My new M400

[rob234]

Finally took delivery of my new M400 last Friday and promptly spent the weekend running it in (Mrs wasn't to happy but you’ve got to get your priorities right!) its back into Mole valley for first service this Thursday so looking forward to being able to use a few more revs!

first impressions:-
build quality is very good, no squeaks, no rattles etc
I'm amazed how driveable the car is, particularly on the motorway @ 80 mph
the car doesn't ride bumps in the roads very well, anyone changed any suspension settings to try and help it cope with them?
The steering wheel doesn't have enough grip for me, anyone changed them? - if so what happens to the horn buttons?
The wing mirrors are massive and they create an enormous blind spot at roundabouts!
Thank god for a sports car with air con that works!!!

you can take a look at her at the factory prior to delivery at:-

www.technique-ltd.co.uk/noble/

A quote from a bloke in a petrol station "mate, thats the most beautiful car i've ever seen!"

so i replied "wait till you hear it!"

[DanH]

rob234 said:

Finally took delivery of my new M400 last Friday and promptly spent the weekend running it in (Mrs wasn't to happy but you’ve got to get your priorities right!) its back into Mole valley for first service this Thursday so looking forward to being able to use a few more revs! first impressions:- build quality is very good, no squeaks, no rattles etc I'm amazed how driveable the car is, particularly on the motorway @ 80 mph the car doesn't ride bumps in the roads very well, anyone changed any suspension settings to try and help it cope with them? The steering wheel doesn't have enough grip for me, anyone changed them? - if so what happens to the horn buttons? The wing mirrors are massive and they create an enormous blind spot at roundabouts! Thank god for a sports car with air con that works!!! you can take a look at her at the factory prior to delivery at:- <a href="http://www.technique-ltd.co.uk/noble/">www.technique-ltd.co.uk/noble/</a> A quote from a bloke in a petrol station "mate, thats the most beautiful car i've ever seen!" so i replied "wait till you hear it!"

What do you mean by 'doesn't ride bumps very well'? You get a lot of bumpsteer? or tramlining on a cambered road? etc? The geo is not adjustable, so most likely you'll have to get used to it What were you driving last to compare it to, the Exige? If so I find the extra weight of the noble means it feels different to how my Elise did when the suspension gets unloaded by a bump, but it doesn't actually seem to be out of control etc. Of course you have the m400 so maybe not a valid comparison.

The wheel you can change no problem. Just pic a momo you like and it will fit straight on.

I agree about the wing mirrors, not my favourite part either, but the only one I've seen them changed on is Lee's race car. He's got tiny ones on now that don't look cabin adjustable - presumably for aero reasons.


>> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 15th March 18:45

[matt_fp]

The wing mirrors create a massive amount of drag and as stated really block your view. Any one fancy some Benetton B191 specification Carbon Fibre items?

Rob, Any Momo wheel (or any wheel with a Momo PCD) will bolt on, just make sure its got the horn button/s - have a look at www.momo.it for for ideas.

Best Regards
Matt

[joust]

rob234 said:

I'm amazed how driveable the car is, particularly on the motorway @ 80 mph

Rob - welcome to M400 ownership It's an amazing motorway muncher - I'm almost tempted to take it out more than the X5 for motorway trips and that's saying something.

rob234 said:

the car doesn't ride bumps in the roads very well, anyone changed any suspension settings to try and help it cope with them?

You'll get used to it. Seriously, given the tyre profiles, I'm amazed it doesn't "tramline" more, which if you aren't used to it (the Exige hardly suffers with it) it can seem very weird to start with.

Jumping back into my Elise I find I can't believe how little the car moves over bumpy stuff, but then I also find myself 'bottling' out much quicker in the elise over truely bad roads than I do in the Noble. The Noble is telling you exactly what's going on underneath you, which once your brain gets used to it, you'll appreciate.

Also, once you get it on a seriously B road at full chat you'll thank your personal gods that the steering tells you what it does - ask any TVR or Porsche owner that's ever tried to follow me down a B road what 'scared' feels like, and you'll find that you were at 'countryside amble, oh this is nice' in the Noble....

rob234 said:

The steering wheel doesn't have enough grip for me, anyone changed them? - if so what happens to the horn buttons?

A few people have changed them for other MOMO wheels - horn buttons are just wired into the normal horn connection in the centre boss so chaning is easy.

rob234 said:

The wing mirrors are massive and they create an enormous blind spot at roundabouts!

What you looking behind for (or are you insinuating that you are going sideways around the roundabouts and hence need to look out the side

rob234 said:

so i replied "wait till you hear it!"

Wait until you press that loud pedal down fully in second gear - then you'll know what fast is

Have (safe) fun!

J

[hunttheshunt]

Nice colour!!

I particularly like the one over on the left in the last two. Thats a very nice looking car. Obviously an owner with immense taste and style.

[joust]

hunttheshunt said:

Nice colour!! I particularly like the one over on the left in the last two. Thats a very nice looking car. Obviously an owner with immense taste and style.

What you talking about - Bob Sharpe?????

The only decent colours I can see are the two at the back, one in front of Bob, the other at the nearest end of the line of 5 of them......

J

[No Lotus]

Thanks for the photos. They make my wait for an M400 slightly more bearable. I hope the factory replaced the M12 badge on your car with the correct one, though.

[JAZ 34]

Nice one. I hope to follow your thread next week sometime on my new arrival........

