How does you car handle? Your honest opinion.

Garrett · 13 Jan 2006 at 17:27

S7yl3s said:
Out of interest, I understand there are a couple of M3 or M3 CSL owners on here? And I believe possibly a couple of M5 owners...

How would you rate the handling on these machines? I would expect them to be technically excellent. I am on a one man mission to own either one of these by the time I finish university so any information would be great.

(I understand my one man mission may well fail miserably)

Handling of my E46 M3 is very responsive, the ride is very harsh though, you feel every dip and ridge in the round which can be quite disconcerting as its relayed straight back through the steering wheel.

Grip is fantastic and its very easy to catch the back end when you've given it a bit of welly which makes it a lot of fun.

This is my first rwd car and I'm still getting used to the different way you need to drive one.

The best single word I can think of to describe the M3's handling though is 'planted' it just feels right on the road.

Archangelus · 13 Jan 2006 at 17:32

Citroen 1.4 C2. Great in the dry, handles most things with barely a wibble. There's some bodyroll, but seems to roll to a set point, then stop. Corners well and changes direction easily at reasonable speed, but steering feedback is lacking, and the whole car feels somewhat remote. Lacks mechanical grip to go into an island 'hot' and hold speed all the way through, but if you 'slow in, fast out', then it copes better. No real sensation of approaching the limit, so I wouldn't trust it to get silly in.

I don't particularly trust it in the wet, just seems to lack enough front end grip, and it'll oversteer without a lot of provocation.

I'd say probably 3/10 overall

whitecrook · 13 Jan 2006 at 17:42

Xantia diesel estate here, handling sucks a bit. Grip is 1000x improved with hydragrip tyres I stuck on. (the back doesn't slide out on round abouts now).

But it is ultra comfy. It feels floaty. The sus is well nice and soft. Anyone who has ridden in a hydraulic Citreon should know what I mean.

Oh and the steering wheel -> road wheel connection sometimes feels like it's gone walkabout. (usually when I don't lift off for corners/junctions/obstacles)

Brakes are pretty good too.

Styles · 13 Jan 2006 at 18:16

Garrett said:
Handling of my E46 M3 is very responsive, the ride is very harsh though, you feel every dip and ridge in the round which can be quite disconcerting as its relayed straight back through the steering wheel.

Would you consider the harsh ride worth it for the experience of the car? For the cornering ability?

I don't think I would mind having a harsh ride but obviously I can't say this for definate until I have tried the E46 M3 on the edge.

SKILL · 13 Jan 2006 at 19:29

I'd say it's fairly good, and easily the best car i've owned, Grip wise it's not that impressive, 185 tyres, but at legal speeds it's very well behaved with very little roll and lovely 'positive' steering/feedback, when you start to push it it does lose grip quite easily, but it's progressive and really quite easy to catch/hold the drift...

Does have a tendency to understeer before the back breaks loose, which is more annoying than anything else

In the wet it's a bit of a change, doesn't understeer anymore, just goes straight for the oversteer, even at speeds comfortably under the limit on not particularly bad corners, but again it's very controllable

Mk1 MR2 btw

Baron G · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:12

Depends how you define good handling? The Hippo did handle pretty well during the summer, getting us to some pretty out the way places. It was also a star during the 40 inches of snow that fell over New Year up at Mammoth (lets see you ITR's handle that...

)

Not sure it would give an ITR much of a race round Donnington mind you

Guru · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:18

I drive 50+ different cars a day and I can safely say my own is one of the less well handling ones. Slap ABS on it and a primitive form of traction contol and it slightly wider tyres and it would be very nice indeed.

g0th2000 · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:25

Baron G said:
Depends how you define good handling? The Hippo did handle pretty well during the summer, getting us to some pretty out the way places. It was also a star during the 40 inches of snow that fell over New Year up at Mammoth (lets see you ITR's handle that... )

Don't think I'd even be able to find mine in 40 inches of white stuff

Conanius · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:47

ill be bold and say I havnt found a car that seems to handle noticeably better than my focus....

Ive driven ...

