New Fiesta is a bit scary in slippery and wet conditions

[the_stoat]

If the car is new to him has he checked the tyre pressures as if to high and on Eco tyres could give the handling described. Had this on a hire car that had over 50 psi on each tyre.

[BigMon]

I've got the bog standard 100bhp Ecoboost and I think the handling is superb!

The tyres aren't the best in the wet (especially on things like manhole covers) but I've never found it to be a problem.

I don't drive it slowly either!

[neil1jnr]

the_stoat said:

If the car is new to him has he checked the tyre pressures as if to high and on Eco tyres could give the handling described. Had this on a hire car that had over 50 psi on each tyre.

This ^^^^^^

[Benbay001]

Driving smoothly is the fastest way to drive. When its wet its just much more apparent how important being smooth is.

[james_gt3rs]

treetops said:

Fiesta not a sports car.

Even a sports car will slide around if you drive it fast in the wet. I don't know what else the OP was expecting?

[Hooli]

We had a '58 plate fiesta, the original bridgestone? tyres were st in the wet.

[MC Bodge]

neil1jnr said:

If it's the ST tell him to get a set of Uniroyal Rainsport 3's

They are really good, even if it is not an ST...

Even the Rain Experts are superb on my wife's Fabia -The grip and handling, wet and dry, are very acceptable.

[MrBarry123]

What Fiesta does your mate have OP?

If it's anything other than the ST, it's not exactly made for caning it along wet country lanes.

[MC Bodge]

MrBarry123 said:

What Fiesta does your mate have OP?

If it's anything other than the ST, it's not exactly made for caning it along wet country lanes.

Eh??

If anything, something softer/more compliant will be more forgiving on a wet country lane.

Fiestas are made for that kind of thing.

[GuyW]

100% the driver.

[iloveboost]

MC Bodge said:

I think manufacturers make their cars "pointy" on initial turn-in to provide a sense of "sportiness", but are often a bit too firmly sprung/damped for bumps in bends as a result.

I would suggest that the vast majority of drivers make sharp inputs and never really learn not to, the "sharpness" of the car givIng a false sense of being close to the limit. The subsequent lifting off sharply contributing further to the sensation.

Only a small majority, the "naturally-gifted" or people who have spent a lot of time trying to be smooth, drive around keeping the car settled and using only minimal inputs -the things that give me the most satisfaction from driving these days, not only when getting a move on.

I'l admit I that In the old days it was all about stomping on the loud pedal & brakes and yanking on the wheel

This is 100% what I think the car is setup like, and what I think he's doing is over-driving a bit in dodgy conditions without realising it. Obviously the rough ride, stiff roll stiffness and short wheelbase make the effect of over-driving a bit far worse.

[iloveboost]

Hooli said:

We had a '58 plate fiesta, the original bridgestone? tyres were st in the wet.

Premium Contact 2

[iloveboost]

the_stoat said:

If the car is new to him has he checked the tyre pressures as if to high and on Eco tyres could give the handling described. Had this on a hire car that had over 50 psi on each tyre.

He doesn't have a digital gauge, but he checked the next morning after I was a passenger with a foot pump gauge. 32/33 psi the front, 25/26 psi for the rear. Exactly right according to the manual.

[Samjeev]

Got the 125 bhp 1.0 Ecoboost Zetec S myself but I never thought it to handle badly or slip in the wet. Its easy to get the wheels spinning if you really try to but other than that i've never felt it handled unexpectedly over camber changes or bumps. Maybe the boost from the turbo is what he feels is a weird delay from the throttle? to be honest it's a bit of fun to play with the 1.8k RPM spool up and go from driving slowly to having a bit of a kick of torque all within legal limits.

Driving to/from work each day I feel a lot more comfortable driving the Fiesta over bumps and pot holes at speed than I do a stiff track set up car. I hate to think what your friend would think of a car with a rigid chassis (with RWD and no Traction control!) and stiff suspension.

Sorry