Couldn't keep up with a 407's handling

Post by **Welly** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:27 pm

I was following a 407 last night on a twisty road, well known to me, and I could not keep up with it's handling

The 7 was not even braking where I was having to, my 6 just seemed all wallowy and bouncy in comparison and I had to back off in the end. The 7 was staying really tight to his line around the corners with no body roll.

I allways thought my 6 handled quite nicely but I suppose my suspension bushes are not as tight as they were new, and my tyres have higher side walls and less footprint area than the 7 but it really made me think about how much better and 'tighter' new cars are.

I've been thinking of throwing about £1300.00 at my 6 maybe this year for the clutch and fly, then a remap and some other maintenance jobs but I am wondering it's worth it if the handling's a bit 'squidgy' and lets it down a bit

This happened to me on my Honda, it was mechanically fine but needed suspension bushes all round to tighten up the handling and feel. This was going to cost as much as the car's worth so I didn't bother (silly, silly me

)

Is the 407 on a whole new platform?

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:37 pm

The 407's handling is sublime. They can make corners feel as if they're not there at all, absolutely effortlessly. Don't give up on your '6 quite yet - hire or "test drive" some other cars and they'll make you remember how good the 406 still is

Post by **Welly** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:54 pm

mjb wrote:they'll make you remember how good the 406 still is

Yes, err ''comfy''.

I don't know, things have moved on in car's handling so much now the once renowned sharpness of the 6 is showing it's age compared to new cars, heck they can even make Vauxhall Arsetras go round corners now.

Don't get me wrong here, I like the balance of ride/handling on the 6 and I know it's no sports car but it does go out of shape on the twisty's and begins to let itself down.

trem1 · Post by **trem1** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:20 pm

i know why you couldnt keep up with the 407

it was geordieboy on his test drive

GeordieBoy · Post by **GeordieBoy** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:25 pm

trem1 wrote:i know why you couldnt keep up with the 407

it was geordieboy on his test drive

lol true, but no can keep up with me in my 406 anyway.

The 407 must have improved then, as I was talking to some reps just after it came out and they were not impressed at all by its handling.

Blue406 · Post by **Blue406** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:17 pm

GeordieBoy wrote:
trem1 wrote:i know why you couldnt keep up with the 407

it was geordieboy on his test drive
lol true, but no can keep up with me in my 406 anyway.
............

I bet I could... seriously.

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:51 pm

Blue406 wrote:
GeordieBoy wrote:
trem1 wrote:i know why you couldnt keep up with the 407

it was geordieboy on his test drive
lol true, but no can keep up with me in my 406 anyway.
............

I bet I could... seriously.

ill second that, i have found the limits of the 406 the 'fun way', and i also found a few hedges and kerbs along the way

but its quite amazing how far you can push a 406 untill it lets go, it feels like its on the edge when you push it hard, but believe me, its far from it, you just need the balls to find out whats physically possible

trem1 · Post by **trem1** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:55 pm

i feel a TEST coming up

what you reckon geordieboy

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:08 pm

jameslxdt wrote:but its quite amazing how far you can push a 406 untill it lets go, it feels like its on the edge when you push it hard, but believe me, its far from it, you just need the balls to find out whats physically possible

M6 north junction 21A to M62 eastbound - nice long 270 degree bend. Nice road surface, couple hundred yards visibility, two lanes for that nice safety buffer, 40mph advisory speed limit (ha!), no traffic before 6:30am and you've already seen what the road ahead's like when you went under the bridge! Yarrrr! So easy to work out the point where the 406 understeers - and it's SO much higher than most other cars can manage. Certainly the dicks in Audis and beamers can't keep up with me - I see 'em twitch in my rearview then watch 'em stamp on the brakes when I know I've still got another 10mph+ to play with

It's also a nice corner to oversteer on too - take your pick of lift-off or handbrake-assisted ;)

jameslxdt · Post by **jameslxdt** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:10 pm

it will have to be lift of oversteer, this is a 406 afterall
the hand brake wont even hold the car on a flat surface, let alone lock the wheels

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:41 pm

jameslxdt wrote:it will have to be lift of oversteer, this is a 406 afterall
the hand brake wont even hold the car on a flat surface, let alone lock the wheels

I've just had mine sorted ain't I? Razor sharp handbrake now

In fact trying to drive off with the handbrake on now results in the rear wheels being dragged behind locked!

Blue406 · Post by **Blue406** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:47 pm

jameslxdt wrote:
ill second that, i have found the limits of the 406 the 'fun way', and i also found a few hedges and kerbs along the way

but its quite amazing how far you can push a 406 untill it lets go, it feels like its on the edge when you push it hard, but believe me, its far from it, you just need the balls to find out whats physically possible

I'm not so sure about keeping up with a 407 with someone who knows what they are doing behind the wheel.
But I'll bet my ownership papers that I could keep up and possibly even pass Geordieboy.

xplosiv · Post by **xplosiv** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:03 am

M6 north junction 21A to M62 eastbound

I sent my old 309DT into a 360 on that very road, and luck would have it at then end of the spin the back end caught the grass verge (nearly hitting a metal pillar) and came to a stop with no damage.

It turned out that there was some diesel on the road (probable left by my 309dt last time I used the road LOL), I know this because as I sat in the car (which was half on the road and half on the grass) when a Mercedes (not sure which type) came around the corner and started sliding (towards me) lucky he had traction control.

After that I got a 406, due to the fact that if I had of hit anything in the 309 I most likely would have been killed, as the 309 (as go most 16 year old pugs) was mostly made up of kitchen foil and corrugated cardboard, all held together with gaffer tape

Happy new year all, (kinda late, as I have not been on the forum since 2006)

Andy

Davva2004 · Post by **Davva2004** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:58 pm

My 2 pence worth on the handling of my 406...

I've always felt that the true measure of a cars handling is not how high the grip levels are, but what the car does once those levels have been breached. This is where the 406 excels, especially considering it's a 3 box saloon with a big bum! Very very steerable with the throttle, progressive drifting, you can use a rally style technique during corners where you deliberately use too much steering to snap the back end out and then gently use the throttle and steering to 4 wheel drift past the apex before nailing the throttle and letting the nose run gently wide to the outer edge. However I have found it to be faster point to point to do all the braking in a straight line, turn in smoothly, allow the car to drift on a neutral throttle to the apex and then progressively feed in the power while feeling for the steering wheel going light indicating understeer. Not as showy, but definitely faster.

Cars with higher ultimate grip tend to be a bit twitchy once they've breached their limits, so let the 6 slip and slide you'll love it!

Note: I take no responsibility for anyones dry cleaning bills of they follow the above advice.

Post by **Welly** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:26 pm

Davva2004 wrote:apex, drift, throttle, progressive, understeer,

Davvy, I had the missus and the tea pot lids in the car, they would have been screaming like hostages on a suicide mission.

If I was on my own I would have had a better go at keeping up, my dissapointment was that at the same speed my 6 was less capable than the 7. We were on twisty country roads, doing about 60-70 MPH

I agree that the 6 can hang on well and I too feed in the steering really smoothly, I just don't like the floaty softy feeling and a lack of steering feel. Maybe they feel a lot different with a heavy Diesel unit up front?