Managed about 5 miles before giving up

Managed about about the same in an Octavia before the wife made me do a U turn, the tyre/chassis noise was unbelievable. Tried another the following weekend, just as bad. Very strange when the Fabia and Superb's have been great.

First test drive we had in a Micra lasted about 200 yards, wife could not get the clutch pedal to lift, salesman said it was normal, we let him drive it back. Drove another the following weekend and it was fine, ordered one. Followed that one with another similar but higher spec car. had the 2 cars a total of 10 years.

but seats narrower and after a few miles calf muscles complaining and back and hips too.

At least you found out this time before buying. Seem to remember you bought a Sportage and had to sell it because of seat comfort.

Pays to get a decent test drive.

Managed about 5 miles before giving up.

Do you think it was the seat / seating/driving position with the ride quality as well?

No, the Sportage was ok, It was the Stonic that was bad. Stupid mistake I made, but lucky cost me very little for the 6 weeks or so ownership.

One thing (I apologise for making this point often over several threads) is how a difference going from low profile to mid-higher profile tyres makes to the ride quality.

I think some makes deliberately push most of their cars, even the lower trim models - with low profile tyres to offset poorly designed 'chassis' and suspension setups, to allow the cars to handle at least 'adequately'.

Others go for a soft suspension and deliberately push that but not them being good handling cars, which I suppose is fine if you don't need to push on when driving on twisty country roads but mainly drive on poorly surfaced urban roads with lots of speed humps, etc.

If I recall, the Stonic's stablemate / sister car the Rio had a reputation for a very firm ride (many low spec ones I see have low profile tyres), whilst the Venga was softly sprung but was a bit wallowy in the corners - not to be driven like a Fiesta.

What are your main criteria for the replacement car? Whilst I obviously have an affinity with Mazda, I couldn't remember why you may have previously rejected the CX-5 or newer, smaller Mazda3-based SUV, the CX-30.

There apparently have been some electrical gremlins documented for the latter (I recall one thread discussing a bad experience by one new owner of a CX-30), though they may have now been resolved.

The other main issue with Mazdas, assuming you either don't mind the old-style non-turbo high revving engines and the somewhat underpowered Skyactiv-G units [newer 'SA-X' ones are better] is the high variability in quality of main dealers for maintenance.

Still, if shod on sensible 16in rims and tyres (mid-spec cars and below, decent level of kit though) they have a decent ride but still handle well. Plus they are amongst the most stylish cars on the road, in my view, and still use reliable (but fine for mpg) TC auto boxes where required (other than the 'proper' hybrid ones which I think use CVTs).

For what it's worth, you can turn up the brightness on the Vitara's dashboard by accessing one of the menus. Weirdly, this is achieved by holding down the trip reset button. Why anyone would ever want their dash at less than full brightness is a bit of a mystery to me.

Things to learn..

On the korando it's a physical dimmer button on the dash below right of the ignition lock.

Edited by Orb>> on 03/08/2024 at 05:04

I suppose that I've got used to the seats in the korando. Just the right balance of support softness and firmness

Probably the best seats since my Rover 75..

But we are all a bit different.

I must say a lot of useful comments though.

Thanks all.

Why anyone would ever want their dash at less than full brightness is a bit of a mystery to me.

That is interesting, because my opinion is pretty much the opposite!. Unless your car has a digital dish and you are driving in bright sunlight, I see no reason whatsoever to have the brightness all the way up. And i can only assume you don't drive in the dark or in low light conditions then, when full brightness is way too bright and distracting. I don't spend a lot of time driving in the dark, but when I do the illumination is always turned all the way down. And in contrast to orb's Vitara experience, I found the interior illumination of the Ignis we had brighter than most.

The "problem" of overly distracting interior illumination is exactly why Saab come up with the excellent (IMO) "night panel" button, where all interior illumination other than the speedometer is disabled (unless needed), to minimise the distraction to the driver.

Not sure I've ever driven a car with truly uncomfortable seats? Old friends Audi estate had very hard seats but they never caused me any discomfort.

Struggle to see how one's calf's could ache sitting in a car unless your stretching to reach the peddles.

I'm with ORB re truly uncomfortable seats in some cars. I'm a large / tall chap (hence bigjohn) and I hate narrow over bolstered seats as they cause pains in all sorts of places after a while - probably because of restricted blood flow etc.

Seats are an individual thing though - My favorite seat of all time was in my Saab 9000cs back in the day. I also liked the seats in my recently sold Superb mkII and surprisingly loved the seats/driving position in a Suzuki Swace I test drove and subsequently bought.

Edited by Big John on 03/08/2024 at 13:11