Worst riding car you've had/been in?
Discussion
Kawasicki said:
TameRacingDriver said:
Somewhat on topic but does anyone have experience with XL tyres (reinforced sidewalls) over regular ones, are they worth it?
XL tyres don't necessarily have reinforced sidewalls... it just means they can safely carry more weight, at higher inflation pressure.I used to engineer XL versions of normal tyres and I often had to take material away from the shoulder area of normal version of the tyre to make them pass XL loaded durability. Thinner material means that the heat can escape easier.
Not sure you lot are doing this right, modern cars don’t really count !
My learning curve was in the 80’s/90’s and cal look vws
So slamming air cooled stuff, by cutting springs, cutting torsion bars, cutting bump stops off
Try a journey in a ‘70 beetle that’s on the deck
Thank goodness no speed bumps really anywhere back then !!!
My learning curve was in the 80’s/90’s and cal look vws
So slamming air cooled stuff, by cutting springs, cutting torsion bars, cutting bump stops off
Try a journey in a ‘70 beetle that’s on the deck
Thank goodness no speed bumps really anywhere back then !!!
TameRacingDriver said:
The Z4 I agree, it was the worst thing about that car, and ironically for all it had a punishing ride, it didn't even handle particularly well either.
Yeah, the Z4 is a funny one, rock hard, but also so bouncy with it. I wanted to love the coupe, but the reality was it needed some serious money spending on suspension to get it right.
I ordered a Z4 M when they launched, BMW lent me their demo for the weekend and.......I cancelled my order. I didn't even keep the demo car for more than a couple of hours.
I always remember going in a 3.0si with non run flats and slightly higher profile tyres and that was so much better. Hence I bought another one last year, got it feeling pretty good, but knew I needed to spend money to get it how I wanted it, and that took it to the price of a Cayman, that just works straight out of the box.
TameRacingDriver said:
Somewhat on topic but does anyone have experience with XL tyres (reinforced sidewalls) over regular ones, are they worth it?
I wouldn't do that, not if you want some comfort and also some bite/grip on our crappy UK roads. XL is normally a compromise because the car weighs a lot.
Kawasicki said:
XL tyres don't necessarily have reinforced sidewalls... it just means they can safely carry more weight, at higher inflation pressure.
I used to engineer XL versions of normal tyres and I often had to take material away from the shoulder area of normal version of the tyre to make them pass XL loaded durability. Thinner material means that the heat can escape easier.
Thanks for posting that - the opposite if what I expected.I used to engineer XL versions of normal tyres and I often had to take material away from the shoulder area of normal version of the tyre to make them pass XL loaded durability. Thinner material means that the heat can escape easier.
So do XL tyres tend to ride better or worse than the non-XL version?
Limpet said:
A colleague's B8 Audi A4 S-Line. Had absolutely no give in it all. Made me wince at times. Also had the loudest tyre roar I've ever heard in a car.
Shortly afterwards, I had the exact same car but in SE trim, and it was transformational. So much nicer to drive and to ride in.
Similar to this, Audi A1 Sport with 17" wheels. Can't remember the profile of the tyre, but was fairly low (but not runflat). Shortly afterwards, I had the exact same car but in SE trim, and it was transformational. So much nicer to drive and to ride in.
Horrible crashy ride and as you say, very wince inducing. One of the reasons we got rid of it.
gizlaroc said:
TameRacingDriver said:
The Z4 I agree, it was the worst thing about that car, and ironically for all it had a punishing ride, it didn't even handle particularly well either.
Yeah, the Z4 is a funny one, rock hard, but also so bouncy with it. I wanted to love the coupe, but the reality was it needed some serious money spending on suspension to get it right.
I ordered a Z4 M when they launched, BMW lent me their demo for the weekend and.......I cancelled my order. I didn't even keep the demo car for more than a couple of hours.
