Worried About Winter
Discussion
I love my Tuscan.
When I bought the car, my only nagging doubt was what would it be like in the winter? Poor visibility, a back window that's gonna get all steamed up, and moreover all that power with so little weight and no safety aids at all... combine it with a wet road and it sounds a tad stressful to me. Oh yeah, and the roof leaking!
But still - I figured the summers, springs and autumns would be great, so no big deal. I don't need the car for work and my husband's got a new Cooper S if we need grippy safe driving in the wet.
However, following a long drive last weekend (in perfect dry sunny conditions) which covered straight flat fast motorway stretches and also many twisty country back roads, I have some serious concerns about driving this car in any kind of 'spiritied' manner - which is something I had very much hoped to do when I bought it.
On my drive I was taking some lovely twisty back roads, but I found myself cornering MUCH slower that I ever used to in my V8 MGB (which also had no driver aids, and also significant power through the rear wheels, so it's not like I'm some pampered modern driver reliant on ABS etc.). The Tuscan's chassis is so light, it seemed to get unstable over the slightest bump in the road or change in camber. I had a more enjoyble drive on the twisty bits in my old MG - a car hardly renowned for great handling! On roads like that handling and stability are king, not pure grunt, and I really feel that's the Tuscan's major let down.
However, probably more of a concern is that I even found the back end twitching on the motorway - at one point I hit a crack in surface and rather than eat it up or even just travel over it in abone-shaking fashion uncomfortable for the driver (as I had expected), the Tuscan got very unstable, it felt like a wheel or two left the road. Not fun at 'motorway speeds'!
I love this car, but I really don't want to kill myself in it. Do I need driver training (for going in a straight line on the motorway??), do I need suspension upgrades, better tyres, a sack of sand in the boot or what? Or do I need to get a Suburu Impreza?!
When I bought the car, my only nagging doubt was what would it be like in the winter? Poor visibility, a back window that's gonna get all steamed up, and moreover all that power with so little weight and no safety aids at all... combine it with a wet road and it sounds a tad stressful to me. Oh yeah, and the roof leaking!
But still - I figured the summers, springs and autumns would be great, so no big deal. I don't need the car for work and my husband's got a new Cooper S if we need grippy safe driving in the wet.
However, following a long drive last weekend (in perfect dry sunny conditions) which covered straight flat fast motorway stretches and also many twisty country back roads, I have some serious concerns about driving this car in any kind of 'spiritied' manner - which is something I had very much hoped to do when I bought it.
On my drive I was taking some lovely twisty back roads, but I found myself cornering MUCH slower that I ever used to in my V8 MGB (which also had no driver aids, and also significant power through the rear wheels, so it's not like I'm some pampered modern driver reliant on ABS etc.). The Tuscan's chassis is so light, it seemed to get unstable over the slightest bump in the road or change in camber. I had a more enjoyble drive on the twisty bits in my old MG - a car hardly renowned for great handling! On roads like that handling and stability are king, not pure grunt, and I really feel that's the Tuscan's major let down.
However, probably more of a concern is that I even found the back end twitching on the motorway - at one point I hit a crack in surface and rather than eat it up or even just travel over it in abone-shaking fashion uncomfortable for the driver (as I had expected), the Tuscan got very unstable, it felt like a wheel or two left the road. Not fun at 'motorway speeds'!
I love this car, but I really don't want to kill myself in it. Do I need driver training (for going in a straight line on the motorway??), do I need suspension upgrades, better tyres, a sack of sand in the boot or what? Or do I need to get a Suburu Impreza?!
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions guys. I suppose I'll have to look into upgrading the suspension and maybe also getting traction control, but prior to all that some driver training would no doubt help me regain some confidence in the beast. Still a bit upset at the thought that I need to spend another £2k or so on the car just to make it feel like it's not going to blow away!
During today's Tuscan convoy run, I experienced exactly the same problems as I had last weekend. Really severe tramlining under even moderate braking and a really skittish feel at any speed above 50. I was able to get much faster on a very straight stretch of the M3, but that amazing rollercoaster stretch of the A3 towards Farnham was tainted by the inability to keep up with everyone else! Any time I put my foot down the car would start fighting with me over which direction we were heading, to the point where I was struggling to not drift lanes. I must've looked like a drunk driver! 
PS: ladytopaz, I don't find the Tuscan steering heavy at all - I drove classics before this so it seems effortless in comparison.
>> Edited by girlracer on Monday 14th April 01:26
During today's Tuscan convoy run, I experienced exactly the same problems as I had last weekend. Really severe tramlining under even moderate braking and a really skittish feel at any speed above 50. I was able to get much faster on a very straight stretch of the M3, but that amazing rollercoaster stretch of the A3 towards Farnham was tainted by the inability to keep up with everyone else!
Any time I put my foot down the car would start fighting with me over which direction we were heading, to the point where I was struggling to not drift lanes. I must've looked like a drunk driver! PS: ladytopaz, I don't find the Tuscan steering heavy at all - I drove classics before this so it seems effortless in comparison.
>> Edited by girlracer on Monday 14th April 01:26
Hi Scott - it's a massive relief to hear that it's not just me! Please do let me know when you get the car back and what you think to the upgrades. If it makes a big difference it would be worth the money... although sometimes I think I would be better off with a car renowned for amazing handling, like an Elise or something. I have more fun throwing cars through bends than I do avoiding speed cameras.
Visited Racing Green yesterday, and have booked the car in to be set up on the alignment machine on 6th May. Their verdict was that the wheels were severely out, probably all pointing in different directions. The problems at speed come from the rear wheels being straight and then turning in once the power is put down, whereas they should be set up to point slightly out so that when power is down they toe in straight. Also noticed some uneven tyre wear.
I'm running (damaged) S01's right now, so will probably get them to put a new set of S02's on as well.
The 2 chaps who looked at the car actually worked on it previously (at Mole Valley I presume) - one of them actually spec'd the colour scheme and filled out the log book. Small world...
I'm running (damaged) S01's right now, so will probably get them to put a new set of S02's on as well.
The 2 chaps who looked at the car actually worked on it previously (at Mole Valley I presume) - one of them actually spec'd the colour scheme and filled out the log book. Small world...
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