Bring back ride quality!!
Discussion
Maybe its because having turned 43 yesterday I am moving into middle age, but all the modern cars I go on, I find way to firm in the ride department. Basically Im just trying to think of a car on sale today that doesnt cost a fortune that could be sold on great ride quality, rather than sport handling? Is Ride quality dead and buried? Certainly a ride in my father in laws new Jag XF diesel makes me wonder....In the meantime, I shall just put on my slippers and pipe and go off in my motorised sofa, i.e. my 9 year old Passat!!
No, I agree. I read reviews of cars in mags that say "excellent ride quality and damping" and then I drive the car and it's rock hard, this then leads to rattling interiors which is another annoyance for me. For the 5% of the time that I'm driving the car 'properly' these things don't matter, but for the other 95% when I'm just trying to get into work it's a pain in the arse.
I agree with the OP, the combination of poor roads and ever firmer suspension has ruined the ride of modern cars. I understand that larger wheel/tyre diameters are neccessary for styling purposes but why fit stupidly low profile tyres, surely a family saloon does not need 20" wheels with a thin band of rubber around the rim. Comfort and common sense have been sacrificed for styling with no practical gain. How many drivers use even half the cornering power of their cars even if it were possible on todays roads?
Fair enough if a "sporty" hard riding set-up was an option, but it is not, everyone is forced to accept an inferior ride as it is now all that is available. So much so that most people have never experienced a car that rides well and think a hard crashy ride on stupidly expensive easily kerbed wheels is acceptable and normal.
I can't see the roads improving in quality anytime soon, so let us have suspension that works at normal speeds and keep the wide low profiles for trackdays and supercars.
Fair enough if a "sporty" hard riding set-up was an option, but it is not, everyone is forced to accept an inferior ride as it is now all that is available. So much so that most people have never experienced a car that rides well and think a hard crashy ride on stupidly expensive easily kerbed wheels is acceptable and normal.
I can't see the roads improving in quality anytime soon, so let us have suspension that works at normal speeds and keep the wide low profiles for trackdays and supercars.
My Jaguar X300 long wheel base Sovereign on 225 / 60 / 16s has a fantastic ride, as does my Volvo 850 T5 which is currently running 185 /65 / 15 winter steel wheels.
I recently had an F11 535d for the weekend on 19s, and the ride wasn't too bad, as was my old 123d on 18s with run flat tyres.
Makes you wonder how well new cars would ride if they had smaller wheels and higher profile tyres.
I recently had an F11 535d for the weekend on 19s, and the ride wasn't too bad, as was my old 123d on 18s with run flat tyres.
Makes you wonder how well new cars would ride if they had smaller wheels and higher profile tyres.
Most new cars today will ride pretty well as long as you uncheck these when ordering:
Rubbish runflat tyres
Stiffer "sport" suspension that's still too soft for trackdays
Heavy big alloy wheels
Useless "handling" packs / switchable suspension
Just order whatever car car you want, get the smallest lightest wheels the base version has from eBay, fit the highest profile new tyres approved, and sell the heavy big alloys & tyres yours came with on eBay, all for a nice profit.
Ride sorted.
Rubbish runflat tyres
Stiffer "sport" suspension that's still too soft for trackdays
Heavy big alloy wheels
Useless "handling" packs / switchable suspension
Just order whatever car car you want, get the smallest lightest wheels the base version has from eBay, fit the highest profile new tyres approved, and sell the heavy big alloys & tyres yours came with on eBay, all for a nice profit.
Ride sorted.
Miglia 888 said:
Most new cars today will ride pretty well as long as you uncheck these when ordering:
Rubbish runflat tyres
Stiffer "sport" suspension that's still too soft for trackdays
Heavy big alloy wheels
Useless "handling" packs / switchable suspension
Just order whatever car car you want, get the smallest lightest wheels the base version has from eBay, fit the highest profile new tyres approved, and sell the heavy big alloys & tyres yours came with on eBay, all for a nice profit.
Ride sorted.
Are alloy wheels generally heavier than steel counterparts of the same diameter?Rubbish runflat tyres
Stiffer "sport" suspension that's still too soft for trackdays
Heavy big alloy wheels
Useless "handling" packs / switchable suspension
Just order whatever car car you want, get the smallest lightest wheels the base version has from eBay, fit the highest profile new tyres approved, and sell the heavy big alloys & tyres yours came with on eBay, all for a nice profit.
Ride sorted.
PumpkinSteve said:
Are alloy wheels generally heavier than steel counterparts of the same diameter?
Proper racing alloys like are very light, I couldn't believe how little the wheels and tyres on a friends Formula Ford were. The cheap mass produced rims on the market these days are not. It's partly due to cost but also because a really light alloys are far more easily broken by kerbs or potholes.The back wheel on my MG weighs about 19kg with the tyre, the (admittedly tiny) 12" steel on my mini is 9kg. The Locost 13" alloys are about 12 kg but they're really old Ford RS wheels. Comotives come in a couple of kg lighter according to the other competitors.
There aren't many performance cars available with steel these days. Personally I think the base MX5 with silver steels was far better looking than with the bigger alloys but I must be in a minority.
Wether I've become accustomed to hard (ish) riding cars I don't know, but whenever I go in a 'whafter' I tend to feel a little sick.
My Alpina on 19's, non run flats and sport suspension, however, doesn't feel overly hard and crashy at all.
The front wheels on my Boxster Spyder only weigh 9.7kgs (plus tyre, 19"), which I don't think bad for a new car.
My Alpina on 19's, non run flats and sport suspension, however, doesn't feel overly hard and crashy at all.
The front wheels on my Boxster Spyder only weigh 9.7kgs (plus tyre, 19"), which I don't think bad for a new car.
Edited by Zyp on Saturday 11th February 10:16
It makes me laugh, there's a bloke in my street with a fairly middling-looking Insignia* diesel.
He complains about the ride from the 20" (!) VXR alloys and wonders why his new baby won't sleep on car journeys and why his tyre bill is so expensive.
He also laughed at SWMBO's (non RFT) 16" on the 116d... t
t.
He complains about the ride from the 20" (!) VXR alloys and wonders why his new baby won't sleep on car journeys and why his tyre bill is so expensive.
He also laughed at SWMBO's (non RFT) 16" on the 116d... t
t.-
which replaced a Vectra, so you know he's not a 'car man'
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