M400 - first thoughts
Discussion
120+ miles on it today.
Things better than the M12
1) Buzzer for when you leave the lights on and open the door (yeah! No more flat batteries)
2) Brake feel - stunning, absolutly stunning. Not found the performance yet due to needing to bed the brakes in.
3) Noise - I've not got the turbos over 0.2bar or so (the tries of keeping revs low), but the induction noise is something else - it sounds like someone's opened a space ship window (as if I know what that sounds like
)
4) Steering. The M12's was direct until I did some serious miles in this - sorry all you M12 people, but you now all officially drive Audi's
5) Seats - wonderful. No more bad backs (until I get much older now).
6) Engine torque. I'm now wondering what 2nd and 4th are for. Due to having to run it in I found myself just going from 2nd to 4th to 6th as 3rd and 5th were all over in 2 seconds before having to change up at the running in rev limit. Oh boy am I going to enjoy opening this up!
7) Cruising ability. So steady at motorway speeds, and with 6th you find the "natural" cruising at 3200rpm where everything is nice and quiet brings your license into danger. Cruising at 70 @ 3000 is just heaven.
8) Cornering. Roundabouts are even fun and I haven't even tried.
What don't I like? Err. Lack of stereo (soon to be fitted as I speced my own) and, err, hmm, err, oh, err, nope, err, hmm, err, hope.
Oh - the fuel pump is a bit noisy when you switch the car on.
Pics tomorrow.
J
Things better than the M12
1) Buzzer for when you leave the lights on and open the door (yeah! No more flat batteries)
2) Brake feel - stunning, absolutly stunning. Not found the performance yet due to needing to bed the brakes in.
3) Noise - I've not got the turbos over 0.2bar or so (the tries of keeping revs low), but the induction noise is something else - it sounds like someone's opened a space ship window (as if I know what that sounds like
) 4) Steering. The M12's was direct until I did some serious miles in this - sorry all you M12 people, but you now all officially drive Audi's
5) Seats - wonderful. No more bad backs (until I get much older now).
6) Engine torque. I'm now wondering what 2nd and 4th are for. Due to having to run it in I found myself just going from 2nd to 4th to 6th as 3rd and 5th were all over in 2 seconds before having to change up at the running in rev limit. Oh boy am I going to enjoy opening this up!
7) Cruising ability. So steady at motorway speeds, and with 6th you find the "natural" cruising at 3200rpm where everything is nice and quiet brings your license into danger. Cruising at 70 @ 3000 is just heaven.
8) Cornering. Roundabouts are even fun and I haven't even tried.
What don't I like? Err. Lack of stereo (soon to be fitted as I speced my own) and, err, hmm, err, oh, err, nope, err, hmm, err, hope.
Oh - the fuel pump is a bit noisy when you switch the car on.
Pics tomorrow.
J
Interesting stuff...
Same as the brakes I found. 2.5 good, 3R better, M400 even better I guess.
Welcome to the 3L world
My 3R sweet spot is just under 4000RPM. All goes quiet at this speed. Lee told me once there's another at 189MPH. Not sure how he knew that
Even mine buzzes like a good'n every so often. Roush told me the M400 were a bit louder...
I assume (like me) you didn't notice what the press called the 'greatly improved driving position'? I through it to be the same as the 3R (which I think is fine).
joust said:Yeah, my 3R has this.
Things better than the M12
1) Buzzer for when you leave the lights on and open the door (yeah! No more flat batteries)
joust said:I found the 3R better than the 2.5 I played with. I guess the M400 is another step again.
2) Brake feel - stunning, absolutly stunning. Not found the performance yet due to needing to bed the brakes in.
joust said:
4) Steering. The M12's was direct until I did some serious miles in this - sorry all you M12 people, but you now all officially drive Audi's
Same as the brakes I found. 2.5 good, 3R better, M400 even better I guess.
joust said:
6) Engine torque.
Welcome to the 3L world
joust said:
7) Cruising ability. So steady at motorway speeds, and with 6th you find the "natural" cruising at 3200rpm where everything is nice and quiet brings your license into danger. Cruising at 70 @ 3000 is just heaven.
My 3R sweet spot is just under 4000RPM. All goes quiet at this speed. Lee told me once there's another at 189MPH. Not sure how he knew that
joust said:
Oh - the fuel pump is a bit noisy when you switch the car on.
Even mine buzzes like a good'n every so often. Roush told me the M400 were a bit louder...
I assume (like me) you didn't notice what the press called the 'greatly improved driving position'? I through it to be the same as the 3R (which I think is fine).
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:Not driven a 3R very much, so hard to know, but the "slack" at the top isn't there, and it's totally linear now.
I found the 3R better than the 2.5 I played with. I guess the M400 is another step again.
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:It's much much more weighted, and doesn't change the weight.
Same as the brakes I found. 2.5 good, 3R better, M400 even better I guess.
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:Not really found that due to license preservation and wanting to keep the revs down to min for the first 500 miles.
My 3R sweet spot is just under 4000RPM. All goes quiet at this speed. Lee told me once there's another at 189MPH. Not sure how he knew that
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:I just got a SMS from Micknall saying TADTS
Even mine buzzes like a good'n every so often. Roush told me the M400 were a bit louder...
