) maybe the scales have been printed, or the units assembled, incorrectly for the MPH version, maybe a batch problem.

Not sure what you can do about it though apart from complain.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

[k+S]

Most mechanical or analog speedo`s will have a discrepancy due to manufacturing tollerances. There will be an allowable percentage due to the friction generated by moving parts, the tollerances of all the moving parts will never be the same from one batch to another. It may only be thousands of an inch difference + or - but this will have an impact . Usually there will be a 3-5% differance. Speed cameras are usually set with this in mind. Not always mind you!!

Cheers

[gar]

Most mechanical or analog speedo`s will have a discrepancy due to manufacturing tollerances. There will be an allowable percentage due to the friction generated by moving parts, the tollerances of all the moving parts will never be the same from one batch to another. It may only be thousands of an inch difference + or - but this will have an impact . Usually there will be a 3-5% differance. Speed cameras are usually set with this in mind. Not always mind you!!

Cheers

It is true most speedo's DO overread. This is as previously stated, a safety margin of error.

For a similar reason, typiclly, speed detection equipment (Laser guns, speed cameras) will either under read or a margin of error will be added, if not built in. Police guidelines (ACPO) recommend ten percent, plus 2mph. After this additional margin, you're nicked! This will allow 35 mph in a 30 zone (30+ 10% + 2mph) up to 79mph on motorway speeds.

Take note though, If you are speeding around say, a school, at starting/leaving time, in poor weather, etc this may not be accounted for, it is a guide, not a rule!

[Blurt]

My wife now adds 6 MPH to any speed to do the limit and not have a trail on cars stuck behind her. I can see the advantage of having a speedo overread slightly, but around 6 MPH at 30 MPH is a whopping 20% out.

As I said above, by checking my speedo with my GPS, I conclude that it overreads by about 7% over the complete range (I haven't tested it above 130KPH). 20% sounds to me like something is wrong. I would get it checked by the dealer. Another alternative is to test drive another one, drive behind and compare speedo readings by mobile.

One other thought, do you have standard wheels and tryes? These will also influence the speedo reading.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

The car is standard. To be honest I can't be bothered to take the heap back to the dealer yet again. It has already spent nearly 2 weeks there in the last 6 months. I'll mention it when it is returned for it's 1st service, when on past form, the service reception person will list something completely different to what I tell them, and on collection I'll be told there is no fault with my glovebox or spare wheel. Roll on a month later, when after 4 further visits I'll actually just walk into the service bay and speak to the tech myself. Might swap it for an old Lada

[IainM]

Had my Verso for 3 days now and just taken it out for a run with my Garmin GPS plugged in. According to the Garmin the speedo is reading between 5 and 10mph faster than the speedo is showing. e.g. speedo shows 70mph, Garmin reads 65mph.

I only mention this as I have just changed from a Citroen with a digital speedo that pretty much always gave the same reading as the GPS.

My concern is that when using cruise control or passing cameras I can rely on the speedo to know I am not speeding.

Is this accuracy what other owners are getting?

Mine over reads by a full 10% against my Tom Tom. 70 in the Tom Tom is 77/78 on the speedo. Got the dealer to look at it & they took it down the road & followed it with another car & declared it to be spot-on accurate. A scientific test - NOT!

The Odo reading seems to be pretty accurate though.