306 D Turbo (old car)
Seat Ibiza Sport
Skoda Fabia VRS
Honda Civic Type R
Renault Clio 182
Toyota MR2 (mk3)
Toyota Celica 140 + 190 T Sport
Honda S2000
VW Golf v6 4 Motion
New Mini Cooper + Cooper S
Formula Ford (ok, so this was awesome

)
Vauxhall VX220 Turbo
Mazda RX8
Subaru Impreza WRX
Ford Focus ST170
Ford Fiesta ST150
Citroen C4 VTS (HDI)

... ill be honest and say some where abosolutely awesome, and my initial sweeping statement is quite harsh.. but in honesty, its just not safe to push some of these cars on public roads, so id only go 'as hard' as I would in my car which I know infinately better than the local stealerships demo cars....

id love to get some of these on a track tho

Guru · 13 Jan 2006 at 20:55

the new focus ST is quite nice to drive as is the mondeo ST, but other than that I dont like fords you get over here much.

Baron G · 13 Jan 2006 at 21:03

g0th2000 said:
Don't think I'd even be able to find mine in 40 inches of white stuff

The Hippo under normal conditions:

And the Hippo at Hogmanay - its the white bump just to the left of the leftmost guy :eek:

Styles · 14 Jan 2006 at 00:54

Baron G said:
Depends how you define good handling?

I would say the levels of mechanical grip. Not to be confused with tyre grip. Basically how far you can push the car before it starts to become unstable, and possibility dangerous.

Mucky Pup · 14 Jan 2006 at 02:17

I've got a Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec and it handles like a dream on the twisty roads. I can throw it through the corners and it sticks to the road like glue. It took some time to get used to the handling. Before the Focus I had a 1.6 Escort that handled really badly in the corners with very bad understear. And before that I had a MkII RS2000 Escort with RWD, that was fun trying to take corners and roundabouts in a cold icy winter morning.

Del Lardo · 14 Jan 2006 at 02:30

Conanius said:
ill be bold and say I havnt found a car that seems to handle noticeably better than my focus....

The Focus is recognised as a damn fine handling car. Hell, Evo have used it as benchmark in the past and IIRC it beat an SL500 in a slalom test.

[TW]Fox · 14 Jan 2006 at 02:58

Evo did a 'we love the Focus' feature the month production stopped. They said it handled far better than a family car really needs to and basically said whoever designed it was a driving enthusiast and perhaps spent a much too much time on the handling for the sort of car it is.

sja360 · 14 Jan 2006 at 03:20

fiat punto - handles quite poorly rolls like nobodys business and sometimes understeers. rides fine not too bumpy but not comfy.

DRZ · 14 Jan 2006 at 03:57

It doesnt suffer from an awful lot of bodyroll, nowhere near zafira-like but on turn-in you feel the suspension load up as the weight shifts. Hard on the brakes the front end squirms and the back occasionally tries to come out if you corner. Same goes for lifting off mid-corner, though this is easy to grab - I havnt spun it yet. Understeer is progressive but sets in early and can be corrected if you havnt gone in too hot - if you go in too hot, expect to pull it from the hedge! In the wet, forget it, understeer can be initiated with next to nothing.With just me in the car direction changes are light and swift but not instant or as precise as you want when barreling down a road with corners that you are changing camber around.

If I had to rate it against other things I had driven, I would probably rate it a 4 out of 10. Fun, but not quick.

naefeart · 14 Jan 2006 at 09:57

From my limited experience :

Vectra GSi 2.6 : Great in a straight line, smooth and composed. Superb grip from the standard fit yokos (although the wear suffered), the handling was fine but the steering was terrible - about as communicative as a lump of deadwood.

BMW 330ci Sport : Really surefooted and confident handling, fantastic in corners. Sadly a bit dull to drive, chassis can handle loads more power.

Evo 8 : Amazing handling at spped - turns on a sixpence. Ride comfort poor and very, very limited turning circle. Once got stuck trying to get out of my works car park and there was ample space for the size of car - remember that bit in Austin Powers with the little truck jammed between two walls?

These are just a few that have stood out for me.

cruel_kindness · 14 Jan 2006 at 10:40

Very well planted in the dry, any hint of rain and it will spin faster than you can realise

ThieveryCorp · 14 Jan 2006 at 11:11

I've been very fortunate to have owned 3 very nice handling cars, Focus 1.8 Zetec, MX5 1.8iS and E46 330D Sport.

Out of them, the MX5 felt like the best handling car, just goes where you point it and very easy to correct. Really miss it.

The 330D like all the other E46s feels very safe. Haven't really pushed it much as I've only had it a few months. I thought the Focus, to me at least, seemed to handle nearly as well as the BMW.