Best and worst cars for cross winds
Best and worst cars for cross winds
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Discussion

Pica-Pica

Original Poster:

16,720 posts

115 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Something you never get to check out on a test drive. So - experiences please.
Mine are.
Skoda Fabia Mk2. Pretty poor on cross winds, scares my wife a bit.
E36 2.5 pretty stable could feel very strong winds on rare occasions
F30 335d x-Drive. Absolutely rock-solid, pretty impressive in strong crosswinds.
Obviously the higher the speed capability, the more these cars are subjected to scrutinous testing.

Dracoro

9,038 posts

276 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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2CV in cross winds is, erm, “interesting” biggrin

Mort7

1,489 posts

139 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Similarly a Caterham with the side panels on, which provides a lot of windage on a car which weighs half a ton.

Mr-B

5,140 posts

225 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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This is the worst by far, avoid.


anonymous-user

85 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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WORST: BMW i3!

Tall & narrow on tall narrow tyres, with flightly slightly too fast steering rate....

SOL111

627 posts

163 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Max_Torque said:
WORST: BMW i3!

Tall & narrow on tall narrow tyres, with flightly slightly too fast steering rate....
hehe beat me to it.

The 's' solves it massively.

southerndriver

285 posts

105 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Ford Sierra, especially before they tweaked the aerodynamics with the facelift. Well known at the time for being unstable.

eldar

25,350 posts

227 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Dracoro said:
2CV in cross winds is, erm, “interesting” biggrin
The original and early Sierras were diabolical. Modified shortly after introduction to be a little less random... Neil Kinnoch crfeased one of the first ones...

"Early versions suffered from crosswind stability problems, which were addressed in 1985 with the addition of "strakes" (small spoilers), on the rear edge of the rubber seals of the rear-most side windows"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sierra

ZOLLAR

19,920 posts

204 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Few years ago I was driving to Scotland in a Discovery 2 I owned at the time.
Experienced some crosswinds and it became quite wobbly (as expected I suppose!)

lufbramatt

5,695 posts

165 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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e39 5 series saloon with sport suspension- I know if I'm feeling that being blown around then it must be properly windy outside.

Had a newish citroen berlingo hire van last week- to transport some light but bulky stuff to a trade show- could really feel that moving around, and it wasn't even a particularly windy day. I've driven transits and sprinters and not noticed anything like that before.

aeropilot

40,895 posts

258 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
quotequote all
Most stable by a long way were all the various Saab's I owned between the mid 90's and 2010, all immensely stable in severe cross-winds.

Can't really think what was the worst.......maybe the Vauxhall Frontera hire car that I once had, which was borderline scary, or my old Morris Marina TC Coupe!!




dapper

226 posts

106 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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2010 Swift Sport,

Can definitely feel it. Have had to correct the steering against the wind quite a few times.

Baldchap

9,637 posts

123 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Smart cars used to be fairly atrocious, I assume the new ones still are.

Pica-Pica

Original Poster:

16,720 posts

115 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
quotequote all
aeropilot said:
Most stable by a long way were all the various Saab's I owned between the mid 90's and 2010, all immensely stable in severe cross-winds.

Can't really think what was the worst.......maybe the Vauxhall Frontera hire car that I once had, which was borderline scary, or my old Morris Marina TC Coupe!!
For an aeroplane company, you would expect SAABs to cope with wind!

austinsmirk

5,597 posts

154 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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A 1970 VW bay window camper, on crossplys with a high top roof. Like sailing a yacht.

rossub

6,064 posts

221 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Remember those Bedford Rascals?

I was always tempted to push one over back in the day.

aeropilot

40,895 posts

258 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Pica-Pica said:
aeropilot said:
Most stable by a long way were all the various Saab's I owned between the mid 90's and 2010, all immensely stable in severe cross-winds.

Can't really think what was the worst.......maybe the Vauxhall Frontera hire car that I once had, which was borderline scary, or my old Morris Marina TC Coupe!!
For an aeroplane company, you would expect SAABs to cope with wind!
Exactly, I think that's exactly why they were good in cross winds, as they actually considered aerodynamic effects from directions other than just required for going forward.


RDMcG

20,916 posts

238 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Baldchap said:
Smart cars used to be fairly atrocious, I assume the new ones still are.
I still have a 2005 Smart For Two. Blown all over the place on a highway and also runs at calendar speeds when it has to take a steep ramp. Great for parking though.

Yeti97

400 posts

123 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Are you trying to say you don't enjoy the sudden excitement of crosswinds? Like passing a lorry on the motorway and discovering it's rather windy on the other side wobble

Prinny

1,669 posts

130 months

Thursday 25th July 2019
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Lwb 2004 7-series. What’s a crosswind? It doesn’t even twitch going over the M62 j20-22 where you cross the reservoir, even when it’s blowing a gale & closed to high-sided vehicles. Its sibling 6-series is pretty good too.

Worst of all cars I’ve owned was the Supra (mk3 with the pop-up lights). That liked to wander.