. I'll have to see what it's like with the stereo playing, but it might be my first "play" to see if I can find a way to get rid of it. It sounds like that it's vibrating along the back of the car firewall/bulkhead - have to see if there's any way of adding some sound deadening or get it mounted on something that will filter out the sound. I presume to achieve the 400bhp/tonne some of the sound insulation of the 3R has gone, but I personally won't mind a bit of it back in to just remove that noise.
You can't notice it above 2000rpm or so, so if you drive it normally, rather than my pussy cat run in stuff, perhaps it gets less?
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:No idea what they are going on about, but then I found the 2.5 driving position fine.
I assume (like me) you didn't notice what the press called the 'greatly improved driving position'? I through it to be the same as the 3R (which I think is fine).
My only gripe is that the steering wheel isn't quite high enough for me, as I have lanky legs there isn't much room between my left knee and the wheel even with the seat right back and the wheel fully out. I was thinking of changing the wheel for the same one that I have on the Marcos, so I can easily fix that by getting one with a slightly less diameter than what's on there.
It's astonishing how much further the car is on from my 2.5 though, and yet costs almost the same in that classic "real terms" that you hear about on TV.
Lee - you are amazing bloke!
J
joust said:
I just got a SMS from Micknall saying TADTS
It sounds like that it's vibrating along the back of the car firewall/bulkhead - have to see if there's any way of adding some sound deadening or get it mounted on something that will filter out the sound. I presume to achieve the 400bhp/tonne some of the sound insulation of the 3R has gone, but I personally won't mind a bit of it back in to just remove that noise.
You can't notice it above 2000rpm or so, so if you drive it normally, rather than my pussy cat run in stuff, perhaps it gets less?
Stick your head near the passenger side low air intake behind the door. Loud I bet. I had a good look at mine when it was on one of it's loud fits. The best thing I could think of was to wrap the thing in sound deadening and hope the fuel cools the pump (which I think it should). Noble/Roush have been onto Bosch about it. No solution at the moment I believe.
joust said:
I assume (like me) you didn't notice what the press called the 'greatly improved driving position'?
I through it to be the same as the 3R (which I think is fine).
No idea what they are going on about, but then I found the 2.5 driving position fine.
The tunnel being smaller straightens the driving position....a bit. Placebo effect I think.
Glad you like it and I salute your impeccable taste in colour again
Couple of comments:
I get the buzzing in the range 2000 to 2200 rpm, and then only sometimes! Any ideas or is it TADTS?
Joust: what do you mean by "we all officially drive Audis now"?
Laurence: Ground clearance is better on the M400 (without splitter) compared with the 3R (with splitter) according to the "bridge clearance" test done by Kerridges.
I get the buzzing in the range 2000 to 2200 rpm, and then only sometimes! Any ideas or is it TADTS?
Joust: what do you mean by "we all officially drive Audis now"?
Laurence: Ground clearance is better on the M400 (without splitter) compared with the 3R (with splitter) according to the "bridge clearance" test done by Kerridges.
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:Ah. Charles @ MV said similar, but you know me, Mr impaitent
Stick your head near the passenger side low air intake behind the door. Loud I bet. I had a good look at mine when it was on one of it's loud fits. The best thing I could think of was to wrap the thing in sound deadening and hope the fuel cools the pump (which I think it should). Noble/Roush have been onto Bosch about it. No solution at the moment I believe.
I'll wait a few weeks or so and see what the factory can come up with, and then have a look myself.
There is, of course, only *one* colour you can have a Noble in
Thanks!
J
chillidog said:Audi's are often quoted as having vague steering by Autocar et. all
Joust: what do you mean by "we all officially drive Audis now"?
Laurence: Ground clearance is better on the M400 (without splitter) compared with the 3R (with splitter) according to the "bridge clearance" test done by Kerridges.
Ground clearance is significantly better without the splitter, but you are onto the clam if you do hit something
J
Pleased it's all going according to plan Joust... I'm up to 360 miles in mine and enjoying every one of them
Only gripes so far:
- Strange knock coming from under my arse when I go over a major bump - answer: eat less curry
- Drivers door seems to be rubbing on something as some of the paint's rubbed off!
- Agree on the fuel pump noise - happy to live with it
- Fan belt (I think??) noise when I pull away in 1st.
- Trying to keep my right foot from descending too far between 3000 and 4000 rpm
It's a fantastic car and I can't wait to get to the magic 1000 miles! Agree with you on the gear changes; 1st, 3rd, 5th then 6th.
At this rate you might make it to the 1000 mile mark before me! Have fun!!!
Dom.
Only gripes so far:
- Strange knock coming from under my arse when I go over a major bump - answer: eat less curry
- Drivers door seems to be rubbing on something as some of the paint's rubbed off!
- Agree on the fuel pump noise - happy to live with it
- Fan belt (I think??) noise when I pull away in 1st.
- Trying to keep my right foot from descending too far between 3000 and 4000 rpm
It's a fantastic car and I can't wait to get to the magic 1000 miles! Agree with you on the gear changes; 1st, 3rd, 5th then 6th.
At this rate you might make it to the 1000 mile mark before me! Have fun!!!
Dom.
Gassing Station | Noble | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff