The "Micra Effect" ?
Discussion
Hello all,
An interesting thing happened recently. Now, we all know the general reputation of the Micra driver. Hardly boy racers.
Some scrote was kind enough to do a hit-and-run on my mother's car recently and while it was in the shop they gave her a Micra.
Although not a fast driver by any means, even she said that she "couldn't believe how slow it was, but you didn't realise how slow you were going" - to the extent that on several occasions people thought she had gotten lost on the way home, it took that long!
I had a similar experience recently in a Land Rover Defender - I thought I was going through corners at a decent lick, only to find out I wasn't even doing 2/3rds the speed limit there.
Anyone else had any cars that just went slow, no matter how fast they thought they were going?
An interesting thing happened recently. Now, we all know the general reputation of the Micra driver. Hardly boy racers.
Some scrote was kind enough to do a hit-and-run on my mother's car recently and while it was in the shop they gave her a Micra.
Although not a fast driver by any means, even she said that she "couldn't believe how slow it was, but you didn't realise how slow you were going" - to the extent that on several occasions people thought she had gotten lost on the way home, it took that long!
I had a similar experience recently in a Land Rover Defender - I thought I was going through corners at a decent lick, only to find out I wasn't even doing 2/3rds the speed limit there.
Anyone else had any cars that just went slow, no matter how fast they thought they were going?
Seen the opposite, an eldery customer had an accident in her MG Metro years ago, was written off but as it had sentimental value (late husbands car) she bought the salvage and paid quite a bit to have a local body shop repair it.
The body shop loaned her a newish Micra, as soom as the Metro was finished, she p/x'd it for a brand new Micra. Hate to think of the figures involved.
The body shop loaned her a newish Micra, as soom as the Metro was finished, she p/x'd it for a brand new Micra. Hate to think of the figures involved.
I've owned two Micras - a 1.0 and a 1.3 Cabriolet - and whilst they weren't earth-shatteringly quick, they weren't bad. I even got surprised by one when it pulled out ahead of me whilst I was travelling at circa 60 on a nice straight bit of road.
I thought to myself that I would overtake as I figured it was going to be driven really slowly by some old biddy, but as I committed to the overtake (road nice and empty), I had to get to c. 80 to get past! Little bugger had accelerated a lot quicker than I had figured! Then I remembered they could carry a surprising turn of speed when you wanted them to!
In terms of cars going slower than you think they are, my 1.6 MX5 is a candidate for that! I can rev it to 6k rpm, it makes lots of thrashy noise, I change gear a couple of times, then I look at the speedo and I'm only just past 50! :-S I need a faster car...
I thought to myself that I would overtake as I figured it was going to be driven really slowly by some old biddy, but as I committed to the overtake (road nice and empty), I had to get to c. 80 to get past! Little bugger had accelerated a lot quicker than I had figured! Then I remembered they could carry a surprising turn of speed when you wanted them to!
In terms of cars going slower than you think they are, my 1.6 MX5 is a candidate for that! I can rev it to 6k rpm, it makes lots of thrashy noise, I change gear a couple of times, then I look at the speedo and I'm only just past 50! :-S I need a faster car...
Mr_Yogi said:
We had a Mk1 1.6 Focus last year and even with 4 new contenentals, I had no confidence cornering it. I couldn't believe how unsafe all the other road users were being, driving around corners much faster than I was. That was until we changed our car.
I thought the Mk1 Focus was a handling milestone ?
t on the internet slagging them off.J4CKO said:
Mr_Yogi said:
We had a Mk1 1.6 Focus last year and even with 4 new contenentals, I had no confidence cornering it. I couldn't believe how unsafe all the other road users were being, driving around corners much faster than I was. That was until we changed our car.
I thought the Mk1 Focus was a handling milestone ?What does she drive normally? It takes me a while to adjust to a different car.
I think the more engine/wind noise and the more body roll the slower you drive but the faster the car feels because you're brain links more body roll and more noise to more speed. Also I think body roll makes g-forces feel higher than they really are.
