BMW's in floods, WARNING!!!

[Hooli]

mondeoman said:

Hooli said:

kambites said:

wolf1 said:

That's far deeper than I'd try to drive any normal car through! Try to drive through that at more than about 5mph and it'll be up over the bonnet which will flood just about anything. Even had the engine not flooded I suspect the water is over the sills so the foot wells will be full of water which is generally enough to write cars off.

The absolute limit I'd try to take a conventional car through would be about half that depth.

I'm damn surprised it couldn't make that.

I once took an Orion through a flood that came up to the wipers, water was about halfway up the headlights, the rest was bow wave as I was going up stream. Came out of it fine with just a damp boot.

Given the design constraints around the grill and headlights, the size of the cooling packs (radiator, a/c condensor, intercooler, oil cooler, trans cooler if auto, PAS cooler, crash (crumple zone) requirements (crash isn't just about energy , you cant have critical components get needlessly damaged either, or your crash (insurance) rating goes down), service access (!) and the requirement to feed the engine with cool air, where else are you going to be able to put the air intake except down low in the bumper? Because if you have a solution to that little packaging problem, there will be plenty of car companies wanting to hear from you.

Given all of that - dont drive modern cars through more than about 5-6" of water.

Put the air intake in the wing, protected by the arch liner as cars did for years. Doesn't give such cold air/perfect flow for emissions though.

[Osinjak]

Quhet said:

PDP76 said:

Why didn't you just drive over the bridge?

One Life innit.

[mondeoman]

Hooli said:

mondeoman said:

Hooli said:

kambites said:

wolf1 said:

Image

That's far deeper than I'd try to drive any normal car through! Try to drive through that at more than about 5mph and it'll be up over the bonnet which will flood just about anything. Even had the engine not flooded I suspect the water is over the sills so the foot wells will be full of water which is generally enough to write cars off.

The absolute limit I'd try to take a conventional car through would be about half that depth.

I'm damn surprised it couldn't make that.

I once took an Orion through a flood that came up to the wipers, water was about halfway up the headlights, the rest was bow wave as I was going up stream. Came out of it fine with just a damp boot.

Given the design constraints around the grill and headlights, the size of the cooling packs (radiator, a/c condensor, intercooler, oil cooler, trans cooler if auto, PAS cooler, crash (crumple zone) requirements (crash isn't just about energy , you cant have critical components get needlessly damaged either, or your crash (insurance) rating goes down), service access (!) and the requirement to feed the engine with cool air, where else are you going to be able to put the air intake except down low in the bumper? Because if you have a solution to that little packaging problem, there will be plenty of car companies wanting to hear from you.

Given all of that - dont drive modern cars through more than about 5-6" of water.

Put the air intake in the wing, protected by the arch liner as cars did for years. Doesn't give such cold air/perfect flow for emissions though.

So you just failed because you cant sell your cars in Europe, China, USA... plus you've got to find homes for air filters, pas pumps, trunking, servo's, suspension turrets, possibly remote oil filters and todays 20"+ wheels don't leave a lot of inner wing to play with.

[Hooli]

Hence I don't like modern cars. The rules shouldn't stop them being designed to be used, but they do. A wet road is a pretty normal thing & if they can't be designed to cope then they aren't a good car in my eyes.

[kambites]

Hooli said:

Hence I don't like modern cars. The rules shouldn't stop them being designed to be used, but they do. A wet road is a pretty normal thing & if they can't be designed to cope then they aren't a good car in my eyes.

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

[popeyewhite]

kambites said:

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

Lots of deep water in Derbys/Cheshire. People have to drive through to get to the shops/home, so they're not going to stay put. If cars aren't designed for this then they're designed wrong.

[Osinjak]

popeyewhite said:

kambites said:

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

Lots of deep water in Derbys/Cheshire. People have to drive through to get to the shops/home, so they're not going to stay put. If cars aren't designed for this then they're designed wrong.

