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On 16 Jun 2004 at 15:24, David Martinez wrote: > I wanted to ask the experts out there about the loss of speed when > approaching and climbing hills on the highway. I drove to Alabama from > Arizona and it seemed that every time that I started climbing a hill my > speed dropped at least 10-15 mph. On the straight ways I had no problem with > doing 65-70. Some loss of speed is normal, but it will all depend on how steep and how long the hill is. It's just a matter of energy and power: On the flats all the engine has to do is make up for the frictional losses. This normally only takes 15-20 hp. When climbing, it has the same load plus the load required to push the mass of the car uphill. This can take a lot of hp, so once you've met your engine's limits, the speed has to come down. The only way to really tell if you have a problem is to compare your car with another one that is thought to be in good condition. It's most likely that yours is fine. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org