just wondering

[feanor75]

How come car makers seem to not be bothered about driving experience anymore?

After a series of mishaps I have recently had a series of courtesy cars, every single one of them had toys etc but they drive like pants - they are all standard fare I grant you but why should you stump up for lowered suspensions etc, when the original car should be good enough?

After driving the following

Toyota Avensis (weird mirors that magnify the view rear mirror and shrink the view on the wings to leave you confused, no power at all, steering disconnected so much so you need to turn the wheel half way round for the car to notice and as for the driving position even after a 30 mile commute I ached)

Vauxhall Astra (cool to look at, but car seems to be 2 seconds behind you all the time, and has annoying habits like the smallest diesel turbo power spike in the world)

Ford Focus (used to love these but now it drives like a vauxhall and the one I had was again underpowered you need a good run up to even consider overtaking a truck, why put underpowered petrols in a car when the diesel will always perform better)

Audi A4 (My back still hurts and it beeps at you for apparantly no reason)

New 5 series (no toys in this, but loveley cabin, very underpowered and to me at a novice in the world of cars, nowhere near as good a drive as the outgoing 5, having driven e39's and e60's they definetly were better drives to me

So my basic point is they just seem to cram as much as they can in, and then worry about the driving after, unless you are buying sports marques.

God I am glad I can still jump into this at the weekend

[rassi]

Everything pales when you are used to an E39 M5!

[feanor75]

rassi said:

Everything pales when you are used to an E39 M5!

True but I am not compering to the beast, just making the point that a variety of car makers trot out crap drives for the sake of stuffing random bits into the car first. I dont understand the reasoning behind an underpowered petrol in a heavy car or steering system that doesnt work till your at 45 degrees of turn.

Or why in toyotas case obviously spend loads on a half decent driver system phone/nav/bluetooth/etc etc when the car drives like a shopping trolley and is frankly strange

[rassi]

Had a rare good experience with a new car: 2012 Ford C-Max 1.6 TDCI. A modest 115 bhp but surprisingly nippy, nice gear change, very good ride and suspension just right. Very good overall package and mighty impressed.

[playalistic]

Problem is that as Pistonheaders we probably account for a percent of a percent of the actual buying public for most cars. With most buyers requirements not extending much further than the car is silver, has four wheels and a good stereo.

[feanor75]

playalistic said:

Problem is that as Pistonheaders we probably account for a percent of a percent of the actual buying public for most cars. With most buyers requirements not extending much further than the car is silver, has four wheels and a good stereo.

Thats a very fair point.

Be good if car makers actually made a decent car first though, it doesnt have to be fast or have uber acceleration just be a decent and comfortable drive for example I dont know why Audi have decided that their best policy is to give all a4 drivers, chronic back problems in later life?

[feanor75]

rassi said:

Had a rare good experience with a new car: 2012 Ford C-Max 1.6 TDCI. A modest 115 bhp but surprisingly nippy, nice gear change, very good ride and suspension just right. Very good overall package and mighty impressed.

Must admit I have heard good things about the cmax

[RedBull]

playalistic said:

Problem is that as Pistonheaders we probably account for a percent of a percent of the actual buying public for most cars. With most buyers requirements not extending much further than the car is silver, has four wheels and a good stereo.

I think that hits the nail on the head. I know several non-petrolheads and quite frankly they wouldn't have a clue whether a car drives well or not. As long as it goes (however slowly), turns and stops, then it's fine.

I drive a Corsa 1.3 turbo diesel van for work which is essentially the same as the car but without seats. I find it fine for what I want it for, quite nippy and economical. But due to a recall I found myself in a brand new Peugeot (can't remember which one, 206 maybe) with a 1.4 petrol engine. Much better equipped and I thought it would be a nice change from the van. How wrong I was: it was much slower and much thirstier and I was gagging to get my van back within a week. But Peugeot sold loads of these horrid things and that's when I realised most people are totally clueless about cars.

[nickcowen]

I agree a lot of new cars are crap. I think a lot it is to do with all the safety things that cars have now so the engine size is far to small for the weight of the car.

[Pig Skill]

But surely it makes our cars more exciting?

I mean thanks to new cars that are getting bigger, heavier and more detached, cars like the e39 M5, e46M3, e30 M3 will never be forgotten. They will be revered, cherished and enjoyed.

[feanor75]

But the e39 5 series was a great car anyway

Just saying rather than taking something good and making it better they now seem to take rubbish and strap horsepower to it, why not try and make a decent base model that drives and handles well and start from there, surely the M or S Audi etc would be even better

I fear M and other prefixes used to be about being the best, now its just seems its about being better than mediocraty