I read constantly about how great the Focus handles, yet one review also mentioned that the old model rolled a bit (the one I had for a weekend certainly did).
Is handling the same as road holding?
What has been your best/worst handling car? I'm wondering if it's a subjective thing.
Pete
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Well, in my opinion, I suppose road-holding is part of handling, which covers a broad range of attributes such as tendancy roll, stability under braking, ease of changing direction, as you would get in a slalom or evasive lane change. I also think straight-line stability and the lack of having to make corrections to outside influences such as wind, camber, road defects etc.. may be classed as handling, but some may class it as ride (ie comfort)
The worst handling car I drove was a Morris Ital (my first car)
The best handling is difficuly, I haven't driven that many cars, but the new Mondeo had very good taughtbness and handling around corners at speed, but was uncomfortable, tiring and caused fatigue, it was also skittish and easily influenced by road defects etc..., so I would say my Omega Elite was better, though different and not as good in some areas.
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Handling is how a car behaves when it is moving. If it goes where you point it without rolling, pitching or sliding then the handling is good. If it doesn't, then it is poor to varying degrees.
I think my worst handling car would have been a toss up between a Reliant Regal and a Marina. The Marina was so bad, howling the cross ply's at ridiculously low speeds and rolling like a fishing boat that I'd swear the three wheeler would have run it close.
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It is very subjective. I break it into three areas:
1. road holding : ultimate levels of grip, just how fast can you get get through a corner without it breaking away.
2. Handling : What's the experience like does the car oversteer or understeer, if it hits a bump or camber change how well does the suspension cope? A car could have fantastic levels of grip, but might be very unpleasant to drive.
3. Steering : What sort of feedback are you getting, do you know what's happening to the car through the controls, is the PAS over-assisted etc, is the steering dead around centre.
So for me (note the words for me....) the Audi A3 I've drove would get excellent marks in 1 and 2 and not 3 and a MX-5 would get excellent marks in 2 and 3 but only good in 1. Again these are all subjective, but the cheapest car for me that has 1,2, and 3 would be the Mini Cooper.
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In terms of subjective 'feel' my best handlers list features some unlikely candidates:
- Vauxhall Chevette
- 323f
- Golf Mark 2
- original Mini
Worst would be:
- Escort Mark 2
- Datsun Stanza
- ancient Land Rover
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- Vauxhall Chevette
I had one of them, tho it was old by the time I had it.
Delightfully light and precise steering, and although the tail jumped out with little provocation, it was predicatble and easy to control.
Lovely design, let down by quick-rusting body and shortlife engine.
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Worst would be: - Escort Mark 2
No no no pete, you're quite wrong, the doyen of would be rally drivers and boy racers alike. Probably the most fun and chuckable cars of the seventies. A small lightweight saloon with rearwheel drive? great stuff...
Still raced and rallied 24 years after production finished.
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>> No no no pete, you're quite wrong, the doyen of would be rally drivers and boy racers alike. Probably the most fun and chuckable cars of the seventies. A small lightweight saloon with rearwheel drive? great stuff... Still raced and rallied 24 years after production finished.
Yeah I know! But I just didn't like it - much preferred the Chevette. And my all time favourite was the front wheel drive Opel Kadette (German version of the Mark 1 Astra). All comes down to personal taste I guess. The Escort blew up after 80k, as did the Chevette.
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It's all about suspension. When driving on rotten roads Alfas and BMWs can be a real bitch dus to their hard suspension.
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I suspect that unless you drive different cars for a living your view of handling is heavily coloured by the experiences of the car you just got out of. Example; I used to own a Renault 16, comfortable, economical but leant a good deal on bends. Then I got to drive Mum's Mk1 VW Scirocco. It was a revalation; while cornering, the scenery just passed across the windscreen without apparent effort on my part. I have just had a similar experience. My normal drive is an ageing Citroen Synergie, but I have had a Mercedes C180 temporarily in the drive for the last 2 weeks. It has the same feel of being able to cope with whatever you throw at it in a well mannered, capable way. One quiet, dry morning last week I caned it along a road I know well. It just made swift, unruffled progress with only the occasional wink from the ESP light in the speedo to remind me that I was being given some computer assistance . Now the Merc C180, I suspect, is not at the pinnacle of handling prowess, but it certainly felt like it to me. Handling; a subjective assessment of the manner in which a car makes progress.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Now the Merc C180, I suspect, is not at the pinnacle of handling prowess
Indeed, the C180 is clearly biassed towards soft comfort and away from handling. As I discovered when testing one after a BMW 323i. The test route that the local Merc garage insisted on fortuitously included most of my (then) drive to work, so I was thoroughly familiar with the road and decided to drive the C in the manner that I was used to.
Downhill stretch, ending in hump-back bridge and hairpin left, OMG I'm going into the ditch... oooh not quite thank heavens...
Handling: an indefinable quality, the sudden removal of which is detectable by a wide eyed look of panic.
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Out of the cars i've driven extensively and enthusiastically enough to get really used to:
Ranking order...
1. M reg Peugeot 306
2. M reg Mk6 Escort (way behind the Pug)
3. N reg Mk4? Fiesta (No PAS)
4. 54 reg Honda Jazz
The 306 was a joy to drive, great steering feel, great grip, really inspired confidence.
The Escort is absolutely useless in the wet, will understeer at the slightest opportunity, but is very predictable in the dry.
The Fiesta was much the same as the Escort, but with no PAS - made little difference to the handling or feel though.
Brand spanking new Jazz has IMO ridiculously light steering, with zero feedback to the driver. Undoubtably it holds the road well enough, but in contrast to the Pug gave me no confidence at all of how hard the car could be pushed.
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Don't laugh, but the Morris Minor 1000 had great handling (all wheels at extreme corners of the car) but lacked the power to make the most of it - the original Mini had great handling too.
It can also relate to a police charge in connection with stolen vehicles...:-)
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I did my Paul Ripley Driving School High Performance driving course at Elvington airport, south of York, in a Mercedes 3-Series AMG - glorious fun.
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