Something a little bit more.. insurable

[sirwiggum]

My 406 with nackered shocks and nackered bushes handled just as well as my Focus does with half the mileage!

And the Focus was meant to have market-leading handling for it's class.

The 406 never felt like I should "hang back" like I did in the Alfa GTV for fear of understeer / bushes breaking. It was a very chuckable big car.

The Kia isn't. Tall bodywork and tiny wheels.
Perhaps if she sells the Fiesta and buys one, an anti-roll bar and bigger wheels may improve matters.

[Bailes1992]

And even when you did push it abit too hard, or lifted off it never bit you in the arse!
I lost it on a wet roundabout after I lifted off and the police officer said well done to me for managing to hold it

[OdinEidolon]

I actually feel the opposite. With my old 106 I could do literally everything even if the tyres were completely flat, I felt secure with the most dangerous speeds. I was younger back then, I had just taken my license, but I can recall I really drove it like mad (despite it had 56hp...). But it never -never- surprised me, I could control oversteer like I eat sandwiches.
Then I drove my mum's new clio, slow and boring 1.2 engine. It drives nice but didn't feel as nippy as the 106. But i got scared twice triving it in the wet, understeered like hell. Sadly I once crashed it, this time it (lift-off probably) oversteered (at slow speeds, bad chinese winter tyres my mum bought at the market) and when it got the handling back it bounced off on the guard rail. The guy I was risking to frontal impact to complimented with me for keeping it in my lane.
That car has the weights too unbalanced towards the front.

Since then I have not been able to drive a car decently on a wet road, I am still shocked partly because I wasn't fast and I don't know how it happened. Then I got the 406.
The shock has partially lead me not to be able to feel completely happy with the 406 drive, even if it feels secure. Bt I'm not yet accustomed to the "big car" feeling.
I've been to the mountains around my home several times, but since I love this car so much I can't yet force myself in pushing it to its limits. It also has something like a bad injector so I don't feel like pushing it.
The other day I tried a couple of chicanes I can do in the Clio at 60mph with the tyres whistling. At the same speed the 406 (same exact summer tyres, only a tad wider) did not whistle and felt like it could do 70-80mph.

I found that the 406:
- drives perfectly if I drive it slow
- seems bouncy and insecure if I drive it fast bt not very fast
- feels perfect and grippy if I drive it very fast

Also I've never driven anything so powerful so this can be a factor of me not being able to feel the car yet. I've just understood how the huge torque can bring you out of the corner, with the previous car I've driven (max 75hp) this wasn't the case. Flooring the throttle only produced more noise

[FarmerPug]

the handling of my 406 is fantastic, then i put a strut brace on and it got even better, if your mad in a roundabout and put the power down of course its going to understeer yet its controlable, but normally its very stable and the steering is always very alert and ready.

[OdinEidolon]

the handling of my 406 is fantastic, then i put a strut brace on and it got even better, if your mad in a roundabout and put the power down of course its going to understeer yet its controlable, but normally its very stable and the steering is always very alert and ready.

I'm going to put a strut brace on too, when i get my 1000£+ order from Ade

[highlander]

I'm going to put a strut brace on too, when i get my 1000£+ order from Ade

£1000? What, did you buy enough spare parts to build your own Coupe from scratch???

Actually, that'd be pretty cool

[OdinEidolon]

I'm going to put a strut brace on too, when i get my 1000£+ order from Ade

£1000? What, did you buy enough spare parts to build your own Coupe from scratch???

Actually, that'd be pretty cool

Lol, it's not "my" order actually. It's a group order I organized for the Italian coupé club.
The shipping is coming at my house and I'll send out all the parts (while I'll keep some for me, such as 5 hoggar wheels and various interior parts)
We are getting:

• 10 hoggars
• 3 strut braces
• 1 heated seats buttons
• 1 electric rearviewmirror
• 2 window motors
• 2 winfow switches
• 4 steering wheels
• 3 gear knobs
• 2 headlights
• splitters
• various engine parts
• foglights
• MFDs, radios and ACs
• radiator grille
• washer pump
• various badges
• antennas
• 2 bumpers
• sidelights

and I'm sure there's something I don't remember right now.


When I get the shipping I'll make sure you'll get some pics of the goodies with a thread here!

[OdinEidolon]

Double post, please delete.

[ToddM]

Hey guys, guess what?

2011-07-20_08.44.20[1].jpg

Oh no he didn't! Yeah,sorry, had to drive that to the place burning water of death is made.. looking like this

2011-07-20_06.10.07[1].jpg

I got an outright bollocking for driving that car by my Bulgarian mates
On the upside it's my granddads and he loves it - light steering, huge mirrors and most of all he doesnt have to pull himself in and out of it. It's also cheap to buy, and insure with the 1.0 3cyl engine.

It's an absolute utter steaming pile of dog poo in every single other aspect though - slow, uneconomical as you always have to floor it to pull out of junctions, rolls a lot in corners, interior is cheap and plasticky, it's falling apart after 6 years and only 50,000 KM, it's radiator isn't big enough so it overheats with the AC on, it's AC draws 7 of it's 10 horsepowers so you pick between sweaty pits and getting where you're going in time, the steering is unresponsive and rubbery while being too prone to self-centering, the pedals are too small and too close to one another and the gearshift is like performing brain surgery with a pickaxe and a hammer...
The headlights are bigger than the wheels leading to it falling in every single hole possible (Bulgarian roads are truly horrible), you blind everyone going the other way oh and I forgot - it looks like the bastard lovechild of Amy Winehouse and an Australian prairie horse.

Remind me to get an incredibly illegal car when I go back to the UK please

[sirwiggum]

Quality review there ToddM

[Bailes1992]

Sounds like my Mum's Panda
You drive it and the steering wheel shoots back to the middle? if you get it in City Mode it's even worse

[FarmerPug]

self centering steering? i never felt it as a problem, city mode was great fun, if you used it on a roundabout youd scare the sh1t out of your passengers, i didnt mind since the feedback was good.

small cars like that are best in a multi storey car park

[ToddM]

self centering steering? i never felt it as a problem, city mode was great fun, if you used it on a roundabout youd scare the sh1t out of your passengers, i didnt mind since the feedback was good.

small cars like that are best in a multi storey car park

That thing WILL flip.. The Panda is much, much, much better. The Panda feels like a 406 coupe compared to the Agila..

[OdinEidolon]

self centering steering? i never felt it as a problem, city mode was great fun, if you used it on a roundabout youd scare the sh1t out of your passengers, i didnt mind since the feedback was good.

small cars like that are best in a multi storey car park

That thing WILL flip.. The Panda is much, much, much better. The Panda feels like a 406 coupe compared to the Agila..

was about to say the same.

[ToddM]

self centering steering? i never felt it as a problem, city mode was great fun, if you used it on a roundabout youd scare the sh1t out of your passengers, i didnt mind since the feedback was good.

small cars like that are best in a multi storey car park

That thing WILL flip.. The Panda is much, much, much better. The Panda feels like a 406 coupe compared to the Agila..

was about to say the same.

Great minds think alike