Rascal's Learning to Drive

[oldgregg]

I'm not generally a big fan of french cars, but Peugeot have a fairly clever electronic system on some of their models which works surprisingly well.

You wouldn't use it for proper off-roading, but if more cars had something similar then it would make the average front wheel drive car a lot more usable for the couple of days a year that it gets really snowy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIBMs3GHdzY

 

[ChrisB]

31 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

I'm not generally a big fan of french cars, but Peugeot have a fairly clever electronic system on some of their models which works surprisingly well.

You wouldn't use it for proper off-roading, but if more cars had something similar then it would make the average front wheel drive car a lot more usable for the couple of days a year that it gets really snowy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIBMs3GHdzY

 

A lot of it's capability is down to the Snow and Mud tyres that are fitted with the system. I saw a demo on a ski slope featuring two ford  Kuga. One 4x4 the other 4x2. The 4x4 had low profile road tyres the 4x2 Cross Climate with a mountain snowflake symbol. The 4x2 actually got much further than the 4x4. The late great Timo Makinen, King of the 1000 lakes Rally always said driving fast on snow and ice is down to the right tyre.

 

[oldgregg]

Yeah very true. 

What is road noise like on the Michelin Crossclimate? 

[grendel]

I liked the traction control on my automatic volvo 850, on sheet ice you could accelerate much as normal, and with the abs, stopping was similar.

[Maxwellian]

35 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Yeah very true. 

What is road noise like on the Michelin Crossclimate? 

My son has them on his car and it is not too bad at all

[LondonRascal]

Thanks for the tips and general information I have gathered here, I had an ask bout a few people to do with their cars and it kinda confirms what has been said in various studies that a lot of people really do not know anything about their car. So long as they put in fuel and it starts that is all that matters.

You gotta also think back to when you were in your first car - I guess it would be your father or other 'older wise men' who would give you the inside track on cars, ownership, what to do and so on...I am also sure you then promptly took things up a few notches and some will have come unstuck and ended up in a hedge, others will have had a scare but avoided the hedge.  I plan on going nowhere near a hedge lol.

Sure there can be issues that develop suddenly but a lot of things can be seen before they go wrong. I check the tyre pressures once a week, have a good look at them at the same time and every time I go to get in the car I make sure all four wheels look 'right' and one has not gone down.  A once a week check and clean under the engine - shows if you are loosing coolant for example, are there any leaks on hoses and the like - what condition are the belts in and so on.

But the thing I am more concerned about is not a breakdown or a flat tyre it is either the car getting nicked - X5's love to go missing, even more so than Land Rover Defenders which you see plastered over Facebook when yet another has vanished. I also worry about someone hitting the car - either in a car park or more often than not is in a residential street in London.  Recently I came to find a Clio parked behind me was touching my rear bumper!

It was interesting to read:

Quote

I am on my second X5 M Sport this one is the 4.0D previous was an M50D which was far more power than I needed, you could quickly lose your licence....

While mine is not quite as quick as the M50d, it is still easy to go very quickly, very easily.  In town I 'turn things down' with Eco-Pro mode on, but turn off the auto-start stop. This tends to cause the throttle to be far more 'soft' and is great for 20 MPH streets in and around London or in stop start traffic. Once out on the faster roads I use Comfort mode which turns the wick up to 'normal'. I always use the speed limiter though so I cannot exceed the speed limits and works great, especially in average speed check areas like the North Circular or a road with a bunch of regular road side speed cameras along it.

On the Motorway I use cruise control 90% of the time.  I find it fascinating how people behave with speed. The other evening I was heading up around the M25 to join the M11 - 6pm on a Monday evening. There were a lot of traffic jams, variable speeds from 40 to 60 MPH but it was not car drovers who were the speeders, it was the foreign HGV drivers - Bulgarian, Romanian and Estonian being the pick of the bunch for undertaking and doing well over the variable limit, presumably because they know they can get away with it being on foreign plates. Once off the M25 and on the M11 it was busy to Stansted but even on this 'not smart' Motorway people were behaving themselves with speed.  It seems generally speaking so far as 'silly speeding' goes that just does not seem quite as prevalent as 10 years ago say, when the 3rd land on the Motorway you would regularly have cars fly past.

