will i end up in a hedge?

[Anonymous]

I have just bought an silver o1 mr2, and have never had a rear wheel drive or a mid engined car before, im used to fiesta's micra's ect,- ( yes i am ashamed!!! ) i have driven fast cars but not sporty cars,- so what i want to know is,-  Is the handling really that bad in the wet? and how far can you push them before its hedge time? and if someone can give me a rough guide to driving a mid engined rear wheel drive car id be grateful,- cos i cant afford to go on a course. what do i do if the back end goes west?  thanx

[Anonymous]

There's loads of resources on the net for driving mid-engined RWD.  My advice is go slow to start off with and learn basic rules.  I used to drive a ka (cough) and it was a lot more forgiving than the '2.  You can do stuff like brake mid corner, lift off (the throttle) etc etc. You might find yourself in trouble if you try that in the 2.  Try to picture where the weight of the car is, where the car steers from and what will happen if lose of traction occurs, ie in a front wheel drive car, you'll carry on in a straight path (understeer) the understeer will wash speed off and that forces weight down onto the front wheels making them regain traction.  However in rwd the rear wheels will go, braking will put force into the front tyres and you're going for a spin.

Etcetc

But really its not that bad at all, make sure you've got decent tyres and the pressures are all ok.

I've had my car for 6 months now and I've only wrote it off once.  Erm.

[markiii]

not sure if your car is brand new or not, so this maybe irrelevant.

However make sure you have the same make and model tyres all round.

make sure they are the correct sizes all round. The rears are wider for a reason, the same size all round and yu would be asking for trouble.

make sure your tyre pressure are correct, this car is very sensitiev to them.

normally I'd recomend lowering teh front pressures a little  to reduce understeer, however you may want do do teh reverse, as if your nervous with it understeer is more controllable than oversteer.

second, smooth driving.

don't accelerate, brake or change gear mid bend. this will destabilise teh car and bring teh arse round. If thats what your trying to do it can be useful, but as a general rule of thumb your far safer if you avoid that.

think of it this way, the tyres only have a finite amount of grip, this will be divide up amongst what your trying to do at teh time.

i.e if 100% grip is what you have, accelerating or braking may use up 40% leaving you only 60% to grip teh road with, avoid braking or accelerating and you have 100% grip available, constant throttle is teh order of teh day.

third, avoid cheap shitty tyres you bought the car to enjjoy it, and this is false economy, Toyo proxies are your friend.

[Tem]

what do i do if the back end goes west?

Pray.

It's not really something you can learn from internet, you should at least try it in a large parking lot or whatever you have over there. Being mid-engined, things happen very fast and you don't have any time to think about it.

[mph]

I have just bought an silver o1 mr2 ... someone can give me a rough guide to driving ... cos i cant afford to go on a course

Airfield days start from £89 per day, with professional one-to-one instruction from £20 (and lots of free advice available too). Four-to-one car-control courses start from around £150. Either are probably less than the excess you'd pay if you went into a hedge, without even counting the amount of lost time and hassle associated with it. If you're at all worried that your driving style is such that you could lose control of your car, then going on a professionally run car-control course is the least you can do for yourself and the other road users around you. Plus they're fun; and make ideal presents to receive!

/harsh, but I think, fair.

[aaronjb]

and make ideal presents to receive!

And Christmas is coming.. I'm sure someone would get you a course - afterall, they probably don't want to see you in a hedge either..

Much better than learning the 'hard way' as others have said, and once you know what to do and where the cars limits are you can enjoy driving it an awful lot more  s:) s:)  (And won't be afraid to drive it in the rain/snow/ice etc as a bonus)

[darrenjuggins]

Hi,

Tips:

1 . Icy Road = not your friend, buy a tempreture gauge from Halford, it will be your god send.

2. Worn / Cheap / different makes on each wheel Tyre = Asking for A crash !

3. Pressures correct = car is your friend !

4. Be Smooth, think about your gear changes, like on a track you would really want to change mid corner, a mid engined, rear wheel car dosen't like this !

5. Don't trash about in icy road conditions = Asking for trouble (Cough, £4,000 worth of damage, going 100 yard in black ice, not funny!)

6. Get to know your car, rule of thumb - every car is different, learn it over a period of time, don't just go thrashing about ! (you have been warned)

7. If you have a hard top - the handling is much improved, but don't get over confident, as mark says you only have so much rubber keeping you on the road.




This car is a pleasure to drive, fun precise and quick, don't abuse it and it will be your friend, abuse it (on the road) at your peril !

Tyre choice and age are very important, old and low tread = Crash + I told you so's !!!!


Anyway - hope these points help, have fun and be careful is my final comment, enjoy !

Cheers

Darren J    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[kanujunkie]

and watch out for Yoko's in the wet!!

they can be a ba****d

that is if you have them of course?!

