115 mph (185 kph) in a '69 Chevy Caprice (luxury Impala). I was on a very straight, flat and mostly-empty stretch of the I-5 freeway in Southern California with no decent scenery and bored out of my skull, so I figured I'd top out that old 350. Tried for 120 (highest speedometer reading), but the engine was howling and after 10 seconds with the pedal to the floor and the needle staying at 115 I started slowing down. Car seemed solid but like all old fullsize cars it had that sort of "floating on a cloud" ride and insanely numb power steering. Also the weatherstripping was old so the wind noise was unbearable, and it had nonpower drum brakes on all four wheels so if I'd had to stop at any time I would have been screwed. Runners up:
'08 Toyota Prius: 105 mph, around midnight on the 101 freeway, boredom-fueled top speed attempt in my mom's car. Didn't feel that fast thanks to the isolation-chamber feel of a new car, but the engine sure hated it. The gas mileage meter was in the single digits.
'86 Chevy El Camino: ? mph, definitely over 90. 1 AM or so, "racing" a 90s BMW 3-series on the 101. We were pretty evenly matched though he beat me on the gas a couple of times. Car seemed pretty damn solid and the engine felt like it could handle more speed, but I slowed down and let the Bimmer pass once I saw the taillights of some slower-moving cars up ahead. I really to find a 140mph speedometer.
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