Autocar car magazine hit 205mph (yes) in their E-class
Autocar magazine from the UK did a test in 5th July edition in Germany of the top speeds of various super-saloons. They borrowed a EV12 7.3 V12 engined E-class (580bhp, 313 bhp/tonne) and took it to 205mph, ON the rev limiter!<p>The tires were rated to do only this maximum speed. There's a photo of the speedo just nudging 300 km/h.<p>The other cars and max speeds are listed:<p>Lotus Carlton<br>twin-turbo'd 3.6 Opel/Vauxhall Carlton saloon from 1990 or so, tuned by Lotus, 377bhp, 227 bhp/tonne.<br>Still accelerating in 5th, revs drop too much into 6th. Beats new M5 to 0 - 120mph by a good 10 car lengths, not bad for a 10+ yr old design!<br>168mph max<p>BMW M5 new shape<br>5.0 V8 400bhp, 228 bhp/tonne, 167 mph despite 155 limiter.<p>BMW Alpina B10 new shape<br>4.6 V8 347 bhp, 201 bhp/tonne, 169 mph.<p>Holden GTS-R<br>5.7 V8 410 bhp, 238 bhp/tonne. This also lost all acceleration when moving up into 6th gear. 160 mph.