I rather suspect it's the driver's fault for buying the wrong car as opposed to the car being 'designed wrong.' After all, a Ferrari isn't designed to ford deep water but it's hardly 'wrong' is it?

[Cliftonite]

Do Audis (A6 at least) not have air intakes high up, just beneath the bonnet edge, at the right hand side of the engine compartment?

[kambites]

Cliftonite said:

Do Audis (A6 at least) not have air intakes high up, just beneath the bonnet edge, at the right hand side of the engine compartment?

Probably, a lot of VAG cars have it there, but you can still flood it in 8 inches of water if you try to drive too fast or someone coming the other way is going too fast.

[kambites]

Osinjak said:

I rather suspect it's the driver's fault for buying the wrong car as opposed to the car being 'designed wrong.' After all, a Ferrari isn't designed to ford deep water but it's hardly 'wrong' is it?

Ironically Ferraris, at least the mid-engined ones, are probably pretty good because the intake wont be on the front.

[popeyewhite]

Osinjak said:

popeyewhite said:

kambites said:

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

Lots of deep water in Derbys/Cheshire. People have to drive through to get to the shops/home, so they're not going to stay put. If cars aren't designed for this then they're designed wrong.

I rather suspect it's the driver's fault for buying the wrong car as opposed to the car being 'designed wrong.' After all, a Ferrari isn't designed to ford deep water but it's hardly 'wrong' is it?

Don't be stupid, I wasn't talking about a fking Ferrari FFS.

[kambites]

popeyewhite said:

Don't be stupid, I wasn't talking about a fking Ferrari FFS, and nor was anyone else.

But why would you expect an ordinary saloon car to be capable of fording? They're just aren't designed to do it; if they've ever been able to it's been coincidence not design.

For people who need it, there's plenty of vehicles out there which are designed for fording - it's not just a question of a high air-intake, there's all sorts of design elements that need to be different.

Edited by kambites on Saturday 26th December 18:21

[RowntreesCabana]

kambites said:

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

As you can see from this thread, this is happening in far less than 12 inches of water, as is the case with my friend. Its alright people being sarcastic and acting as if they know better, but there's clearly an issue here. I'll take my mate as an example, he was driving in a flooded bit of road, about halfway up his wheels, slowing down as he approached to what believed was a crawl before it cause £13k of damage. He's driven roads like this in his 20+ years of driving with no issues at all.

This is a design change for whatever reason, but its not good. You really should be able to drive a car slowly through a foot of water anyway without any fear of damage.

[kambites]

With a typical modern car "half way up his wheels" will be 8-10 inches of water.

[Hooli]

kambites said:

Hooli said:

Hence I don't like modern cars. The rules shouldn't stop them being designed to be used, but they do. A wet road is a pretty normal thing & if they can't be designed to cope then they aren't a good car in my eyes.

A road with a foot of water on it certainly isn't "normal" where I drive.

It was normal enough for cars to manage it 20-30years ago without issue. So new cars should still be able too, they run on the same roads in the same weather after all.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Here's One today from up my way. (Walkworth-Alnwick)

[kambites]

Hooli said:

It was normal enough for cars to manage it 20-30years ago without issue. So new cars should still be able too, they run on the same roads in the same weather after all.

My MGB wouldn't be able to cope with 8 inches of water if anyone came the other way. The air intake is about half way up the radiator.

[Hooli]

Looks about 4" deep, no way a normal car should die in that.

[kambites]

Hooli said:

Looks about 4" deep, no way a normal car should die in that.

The Fiesta? I suspect it's a lot deeper where the front of the car is than where the back is and we don't know what speed they entered the water at.

[cptsideways]

Even some of the New 4x4 pickups will struggle in a foot of water with a bit of a bow wave or wave from another vehicle. If you don't know where your intake is go & have a look! I think many will be surprised.

Best design is in the wing aperture imho as per many cars of the 90's.