The speedometer is incorrect my my MCS, perhaps as much as 1% off - so at 60 mph it reads close to 66, etc. This has been discussed for prior year models as well, and in those threads it is said to be by design (hmmm, inaccuracy by design, what a concept).

You can review prior posts on this subject Here.

Is there any (reasonable) way to have the speedometer corrected? I find it very annoying to not know my real speed.

At a minimum this is a heads up to new Mini owners - you're probably not going as fast as you think you are

 

How have you measured this? I can imagine some creative, less than perfect methods, but what's yours and is there a right way?

 

I think you mean 10%

 

Yes, up to 10% inaccurate. I'll measure by getting on the highway and comparing against a GPS at steady speed. I've found the GPS is fairly accurate in the past.

 

I would think a stop watch using mile posts on the interstate would be a more accurate way of doing it.

 

My GPS is about 6 MPH off so i hope yours is less

 

Agreed. Not the most technologically advanced way of doing it, but that is how I always test. I usually just check the time on a song and check it that way.

 

10% is a huge margin of error for a new car's speedo, have you gone to the dealer with this concern? Also, I have always found speedos to be FAR more accurate than GPS units and I think that it's far more likely that the inaccuracy is in the satellite reading.

 

...which we could do if the stupid head unit would display elapsed track time.

 

I would think that the speedo would almost have to be accurate by law. Just like a gas station is checked to be sure that a gallon is really a gallon, the speedo would have to be accurate. I'm not sure how they would enforce this, but any sort of mass inaccuracy would be grounds for legal trouble.

 

I haven't done any scientific testing, but I've noticed the speedo seems to be way off on mine as well. There are a few roads that have permanent radar guns with MPH displays that will strobe if you're doing more than X over the speed limit. On one, I set my cruise at "34mph" and the readout said I was doing 30. Another one in another suburb said I was travelling at 44mph when my speedo said "49". This equates to about 12% too high. I knew mine would read slightly high because I'm running 215/35-18's which are 23.9" diameter [slightly shorter than stock, so they'll cause my speedo to read about 2% high]. My R53's speedo wasn't nearly this inaccurate!

 

Besides verifying the true speed by another method, as suggested already, what wheel/tire combination do you have? Are the tire pressures as specified? I'm under the impression that there is a slight difference in overall dia. between the different wheel/tire combinations. if someone knows those dia. numbers perhaps they could do the math to see if they would make any difference in the speedo.

 

GPS is a highly accurate measurement of speed, as long as you're getting good satellite reception and are moving at a fairly constant speed (not accellerating or decellerating). On my 2005 MINI, the speedo was high by about 3% (for example, digital speedometer reads 60 when actual speed by GPS measurement is 58. First time I went in for service at my MINI dealer I asked about it. Service dept said they know about it and it is a design problem. This seems strange that they have had this as an issue for some time and have not rectified it. Note also that this will show higher mileage on your speedometer than you have actually driven. For example, if you're off 3%, when you're 50,000 mile warranty expires you have actually only driven 48,500 miles. Probably not a big deal in the overall scheme of things.

 

The UK law on speedo accuracy is 10% at any given speed.

 

I really find it hard to believe that a car manufacturer would build a car with a speedometer that is incorrect. Do the highway test. Drive down the highway at 60 mph and hit the stopwatch at one mile marker, then hit it again at the next mile marker. If it reads 60 seconds then you're going 60 mph. If it's more, then your speedometer is low. If it's less, your speedometer is high. If it's off, tell the dealer you want it fixed or checked.

 

Do any of you have any friends??

Just ask 2-3 people you know to drive next to you while you're on the phone. Keep it steady at 60 and see what you friend has....sound simple? You can even use the cruise control.

 

I never put much stock in the roadside speed indicators. In my previous car, I noticed the exact same behavior (the reported speed was less than what was on my speedometer). Make of this what you will, of course.

 

At least the speed is reading higher on the speedometer for the most part. If it was the other way around, you could be doing 70 when you think you are doing 60. I had a rental car recently and think this was the case because I got pulled over and the cop said I was doing 74 MPH, but my speedometer never read over 68. Since it was 3AM and the cop was probably just pulling me over to see if I was drunk, I did not get a ticket.

 

Honda US just lost a law suit over overstating the Odometer (and speed) reading. It makes the (mileage) Warranty expire before the actual mileage has been achieved. They did not fix the design, just forced to extend the warranty and cover some repairs incurred during the gap period. Details of the settlement are from memory. I have a Pilot with this problem but was not included in the settlement.

 

I've passed a couple of the roadside radar boxes here, and it appears that my speedo is off by roughly 2mph.

If I set my cruise at 40mph, the box will say 38mph. At an indicated 30mph, the radar box bounces between 27 and 28mph. I wish I could test for higher speeds, but the police around here only seem to put these radar boxes along roads with speed limits less than 45mph.

 

I would think with all the various wheel/tire combinations available that it should be possible to calibrate the speedometer. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Randy

 

Dude, THAT is MESSED UP! Honda US needs to pay out the wazoo for that kinda trash.

 

Then so would every other car maker, including MINI. I'm skeptical of the Honda suit, seeing as most cars' speedos function the same way.

 

The stop watch method is the same method the Washington State Patrol uses to determine who is speeding from their air patrol (I had a chance to fly with them once). So if you're looking for a method tried and tested in the court of law... there you go.

 

I'll take the Interstate on the way home tonight and [pending the mile markers haven't been stolen] stopwatch my time per mile. I'll post my findings later tonight!