I have found out what I thought I would, I much prefer to be comfy and warm, cruising along at the speed limit with Classic FM on munching up the miles taking it easy than flying along.  Same goes for twisting fast roads, to many these are a real joy to throw the car into corners, drop down the gears and really 'drive' the car and smile. I don't see the appeal myself, I guess I have become all boring.

 

[ChrisB]

8 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Yeah very true. 

What is road noise like on the Michelin Crossclimate? 

Officially they have one noise wave, so the best rating. However given the state of Norfolks Coast Road, I probably would not notice noise as the surface is so uneven. They also have Michelin's legendary longevity.

I am sure there are better All Season tyres for pure grip out there but as an all rounder they are good if a little on the expensive side.

[unclemike]

5 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

Same goes for twisting fast roads, to many these are a real joy to throw the car into corners, drop down the gears and really 'drive' the car and smile. I don't see the appeal myself, I guess I have become all boring.

its called getting old

[oldgregg]

Officially they have one noise wave, so the best rating. However given the state of Norfolks Coast Road, I probably would not notice noise as the surface is so uneven. They also have Michelin's legendary longevity.
I am sure there are better All Season tyres for pure grip out there but as an all rounder they are good if a little on the expensive side.

They don't seem crazy actually compared to other mid-range tyres, and considering the extra grip you get in the winter.

I was one of the crazy ones who got in the car last year the morning after the beast from the east had hit... Winter(ish) tyres would have been handy then.

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Regulo]

Just to digress a little - how would you stand if you had an accident whilst using a "space-saver" get you home spare? Really, these things make a mockery of all we're told about mixing tyres and tread construction, surely?

[grendel]

I guess it would then depend on how far you had travelled on it and how fast you were going?

[Baitrunner]

10 minutes ago, Regulo said:

Just to digress a little - how would you stand if you had an accident whilst using a "space-saver" get you home spare? Really, these things make a mockery of all we're told about mixing tyres and tread construction, surely?

Keep under 50 and don’t try and go round corners flat out and your fine. It’s at higher speeds you will go all wiggly and cause it to probably overheat. 

Same with run flats after they have deflated. Keep your speed down. 

Now i guess if we all drive at 50 max we could have a right old mix of tyres!!!

[Regulo]

Yep, I understand the driving techniques, but what if you're doing everything right and some numpty forces an emergency stop on you? I can't see a space saver contributing to good control under those circumstances!

[oldgregg]

1 hour ago, Regulo said:

Just to digress a little - how would you stand if you had an accident whilst using a "space-saver" get you home spare? Really, these things make a mockery of all we're told about mixing tyres and tread construction, surely?

That's an interesting one, but I think if it were the standard 'biscuit' provided with the car then you should be okay?

They are awful though, yeah. The 50mph rating is little to do with straight-line speed and more to do with the fact that they're scary if you push into a corner at anything like normal speed. I've had to use one once and on the way to get the puncture repaired I came off a roundabout and felt that corner go all wobbly, followed by a blink from the ESP light just to remind me that biscuits have no grip.

[grendel]

probably about the same as you would get round where I live where some brilliant spark thought that speed humps 10m before a junction on a downhill section were a good idea, the person waiting to pull out sees you slow for the speed hump and jumps out in front of you, you hit the brakes, then the speed hump, ooh, why arent the brakes working very well- yes all of the weight in the car that assists the brakes has suddenly been transferred into a vertical force, upwards away from the road. facepalm.

[grendel]

like this...

[ranworthbreeze]

2 minutes ago, grendel said:

like this...

Hi Grendel, 

The test center I use, is in the middle of a range of these humps. In the last four years I have had two sets of drop links and had to replace the broken front coil springs. 

Regards

Alan

[grendel]

there is nothing worse for diverting your attention from the traffic waiting at the junction, than having to concentrate on exactly how you are set up to cross the speed humps, when you should instead be watching what the car at the junction is doing.

[vanessan]

29 minutes ago, grendel said:

there is nothing worse for diverting your attention from the traffic waiting at the junction, than having to concentrate on exactly how you are set up to cross the speed humps, when you should instead be watching what the car at the junction is doing.

Rather similar down the Old Dover Road in Canterbury where you have also got two schools and school traffic to contend with.  I certainly don’t envy the people living on that road.