I always remember going in a 3.0si with non run flats and slightly higher profile tyres and that was so much better. Hence I bought another one last year, got it feeling pretty good, but knew I needed to spend money to get it how I wanted it, and that took it to the price of a Cayman, that just works straight out of the box.
it was an amusing car in its own right but yeah the handling and ride left a lot to be desired, and as far as I could tell at the time, the solutions were rather pricey to say the least. And I'm not sure it would have got you where you wanted to be as the coupe was an odd layout where you sat just in front of the back wheels.Mine was the 3.0 so it also lacked an LSD and had ePAS. Lovely looking car but so very flawed. It was also too quiet for me out of the box (like the exhaust was just tuned to be as quiet as possible). As you say it's just too costly to turn into the car it really should have been to begin with and my old E46 328 was a better handling car and cost less than a quarter of the price (granted it was otherwise nowhere near as special)
gizlaroc said:
I wouldn't do that, not if you want some comfort and also some bite/grip on our crappy UK roads.
XL is normally a compromise because the car weighs a lot.
Cheers, I'll steer clear of those then. Pointless to spend money on trying to improve the ride only to thwart my efforts buying unsuitable tyres!XL is normally a compromise because the car weighs a lot.
An S3 from the early 2000s, although I'm not sure how much was the ride and how much was the seats feeling like they were leatehr covered concrete, not foam.
X5 - the fast one - from about 2016.
A Dutton. This one had been built using a Cortina donor car, I belive, and used the donor car suspension. Trouble is, the Dutton probably weighed 1/3 of the donor car and as a result the suspenion didn't move at all. It was hilarious - a small bump mid roundabout at 15 miles an hour could kick the back end out. The owner had various cushions to save his spine but it was still like a kart and terrifying at more than about 40. I absolutley loved it!
X5 - the fast one - from about 2016.
A Dutton. This one had been built using a Cortina donor car, I belive, and used the donor car suspension. Trouble is, the Dutton probably weighed 1/3 of the donor car and as a result the suspenion didn't move at all. It was hilarious - a small bump mid roundabout at 15 miles an hour could kick the back end out. The owner had various cushions to save his spine but it was still like a kart and terrifying at more than about 40. I absolutley loved it!
gizlaroc said:
verssus said:
It is hard to find non XL tyres these days
Yeah, most places tend to stock the XL version as it covers more bases. Really annoying.
DoubleSix said:
London ‘Black Cabs’.
+1, atrocious ride quality in those TX1-4, you get chucked around as it crashes through potholes and over speed bumps. I don't know how the drivers manage a whole shift in one. I haven't been in the new cab though, the one that is built from Geely and Volvo bits. That was designed from the ground up and I wonder if it rides significantly better?
Actually on that note, why do buses always have such dreadful ride quality. I've often thought if they could make buses quiet, comfortable, refined etc, that would be an easy win at trying to convert people over to the dreaded public transport, but that would I guess mean spending more money and less profits so probably not desirable for the bus companies.
TameRacingDriver said:
Actually on that note, why do buses always have such dreadful ride quality. I've often thought if they could make buses quiet, comfortable, refined etc, that would be an easy win at trying to convert people over to the dreaded public transport, but that would I guess mean spending more money and less profits so probably not desirable for the bus companies.
Routemasters apparently had very good ride quality. Some air-suspended buses and coaches ride smoothly. MC Bodge said:
TameRacingDriver said:
Actually on that note, why do buses always have such dreadful ride quality. I've often thought if they could make buses quiet, comfortable, refined etc, that would be an easy win at trying to convert people over to the dreaded public transport, but that would I guess mean spending more money and less profits so probably not desirable for the bus companies.
Routemasters apparently had very good ride quality. Some air-suspended buses and coaches ride smoothly. TameRacingDriver said:
Actually on that note, why do buses always have such dreadful ride quality
The move to cheaper midi-buses (think Dart/Enviro 200 etc) with tiny wheels and scaled down suspension components hasn't helped. The heavy duty ones like the Mercedes Citaro ride a lot better (more coach-like) but they cost a significantly more to buy than the equivalent length midi-bus.TameRacingDriver said:
I've often thought if they could make buses quiet, comfortable, refined...
In this day and age you'd think the bus manufacturers (yes, you ADL and Optare) could make a rattle free bus. It can't be that hard to investigate the fixings/components that are causing noise and engineer a solution. But I suppose passenger experience of NVH is low down on the list of priorities for a bus operator, they just want something cheap to buy and run.Edited by nullogik on Tuesday 4th May 15:33
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff