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about two months ago i purchased my first car. it is a 2001 honda civic lx. with that being said, let's get right into it.

so, as the title reads, this is my issue. i happen to speed sometimes on the freeway but once i get into 5th gear and make it to about 112mph, the car will kind of pull back, if that makes sense, to slow down. this happens every time that i attempt to push past 112. to my knowledge, there's nothing that's wrong that's affecting acceleration or anything of that nature.

could someone by chance have an explanation?

thanks.

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    You would only be doing this on a closed track or possibly in Germany?
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 5:10
  • @SolarMike Could be IoM I suppose - although anyone doing 112mph on those roads in one of those will need a large dose of brave pills.
    – motosubatsu
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 12:40
  • @motosubatsu there are speed limits outside of the race... But I know a friend who drove a volvo 850 T5 around there well in 3 figs...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 14:17
  • @SolarMike Any road there designated as "derestricted" (denoted using the same signage as "National Speed Limit" roads in the UK) has no limit regardless of whether it's TT or not and yeah something with some modicum of performance can get to >100mph in places (I speak from experience!) and you might be able to peak above the ton in the OP's car but (and I mean no disrespect to the OP) a fairly ordinary Civic wouldn't be inspiring much confidence in me at those sorts of speeds on the island's roads!
    – motosubatsu
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 14:28

2 Answers 2

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The EEC in most cars has a speed limiter function that cuts fuel delivery to the engine past a certain speed.

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  • Agreed - 112mph is 180km/h, which is the kind of nice round number a manufacturer is likely to choose for a limiter (it may even be mandated in certain countries, I'm not sure).
    – Nick C ♦
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 8:41
  • The ecu speed limiter on serious road going performance cars ( that does not include the honda civic) is usually around 155mph...
    – Solar Mike
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 14:18
  • @SolarMike That's primarily seen in cars from BMW, Mercedes and Audi as the three established a "gentlemen's" agreement to limit their cars to 250kph (155mph), partly as a way of self-limiting themselves from the top-speed arms race. Although the limiter can be removed (and in some cases this can even be specified as an option at purchase) and can sometimes even be bypassed by staying below top gear.
    – motosubatsu
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 14:38
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That model of Civic has a limiter restricting the car to 180kph (111.8mph), depending upon wheels/tyres/speedometer calibration there is some variance between different cars in terms of what you see on the speedo but the limiter is the same on all of them.

As for why this is the case most Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars are limited to 180kph (111.8mph) - and it's not unheard of for this limiter to be present in other markets as well.

If it's any consolation that may be nearly as fast as the car can go - the LX had a 1.7l engine that only produced 115hp so you wouldn't be seeing much more than that anyway.

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