Also a low driving position makes things appear to move towards you faster than a high driving position I think because your eyes focus closer to you rather than further away as you can't see so far.
I think the more engine/wind noise and the more body roll the slower you drive but the faster the car feels because you're brain links more body roll and more noise to more speed. Also I think body roll makes g-forces feel higher than they really are.
Also a low driving position makes things appear to move towards you faster than a high driving position I think because your eyes focus closer to you rather than further away as you can't see so far.
Mr_Yogi said:
We had a Mk1 1.6 Focus last year and even with 4 new contenentals, I had no confidence cornering it. I couldn't believe how unsafe all the other road users were being, driving around corners much faster than I was. That was until we changed our car.
Yours was either accident damaged/fecked or you're doing summat wrong. HTH 
Gypsum Fantastic said:
Bizarrely, I found the couple Mercedes vans I have driven have had the opposite effect. Doing 70 feels like you're crawling along at 30.
This explains a lot 
I personally love the feeling you get when getting out of a van and back into a regular car. Even something fairly ordinary feel super-low and super-fast.
Mr_Yogi said:
We had a Mk1 1.6 Focus last year and even with 4 new contenentals, I had no confidence cornering it. I couldn't believe how unsafe all the other road users were being, driving around corners much faster than I was. That was until we changed our car.
Serious post or trolling? Mk1 Focus, even today, handles superb. My mrs has one and every time I have to use it, I grin when I get home, fantastic little cars to chuck about.jayemm89 said:
Although not a fast driver by any means, even she said that she "couldn't believe how slow it was, but you didn't realise how slow you were going" - to the extent that on several occasions people thought she had gotten lost on the way home, it took that long!
I had a similar experience recently in a Land Rover Defender - I thought I was going through corners at a decent lick, only to find out I wasn't even doing 2/3rds the speed limit there.
I'm thinking the body roll would discourage spirited driving until you got used to it. I tried a brand new (at the time) 2005 Micra. It felt like I was driving a spacehopper. (But at the time, I was using a Skyline as my everyday runaround.)I had a similar experience recently in a Land Rover Defender - I thought I was going through corners at a decent lick, only to find out I wasn't even doing 2/3rds the speed limit there.
zedx19 said:
Mr_Yogi said:
We had a Mk1 1.6 Focus last year and even with 4 new contenentals, I had no confidence cornering it. I couldn't believe how unsafe all the other road users were being, driving around corners much faster than I was. That was until we changed our car.
Serious post or trolling? Mk1 Focus, even today, handles superb. My mrs has one and every time I have to use it, I grin when I get home, fantastic little cars to chuck about.My sister had a mk2 Micra a few years ago. It was surprisingly good fun to drive.
Then a few years back my car was rear ended a few weeks before Christmas. So it was in the bodyshop for a month due to the holidays. My courtesy car was the newer Micra (the one that looks like a frog from the front). That was slow. It also hated taking sweeping motorway bends at 70. Almost felt like it was going to drift into the central barrier. It was uncomfortable, tinny, had horrible white heater controls on a black dash. It looked like the kind of controls you got on a 1970s gas cooker. And I was stuck with this thing for a month.
Compared with the Fiesta or Clio the Micra just felt out of date. Even a J reg Polo i used to drive felt better. Was glad to see the back of it.
Then a few years back my car was rear ended a few weeks before Christmas. So it was in the bodyshop for a month due to the holidays. My courtesy car was the newer Micra (the one that looks like a frog from the front). That was slow. It also hated taking sweeping motorway bends at 70. Almost felt like it was going to drift into the central barrier. It was uncomfortable, tinny, had horrible white heater controls on a black dash. It looked like the kind of controls you got on a 1970s gas cooker. And I was stuck with this thing for a month.
Compared with the Fiesta or Clio the Micra just felt out of date. Even a J reg Polo i used to drive felt better. Was glad to see the back of it.
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