Every new car I've been in rides rougher than my 14 yr old civic, and the brakes and accelerator are so responsive that you are constantly jerked around. The suspension struts on my civic are shot, they make noise over bumps in the cold. But the ride is smooth. What gives? These new compact and mid size cars are beating me up.
Why do new cars ride like such crap?
- Thread starter veloman
- Start date
Higher weight.
Your car has a multi link rear suspension, and above average handling/road manners. New cars generally don't have that.
If you have dual disc brakes that are well matched, that's another reason why your braking doesn't turn the car into a see saw.
Frankly new cars suck IMHO. Great engines, but the weight and bigger tires negate all the power / efficiency gains. They also have severe visibility problems in the side and rear thanks to new safety requirements ( go sit in a new Ford or Hyundai, these are the worst offenders. )
I'm done giving a crap about 4 wheelers, so i stick to my 1994 Maxima and 1996 Nissan 200SX SE-R. Will probably keep them till the end of time.
Your car has a multi link rear suspension, and above average handling/road manners. New cars generally don't have that.
If you have dual disc brakes that are well matched, that's another reason why your braking doesn't turn the car into a see saw.
Frankly new cars suck IMHO. Great engines, but the weight and bigger tires negate all the power / efficiency gains. They also have severe visibility problems in the side and rear thanks to new safety requirements ( go sit in a new Ford or Hyundai, these are the worst offenders. )
I'm done giving a crap about 4 wheelers, so i stick to my 1994 Maxima and 1996 Nissan 200SX SE-R. Will probably keep them till the end of time.
I would think more weight would give a better ride. My old civic has rear drum brakes and frankly they are not the strongest, though they don't jerk me around either. We got backed into by a new Acura tl today in a parking lot - partially due to reduced visibility in these new cars. I'm glad i have my old civic, though i always consider being car free. 400miles since July. Lol
El_Steak
10 kW
Large wheel / low profile tires on almost all new cars, even shitty econo boxes.
My GF's rather bland Matrix came stock with 215/45/17 wheels. Might be useful on a race track, but makes for a harsh ride for a family car, especially on our shitty roads. The ride is much smoother when I put the winter tires on which are mounted on 15 inch wheels.
My first car was a 95 mustang GT (5.0) and it only came with 16 inch wheels. Even with that rigid rear axle, it was comfier than the Matrix.
The cars from the 90's might not have handled as well in the curves, but the tall tire walls on their 13/14 inch wheels provided much smoother rides for normal daily driving.
My GF's rather bland Matrix came stock with 215/45/17 wheels. Might be useful on a race track, but makes for a harsh ride for a family car, especially on our shitty roads. The ride is much smoother when I put the winter tires on which are mounted on 15 inch wheels.
My first car was a 95 mustang GT (5.0) and it only came with 16 inch wheels. Even with that rigid rear axle, it was comfier than the Matrix.
The cars from the 90's might not have handled as well in the curves, but the tall tire walls on their 13/14 inch wheels provided much smoother rides for normal daily driving.
dingoEsride
100 kW
Its probably more about what you are used to, braking pressure is less, throttle response is greater, steering less effort, I agree about tyre size, a higher wall will give a softer ride, sort of reminds me when I was riding a 83 yamaha xj900 and my brother bought a new Honda 900rr fireblade and coming off the Yammi and onto the honda you had to be very carefull with the amount of exertion, every thing was about halved
el_steak, i think you nailed into in regards to ride quality. The rim to wheel ratio was way different. We already know this in regards to bike tires.
I remember how bad the old cars handled as well, even with brand new shocks.
I remember how bad the old cars handled as well, even with brand new shocks.
John in CR
100 TW
Veloman,
Thanks, now you have me really missing some of the 70's land barges my family and I had. Those cars were like riding on a cloud compared to modern cars. Now that I ride my ebikes so much and car so little, the sub 10mpg wouldn't even matter.
Thanks, now you have me really missing some of the 70's land barges my family and I had. Those cars were like riding on a cloud compared to modern cars. Now that I ride my ebikes so much and car so little, the sub 10mpg wouldn't even matter.
dogman dan
1 PW
Yep. Remember how slow you had to go around a corner too?
I wouldn't know how new cars ride. Newest thing in the driveway is a 2008 focus wagon. The low profile tires definietely ride rougher, but corner much nicer. So it depends on what's more important, the corner or the rought pavement.
One thing I've noticed over 40 years, is the steady decline in the quality of the seat. Lots of rock hard "sporty car" seats in everything. So you feel every pebble in the road through your ass in them. The old 60's car had a seat with springs, acting like a second set of shocks.
