Best performance car for broken up roads?

[Max59]

After years of driving various M-cars and Porsches, most roads are now getting so bad I can't stand the bump, crash and thump any more.

Any recommendations for a car that handles well but can also cope with today's ravaged tarmac? I know we've had a bad winter but I reckon there is no money to repair the roads for many years to come, if ever!

[Koll]

Road going Rally car? get the height / performace?

WRX or EVO type thing? or that not the "image" your going for lol?

[HAB]

[john banks]

WRX is one of the best IMHO.

[rallycross]

What you need is winter tyres! (or smaller wheels and higher profile tyres)

No really, I always put higher profile winters on, eg have gone from 50 series to 65 series and they soak up the bumps so much better than my summer tyres.

Anything with stiff suspension and low profiles will suffer on our current roads, the evo's and subaru's I've had with 17 or 18" wheels do not like bumps, same with M3/M5 - all due to having such low profile rubber and stiff suspension.

What about a Range Rover?

[rudecherub]

Best out of the box is probably going to be as up thread rally cars for the road derivatives.

That said I would imagine perhaps tweaked suspension, and certainly standard profile tires would go a long way to fixing the usual suspects among performance models.

[aka_kerrly]

my daily ;-)

[Max59]

Porsche 959 Dakar would be nice, but somewhat impractical.

And you're right, I have had Subarus in the past, no good for the image.

Range Rover? Considered, but a big heavy thing round the corners.

Any Mercs with compliant ride but good handling? I guess things like the C63 AMG will be as bad as any M3/M5?

[MattOz]

The XF-R has a fantasrtic ride quality whilst keeping its composure. Try one if you want M5 performance but with a more compliant ride.

[phib]

I am seriously interested in this one and completely understand you predicament. My main gripe as well as the banging and crashing I just seem to dent wheels on my daily and its costing a fortune !!!

Actually went and drove the new sti wrx 330 prodrive ( it had quite a fair few badges !!!) quite good as I believe you can get one with 16 inch steel wheels and bigger tyres, need to check that sti calipers fit underneath.

Other options were FF RR tdv8 on 19 inch wheels ( not really a sports car)

Range rover sport was more rewarding to drive but pretty rubbish on 20's

Lastly was thinking about a Porsche 964 as I think they are one of the last 911's to have larger tyres.

Phib

[KaraK]

No performance car is going to completely iron out the bumps and remain a performance car but the WRX isn't a bad shout, preferrably on 16s if possible but 17s aren't too bad. Mine is on stock 17s with the Prodrive springs and it seems to cope ok on the roads up here in the lakes.

[E55 Max]

Max59 said:

Porsche 959 Dakar would be nice, but somewhat impractical.

And you're right, I have had Subarus in the past, no good for the image.

Range Rover? Considered, but a big heavy thing round the corners.

Any Mercs with compliant ride but good handling? I guess things like the C63 AMG will be as bad as any M3/M5?

I have an e55k Merc Estate, it is great on bad roads thanks to the air suspension, comfort mode on then when you find the smooth stuff sport 1 or sport 2.

[KaraK]

Max59 said:

And you're right, I have had Subarus in the past, no good for the image.

Poser :P

How about that S-Class AMG they had on Top Gear?

[Max59]

Jaguar XF-R, never really considered that one. Might get a test drive

[RobCrezz]

Koll said:

Road going Rally car? get the height / performace?

WRX or EVO type thing? or that not the "image" your going for lol?

My evo has pretty hard suspension as standard. Not as bad as some cars, but not soft enough to ignore potholes.

Some sort of Merc or big Citroen with super soft suspension I reckon.

[stabilio]

Max59 said:

Any Mercs with compliant ride but good handling? I guess things like the C63 AMG will be as bad as any M3/M5?

C63 rode better than my 335d M sport and both had 19" wheels.

• If* i get another C63 again i'll be going for 18" wheels as the roads are just too bad now and they'll never be fixed properly

[EDLT]

Jaguar XJ? The none R models have smaller wheels with higher profile tyres.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2472876.htm

None R S-Types are the same:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2331243.htm

[monthefish]

To be completely immune to some of the more serious potholes in the UK topday, you'd need to be looking at a Bowler Wildcat/Nemesis.

Even an Evo/Jag XF-R's suspension will be knocked out of kilter very quickly by the roads as they stand.

[Mutt]

Don't laugh but a Renaultsport Clio in non-Cup spec has surprisingly pliant suspension and clever bump stops. Not the quickest thing in a straight-line and, OK, probably not the image you're after but you might be surprised at how good one is on crap roads.

[k-ink]

Evo. This will be my next weapon of choice.