[lucozade]

The side profile and rear of your car show a 3R badge -are you sure this is your car

>> Edited by lucozade on Wednesday 16th March 09:28

[rob234]

[/quote]
What do you mean by 'doesn't ride bumps very well'? You get a lot of bumpsteer? or tramlining on a cambered road? etc? The geo is not adjustable, so most likely you'll have to get used to it What were you driving last to compare it to, the Exige? If so I find the extra weight of the noble means it feels different to how my Elise did when the suspension gets unloaded by a bump, but it doesn't actually seem to be out of control etc. Of course you have the m400 so maybe not a valid comparison.

The wheel you can change no problem. Just pic a momo you like and it will fit straight on.

I agree about the wing mirrors, not my favourite part either, but the only one I've seen them changed on is Lee's race car. He's got tiny ones on now that don't look cabin adjustable - presumably for aero reasons.


>> Edited by DanH on Tuesday 15th March 18:45[/quote]


Yeah i can from an Exige and the Noble just seems to be more unsettled by bumps on B roads, but i'm pleased to hear that some of you are attacking them! I'm sure its just me needing to adjust to the car after spending three years in the Lotus. Joust thats interesting what you say about your Elise, i found my Exige so good on B roads that i used to have a go at my mates in rally cars (only in the dry mind)!

good news on the wheel, i'll rack up the Momo site today, thanks.

Fair point about the wing mirrors, i'll pull them off the car and stop wasting my time looking behind me!

No Lotus, the M12 badges were changed by the factory prior to delivery, to be honest they just put the bodywork on so i could take some photos of her.

on that note, thanks to you all at the factory you made us very wlecome and i certainly learnt a few things.


couple more questions:-

Is the windscreen washer leaking up the windscreen when you go round roundabouts a "design feature?"

Also anyone fitted better a better horn to their Noble?

[joust]

rob234 said:

Is the windscreen washer leaking up the windscreen when you go round roundabouts a "design feature?"

Yep - it's your own personal "g" meter. When it starts coming out you are 'doing well'.

If it annoys you, just get a "non-return valve" from Halfords and put it in the single tube that comes out of the bottom of the washer bottle. The slight resistance of the valve is enough to stop it leaking out.

rob234 said:

Also anyone fitted better a better horn to their Noble?

On line guide here
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=26&h=&t=108372

J

[chillidog]

rob234:
Windscreen washer fluid at high g ... apparently they all do it and yes you are driving it correctly

Bumps: I've only come across a couple of B roads in the M400 where fleetingly I'd wished for a softer suspension. Even then I found it didn't tramline, which I think is amazing.

Horn: search this forum for the "Nautilus" horn - it's an easy replacement.

Oh and welcome to the "Nobility".

[AMG Merc]

Rob, welcome - your ceremonial Sword of Nobility is in the post - please remember to wear it at all Noble gatherings! :-)

Mirrors - agreed, there's a blind spot behind the driver's one most noticable on rounabouts when looking right - I've gotten used to it now.

Leaky wahser pipes- as others have said, completely normal, the non-return valve helps a bit and, as Joust said, it is an excellent g-meter! A pain in the A when you've just washed the car though!

See here fore steering wheeel option (this is a Momo Milleneum)...

http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624340.html

http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624341.html

http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624339.html

and air-horn (Steibel Nautilus twin-tone) suggestions...

http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p11006954.html

Tons of M12 photos for reference here:

http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/

[lucozade]

Nautilus horn can be purchased here, they are the only ones which seem to supply it in the different colours:

www.speeding.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000123.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2espeeding%2eco%2euk%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=horn&PREVQUERY=PAGE%3dSEARCH%26SS%3dhorn%26TB%3dA&PN=H%2ehtml%23a3068#a3068

[rob234]

AMG Merc said:

Rob, welcome - your ceremonial Sword of Nobility is in the post - please remember to wear it at all Noble gatherings! :-) Mirrors - agreed, there's a blind spot behind the driver's one most noticable on rounabouts when looking right - I've gotten used to it now. Leaky wahser pipes- as others have said, completely normal, the non-return valve helps a bit and, as Joust said, it is an excellent g-meter! A pain in the A when you've just washed the car though! See here fore steering wheeel option (this is a Momo Milleneum)... http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624340.html http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624341.html http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p7624339.html and air-horn (Steibel Nautilus twin-tone) suggestions... http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/p11006954.html Tons of M12 photos for reference here: http://gallery10890.fotopic.net/

Thanks everyone, i shall continue re training my right foot to cope with the new throttle response and whilst i can't make the track day on the 21st i will be at the next one!

I'm also taking my ceremonial Sword of Nobility to Le Mans this year so hopefully get to meet a few of you then?

[obes]

I shall be there with MikeN and CRB1 at Clubmotorsport.
We'll be at the PH meet on Arnage/Indy corners on friday morning. Dan will be about to I think.

WE did the same last year and ended up pratting about all afternoon......see here !

www.obesonline.com/LeMans2004/LeMansStart.mov
(1.2MB .mov)

www.obesonline.com/LeMans2004/Nobles.mov
(3.5MB .mov)


Owen.

[DanH]

Unfortunately I won't be arriving until Friday pm. Short on annual leave this year =/

[silversix]

We'll be there too (Le Mans that is). This was one of teh main reasons to buy teh M400. Going down Tuesday, and having 2 weeks there/Italy/Spain and possibly a trip to the Ring on the way back.