MovieChat Forums > 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Discussion > Why do American movies think 80mph is fa...

Why do American movies think 80mph is fast?

posted 18 years ago by blade101167
79 replies | jump to latest

This is on TV at the moment and whilst having a brain dead moment, I couldn't help but think how ridiculous it was when they showed the speedo hitting 80mph and they were pushed back in their seats like wwwwwwhhhhhhhhooooooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

I mean come on! I have a five year old production model - i.e. unmodified - 2.0ltr 16v 140bhp Renault Laguna that has done 135mph on a clear motorway in the middle of the night! That's way faster than most of the supposed super cars can go in these movies!

There's also a scene in the first movie where the hero outruns a Ferrari. Yeah right. Even the slowest Ferrari built in the last thirty or so years would have still outrun the hero's car and have left it for dead!

And I'm surprised the main character even has a gear stick left with how violently he pushes it when changing gear!

I suppose the only people who love this movie are car freaks who have never actually driven a car in their entire life or else those who hang round disused car parks in their souped up Ford Cortinas!

"If I tried to kill everyone who hated me, it wouldn't be murder - it'd be genocide..."

[–] sehser4 18 years ago

u guys need to get laid

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ghettodaxx 18 years ago

speed pushes noone back in theyre seat really in cars. i believe they showed it passing 80mph. meaning the pushing back was due to massive exceleration.

[–] Battlespartan 18 years ago

Im a little confused here... Which Americans consider 80mph fast? I'm American and the interstate is about 75mph(no clue on KMph) and I've gone atleast 85 mph on it and wouldn't consider that fast. I dont know which Americans youve spoken to but where I live 80 mph isnt very fast.

[–] SanjuroTsubaki 18 years ago

Exactly....80 MPH isn't considered fast.

[–] sawyer38969 18 years ago

65mph speed limit in Ohio...Ive pushed 140 on highway and back roads numerous times. 80mph is fun on the highway but you run the risk of a ticket, only reason most Americans would consider it fast, since it is 15 over the speed limit.

State to state that limit chages though, out west Wyoming for example is 75mph. Still 80 isnt fast, but its just fast enough to possibly get you in trouble, maybe thats all they were going for.

[–] CantMessWithMe2004 18 years ago

Cops are bitches and they pull you over for any reason at all. My homeboy was pulled over for going 5 miles over speed limit. Can you believe that sh it!

I dont think 80mph is fast. But you cant do 80mph anywhere.

[–] lightning_stalker 18 years ago

80mph isn't fast enough! :) I have to go 110mph on this one section of the freeway. Because there's a bump in the middle of the freeway that I like to go really fast over. It bumps my car up kind of high ... it's really fun! :P ha ha I know it's stupid but I can't say "no" to fun!

[–] BlueGalaxy 18 years ago

During this discussion, I started thinking about the best places in America to drive fast. I thought Montana did not have a speed limit on its interstates, but I was wrong. D*mn, it would have been fun to do a Fast & Furious 4: Montanabahn.

Speed limits in the United States -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_United_States

[–] badboyginny 17 years ago

the speed limit here in the states is 65 at most 50 normaly and it is pretty hard to reach high speeds on winding back roads and congested poorly cared for highways. As for the the Supra outrunning the Ferrari do your homework. A 700bhp supra twin turbo inline six will eat just about any stock car on the market and cost more than an average Ferrari. Hence the "$80,000 1998 Eclipse" which would normaly sell for $2,000.

[–] fludwaters_47 17 years ago

on I-20 in Texas the speedlimit is 80mph... so how can it be fast if old people and rookie drivers can legelly go that speed? its not fast... 160mph is fast. ive only done that once on my cbr1000... its too scary to every do it again i think... well on a bike... i never gone that fast in a car.

p.s... i did it at the salt flats

[–] Squigger 17 years ago

i love how you put all american movies ur a dumbass

[–] andrewgalloway87 17 years ago

lol my all stock (but comfy :P ) 01 Saturn SL2 seems to accelerate faster than the cars in the movie were made to. It's all just technical details, that really shouldn't make or break the film. As a whole, the movie sucked. Still, it was fun to watch, and the race scenes, ridiculous or not, provided entertainment. Who doesn't like seeing some loser getting crushed by an angry trucker? Next time you watch the movie, keep your eyes OFF of the speedometer, and on Eva Mendez's wonderful melons.
:D

---------

You want more mysterious? I'll just try and think, "Where the hell's the whiskey?"

Long Live DA

[–] dubious_den 17 years ago

Hahaha

But what is up with this people, this movie is just a fun movie to watch if you like cars and all..
All these stupid people take this movie way to serious.

This is a good/fun movie too watch when you wanna see hot cars and nice girls.. That would I call a 'good' movie..

The storyline isn't great, but why should that make this a bad movie?

It's fun to watch, so i would call that a decent movie.

[–] shaun-adams 17 years ago

I'd just like to point this out as well, I'm in Australia, and if it weren't for the Fast and the Furious movie franchises, tuner's wouldn't be half as big in Australia as they are now.

They feed fuel to the fire of teenage boardom, giving us something to do with spare time.

I myself have a Lexus IS200, that thing has stock 153hp, but with a cold air induction, bigger running gear and some fine tuning, I'm pushing about 214hp out of that bad girl.

As well as air strut suspension I'm pretty much huging the corners as well. As for the speeding thing, when I was 17years old, we in Australia have three grades of license, "red p's", "green p's" and "blacks" you get your red p's when you turn 17 and have 4 demerit points allocated to you. The fastest you can go on New South Wales roads is 110km/h. I was clocked at 189km/h with a friend of mine on a stretch of road no so unlike the streets in this movie, with the same amount of traffic and police presence (perhaps maybe a bit less than the final chase) but regardless.

It's the conditions that you're driving and the unpredictability of others around you that make speed an issue. I have been in a situation where 40km/h has been f*^k off scary and I've almost *beep* myself.

But then again, being just under the 190km/h mark (around 120mile p/h)

[–] Nukeuz 17 years ago

200HP is very easy to get on a 4 cyl.

Acura TL S-Type is around 300hp and its a 6cyl. Infinity G35 is also around that, G35 is actually a bit stronger than the TL.

I drove my 1992 Honda Accord at 130 before i got my 1st speeding ticket haha. I dont do that anymore, but the Accord is 145HP, not impressive, but it maxes out at 135

[–] saza_2004 17 years ago

Really horsepower isn't the only thing that affects the speed of the car otherwise lorries wud be outracing us all so don't think we should get too hung up on it.

And yeah ok they showed it hittin a low(ish) speed but how long had they been driving? A few seconds? Think that was more about the acceleration than the "oh wow look im going so fast"

And besides everyone over exaggerates how fast and how amazing a driver they are, I don't think anyone ever claimed this was a mentally stimulating film. :P

[–] 17 years ago

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