One more thing... Is it safe to be driving for 3 or more hours on the highway going an average of 85 mph?My dad was scaring me and telling me that the car is not designed to go that fast, and that l cant go past 75 mph, which is obviously bogus.
i am going to college soon, and l am going to have to drive 400 miles to see my girlfriend at fsu, is my '05 Hundai accent made to go that far, that fast?? 85 mph? what is the safe speed?

It will not hurt the car driving 85 MPH.. just maybe the pocket book if u get caught. You will not average 85 MPH however as that would mean u would need to be running over 100 MPH a lot to make that average. In days past they would state cruising speeds for cars & l had one car that would cruse at 94 MPH, top speed for the car was only about 105 MPH so it will not hurt u car. l also have a Hyundai car that l will not hesitate to drive 80 to 90 MPH (and do)and has not hurt it. Just do not drive so fast that u danger yourself or others.

My wife owns a Hyundai Matrix, performance wise, l could never trust a Hyundai and l would rather go with your dads opinion. The old saying goes, with age comes experience.

Dad is usually right (as u will recognize more & more as u get older :-) He would never steer u wrong, just trying to keep u safe & responsible. They tell u things like this so u will be prepared when u do not listen & the engine blows because u failed to notice the temperature gauge or oil pressure gauge.

It is never safe to disregard the posted speed limits. They r there for ur safety as well as the safety of others.
Just remember that it is a simple 4-cylinder. And while the speedometer goes to 130, it is not recommended - it is not a sports car, it is a compact. The risk of rollover is greatly increased if u lose control at highway speeds. While they do not 'design' cars around speed limits, it is never a good idea to test the limits.

400 miles translates to roughly 6+ hours at 65 mph. At 85 u will only gain approx 1 hour. Read ur owner is manual. If u do not have one, get one. Much needed info in there, ur dad might even splurge for it.

Enough speech, u really want the technical stuff. Your vehicle is probably equipped with 13 inch tires. Not only will u feel everything in the road at 85, ur gas mileage will be extremely poor. You may not be thinking of it from this standpoint, but gas is not getting cheaper & cars do not fix themselves. High speed travel consumes 1.5 times more fuel than normal driving. Your vehicle will survive as long as u take care of it.

For higher speed motoring, adjust the tire inflation to the highest recommendation on the tire itself. Low tire pressure will result in overheating & possible failure of the tires. Check ur engine oil while the vehicle is cold & ur coolant level. Add as needed. Check belts for tension & wear & make sure all ur lights work.

Remember also that with the miles, comes the maintenance. You will probably go through tires every 25,000, oil changes every 2 months, depending how often u drive to see her. It will be approx 800 miles round trip. You will need to change the oil after 2 round trips. Rotate the tires every other oil change or every 6000 miles.

Be safe!