As for Veloman, if you don't drive much, you don't learn how to drive anything well. I can drive anyting by now, sporty car, motor home, dump truck, tractor, etc. A few minuites and I'm adjusted to whatever sucks on that particular vehicle.
I wouldn't know how new cars ride. Newest thing in the driveway is a 2008 focus wagon. The low profile tires definietely ride rougher, but corner much nicer. So it depends on what's more important, the corner or the rought pavement.
One thing I've noticed over 40 years, is the steady decline in the quality of the seat. Lots of rock hard "sporty car" seats in everything. So you feel every pebble in the road through your ass in them. The old 60's car had a seat with springs, acting like a second set of shocks.
As for Veloman, if you don't drive much, you don't learn how to drive anything well. I can drive anyting by now, sporty car, motor home, dump truck, tractor, etc. A few minuites and I'm adjusted to whatever sucks on that particular vehicle.
Kurt
10 kW
In regards to low profile tires. I find that a lot of the very low Profile rubber. like very low rubber band looking 30 -40 profile getting around now days is just for looks. You will actual find in most racing application's around a 50ish series is whats used. On a small car (what's small now days-nothing LOL) Say a simple 195/50/15 but with the best rubber you can afford will give best performance and maintain a good ride .
I will have to agree that the 80's and 90's honda civic's considering they were basically shopping trolly car rode very nice. I would go as far as saying they were a real drivers car. I had a 1984 honda civic hatch for man many years and considering the very simple engineering of the suspension. Torsion front springs live rear axle and a very short wheel base. Considering the sum of parts it rode surprisingly well . The low window lines that were the same height all the way around the car gave great vision 360 deg vision.
I drove that car once from Adelaide to Brisbane In Australia. That's a 4400km round trip and i did the return trip 2200km trip non stop other than coffee brakes and meal stops (I did the same trip last year in a new 4wd and I was buggers after 10hrs in the seat each day . I guess some of it was being 20 years old at the time and having a different mind set. though i do remember it being a very relaxed car to drive.
If they made that old Honda civic again without any mod-con crap and extra weighing. I would buy one again flash. After experiencing over 500,000km of faultless transport and another 2nd one that was very modified and one fun car to drive had me sold on old Honda's for many years . A young family and safety concerns was the only down fall why a let my two tiny civics go.
Kurt
I will have to agree that the 80's and 90's honda civic's considering they were basically shopping trolly car rode very nice. I would go as far as saying they were a real drivers car. I had a 1984 honda civic hatch for man many years and considering the very simple engineering of the suspension. Torsion front springs live rear axle and a very short wheel base. Considering the sum of parts it rode surprisingly well . The low window lines that were the same height all the way around the car gave great vision 360 deg vision.
I drove that car once from Adelaide to Brisbane In Australia. That's a 4400km round trip and i did the return trip 2200km trip non stop other than coffee brakes and meal stops (I did the same trip last year in a new 4wd and I was buggers after 10hrs in the seat each day . I guess some of it was being 20 years old at the time and having a different mind set. though i do remember it being a very relaxed car to drive.
If they made that old Honda civic again without any mod-con crap and extra weighing. I would buy one again flash. After experiencing over 500,000km of faultless transport and another 2nd one that was very modified and one fun car to drive had me sold on old Honda's for many years . A young family and safety concerns was the only down fall why a let my two tiny civics go.
Kurt
deronmoped
10 kW
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2008
- Messages
- 706
Maybe the manufactures have upped the stock tire pressures to increase the MPG. It's a quick easy way to meet Federal standards for fuel economy, just make the tires rock hard and watch the gas mileage go up. Now of course the ride sucks, because at the same time our roads are turning to pot holes and dust.
dogman dan
1 PW
Good point. The newer tires do run higher pressure in general.
The tires I like on the focus are 205/50/ 16's. The other focus has same diameter at the tread, but 15's. Definitely you can feel a big difference. We have had the 16's on both cars, so it's not just that the fastback corners better than the wagon. It's the tires.
But we did need to add some memory foam to the seats. Just too hard stock, for rides over 200 miles.
The tires I like on the focus are 205/50/ 16's. The other focus has same diameter at the tread, but 15's. Definitely you can feel a big difference. We have had the 16's on both cars, so it's not just that the fastback corners better than the wagon. It's the tires.
But we did need to add some memory foam to the seats. Just too hard stock, for rides over 200 miles.
I watch the nice cars on the highway and the body of the car moves significantly less over bumps than these new lower end cars like the Focus. The tires on the Focus I'm driving aren't too low profile, maybe an inch less sidewall than my old Civic's.
Higher pressure is definitely part of the equation too.
Higher pressure is definitely part of the equation too.
