Page 11 of 11

Re: All change

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 2:33 pm
by GTR1400MAN
My wife's new Yaris has controls that are so light it makes it difficult to drive smoothly. There's a little feeling in the steering but the clutch pedal is so light it is hard to feel you are doing anything with it, and the brake pedal is complete madness. I've nearly re-acclimatised myself and stopped putting everyone through the windscreen! She is still struggling. It's like an on/off switch for brakes. I'm sure the demo we drove was not this sensitive. Perhaps it will bed in?

Re: All change

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 3:05 pm
by Astraist
TripleS wrote:With regard to a car being 'nimble', I agree it's not important in normal circumstances with a sensibly driven car. Having said that, there is always the possibility of a sudden emergency arising, and I do remember one occasion where, with a Series 3 XJ6, I had to make a sudden swerve to avoid a pedestrian who stepped into the road with (honestly) no warning of their action. In that case I think the qualities of the car played an important role in avoiding a collision. Credit where it's due, eh?


Ah, very true, but than from analysing the aftermath of many such cases, I find that too much response is by far more common and far worse in outcome when compared to too little.

Just to be clear, in both cases, I am talking about the car "clocking" (rotating) rather than it actually translating sideways. The two are not perfectly interchangeable and while the former is the one normally responsible for cars being "nimble", it's normally the latter than limits the car's abilities to stay on the tarmac when the steering wheel is turned.

Re: All change

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 4:00 pm
by Jonquirk
For nearly two years, between October 1998 and July 2000, I delivered cars and vans on trade plates for various customers. I experienced a wide variety of vehicles in that time and some are remembered more fondly than others. I lived at the western end of the Woodhead Pass so I had a great bit of road close to home where I could form opinions of many of the cars.

The one Jaguar XJ40 I drove went up the pass in the early morning in fine style: I loved it. Mondeos were good, so we're Cavaliers (we had a rash of 1.7 turbo diesels in a few weeks at the end of their leases). Vectors and Calibras felt wooden and uninvolving on the twisty bits, the Avensis handled like a waterbed although it was well appointed compared to the Ford and Vauxhall equivalents.

Peugeots were good to drive, at least the 106/306 were. The 406 was alright but seemed bulky compared to the 405.

Ford Puma: most fun you can have with your clothes on. Great car, shame about the arches.

Re: All change

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 4:34 pm
by Horse
At the other end of the spectrum: the Focus my F-i-Law owned. It was like the steering column was made of rubber, and a certain amount of slack had to be taken up before that translated into anything happening at the front wheels. Yurgh!

Seriously, I was able to continue in a straight line while sawing the wheel left and right . . .

Re: All change

Posted: Sun May 22, 2016 5:47 am
by fengpo
Lovely car Nick enjoy, best colour as well :)

Re: All change

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:19 am
by sussex2
TripleS wrote:
sussex2 wrote:
StressedDave wrote:
sussex2 wrote:ps I've just read a test on the 991 models (I can't be the only person who gets confused by Porsche model numbering) and take what you wrote to be over competence on the part of the car.
I think they have to these day otherwise they'd spend half their time in various courts defending themselves...

http://content.time.com/time/specials/2 ... 33,00.html

I drove a Corvair from time to time when I visited the U.S. back then and liked the car. I never investigated the limits of its handling though :)

Its lariness is what kicked off modern understanding of vehicle handling.


My favourite was probably a Triumph Herald on a wet Maltese road.
There's nothing soft to bump into in Malta, just great blocks of rock :)


Am I right in thinking that the Triumph Herald displayed, in some situations, a surprisingly large amount of positive camber at the rear wheels. I don't profess to understand these things in a proper technical sense, but it never looked right to me. A combination of rear suspension on rebound, allied to a cornering situation looked to have the potential for trouble.

Best wishes all,
Dave - confused as ever.



On a wet Maltese road when it hadn't rained all summer I can absolutely assure you, it was trouble :D I lived to tell the tale, the car didn't!