[Islander]

We use to have a Reliant Rialto as a second vehicle as Ruth could drive it on her bike licence. Those lumps in the road were a nightmare if you didn't get the alignment right. Much better with the full width speed bump. At least with the motorbikes we could weave round them.

Colin 

[grendel]

46 minutes ago, vanessan said:

Rather similar down the Old Dover Road in Canterbury where you have also got two schools and school traffic to contend with.  I certainly don’t envy the people living on that road.

I know those bumps well too.

[LondonRascal]

I have just come back from a random drive  and ended up in the deepest darkest Norfolk Countryside near Cantley . I had 4 Deer, 1 Rat and a Fox all seemed not to want tomorrow to come -  but thankfully no harm was done. Although to be honest if the Rat had not made it I would not be bothered. 

I did however find the most amazing view of of the Sugar Factory from behind, lit up with steam spewing from it over the fields, really rather a cool sight. Southwood Road  if you want to look it up on Google Maps. Alas, it was raining so would not have made a very good photo but perhaps another night.

 

 

 

[MauriceMynah]

9 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

I did however find the most amazing view of of the Sugar Factory from behind,

Never heard it called that before!

9 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

lit up with steam spewing from it over the fields

But that's a feeling I know well. !!!

[RumPunch]

On ‎09‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 02:43, LondonRascal said:

Thanks for the tips and general information I have gathered here, I had an ask bout a few people to do with their cars and it kinda confirms what has been said in various studies that a lot of people really do not know anything about their car. So long as they put in fuel and it starts that is all that matters.

You gotta also think back to when you were in your first car - I guess it would be your father or other 'older wise men' who would give you the inside track on cars, ownership, what to do and so on...I am also sure you then promptly took things up a few notches and some will have come unstuck and ended up in a hedge, others will have had a scare but avoided the hedge.  I plan on going nowhere near a hedge lol.

Sure there can be issues that develop suddenly but a lot of things can be seen before they go wrong. I check the tyre pressures once a week, have a good look at them at the same time and every time I go to get in the car I make sure all four wheels look 'right' and one has not gone down.  A once a week check and clean under the engine - shows if you are loosing coolant for example, are there any leaks on hoses and the like - what condition are the belts in and so on.

But the thing I am more concerned about is not a breakdown or a flat tyre it is either the car getting nicked - X5's love to go missing, even more so than Land Rover Defenders which you see plastered over Facebook when yet another has vanished. I also worry about someone hitting the car - either in a car park or more often than not is in a residential street in London.  Recently I came to find a Clio parked behind me was touching my rear bumper!

It was interesting to read:

While mine is not quite as quick as the M50d, it is still easy to go very quickly, very easily.  In town I 'turn things down' with Eco-Pro mode on, but turn off the auto-start stop. This tends to cause the throttle to be far more 'soft' and is great for 20 MPH streets in and around London or in stop start traffic. Once out on the faster roads I use Comfort mode which turns the wick up to 'normal'. I always use the speed limiter though so I cannot exceed the speed limits and works great, especially in average speed check areas like the North Circular or a road with a bunch of regular road side speed cameras along it.

On the Motorway I use cruise control 90% of the time.  I find it fascinating how people behave with speed. The other evening I was heading up around the M25 to join the M11 - 6pm on a Monday evening. There were a lot of traffic jams, variable speeds from 40 to 60 MPH but it was not car drovers who were the speeders, it was the foreign HGV drivers - Bulgarian, Romanian and Estonian being the pick of the bunch for undertaking and doing well over the variable limit, presumably because they know they can get away with it being on foreign plates. Once off the M25 and on the M11 it was busy to Stansted but even on this 'not smart' Motorway people were behaving themselves with speed.  It seems generally speaking so far as 'silly speeding' goes that just does not seem quite as prevalent as 10 years ago say, when the 3rd land on the Motorway you would regularly have cars fly past.

I have found out what I thought I would, I much prefer to be comfy and warm, cruising along at the speed limit with Classic FM on munching up the miles taking it easy than flying along.  Same goes for twisting fast roads, to many these are a real joy to throw the car into corners, drop down the gears and really 'drive' the car and smile. I don't see the appeal myself, I guess I have become all boring.

 

Yep - this weekend going down the A12 in a temp speed restricted zone I had an HGV tailgating and flashing me when I was already at or marginally over the limit AND holding steady with traffic in the outside lane.