[ninjinski]

Find a large EMPTY carpark when wet and at about 10-15mph turn sharply and gun the accelerator in first or second and the back will break away. This will give you a feeling about what you need to do to correct. It comes out very fast and you need to be lightning fast to catch it on occassion but good practice.

Make sure you have no bollards etc anywhere near you!!!

Good luck

[kanujunkie]

and speaking of which, anyone know of any in Surrey??

[Anonymous]

what bollards?

[Anonymous]

I have just bought an silver o1 mr2, and have never had a rear wheel drive or a mid engined car before, im used to fiesta's micra's ect,- ( yes i am ashamed!!! ) i have driven fast cars but not sporty cars,- so what i want to know is,-  Is the handling really that bad in the wet? and how far can you push them before its hedge time? and if someone can give me a rough guide to driving a mid engined rear wheel drive car id be grateful,- cos i cant afford to go on a course. what do i do if the back end goes west?  thanx

The handling in the wet is excellent, the same as in the dry.  Other than that I agree with most of what's been said already.  Just take it easy and enjoy  s8) s8)

[Anonymous]

There are many posts stating that extreme care should be taken in the wet, especially going round corners. Will the car slide doing a reasonable speed round a corner, if everything is done smoothly? or should i take all wet corners slow? I hope to go on a course after crimbo, but until then i need this advice. I am a safe driver and dont speed much,- but all the posts warning of driving in the wet have unnerved me to say the least. Can you also tell me what to do if the back end does slide,-  cos i dont know, id prob hit brakes with instinct.  thanx

I am also puzzled with to what to do if i had top down on motorway, and it started to rain?- what do you guys do?

[Anonymous]

If you're moving at speed don't try and put the top up, I guess id come off at the nearest exit and do it.  My streetka driving friend stopped in the hard shoulder to do it, but I don't know it's a bit risky.  Better damp seats than no head.

As far as wet handling, if you're doing the speed limit then I reckon you'll be fine, if you're flooring it, pushing it around corners etc in the wet, then you might get into trouble, maybe more so that a standard FWD hatchback,  The cars lighter after all.  But for normal driving - you really don't have to worry.  I had a crash which involved going over oil and coolant left by a crash that had happened shortly before, on a corner, and I had brand new tyres (~ less than 1 mile on them), in torrential rain.  So it was asking for it really.

If you're back end does come out, steer into the slide, i.e. provide opposite lock, from experience this is probably a lot less than you imagine you need (I eventually fish tailed into the curb, wrecking by rear suspension but not touching the bodywork or crumple zones).  Don't brake, if anything apply slightly more throttle, unless you're wheels are spinning.

But as said before, nothing can prepare yourself.

Look at it this way, the majority of mr2 (and mx-5) owners are just people who want a cheap sports car - to look flash in (not the people on here obviously), they've got corolla engines and are not TVR's.  They're not going to kill you if you make a slight mistake.

[markiii]

how safe it is in teh wet, depends on the tyres and your driving style,

it can bite, but if your careful and only accelerate/brake when in a straight line you should be ok.

if you do start to lose it, fight the urge to break or fully release teh throttle, keep your speed constant and steer into teh slide, e.g if teh arse comes round to teh left steer left.

but again try and keep it smooth if you can.

ref the roof, anything over 40 will keep the rain out anyway, so personally I keep going, if you do have to drop below that on the motorway your usually stopped so it's not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Just one thing to add to everyone elses comments - you need to think in three dimensions. Becuase the car is very sensistive to input, you need to consider how pitch affects it as well as yaw i.e. if you brake, as other have mentioned, you will be transferring weight to the front of the car, in effect the car will be trying to do an endo, which reduces traction at the back end and thus the back end to run wide if you also happen to be corenering at the time. This effect can also be caused by backing off the accelerator whilst corenering. In this case the egine braking causes weight transfer to the front biut also since the car is rear drive this breaking force is being transmitted through the rear wheels and is potentially more lethal than actually braking. This is why, if the back starts sliding, it's bad to completely back off the throttle. You should feather the power off gently to avoid upsetting the balance of the car.

You can get the feel for what I'm talking about by backing off as you go round a roundabout - you will notice that as you do it the front will tuck into the bend more and the back will become a bit more lively - obviously - work up from slower speeds so you don't crash - and be careful.

[Anonymous]

Like the others say, it's not some 500bhp monster, so as long as you've got a good set of tyres, keep 'em at the right pressure and don't drive like a loon, you'll probably be fine.

What the chaps have said about backing off, and how to correct a slide is spot on.

I'd just suggest that as the weather is less than fantastic these days (and no matter what you do, water will reduce grip), that you just start off slow, and build up.

Don't go throwing it into the first corner you come to at 100mph.

[Tem]

Will the car slide doing a reasonable speed round a corner, if everything is done smoothly? or should i take all wet corners slow?

Basically (assuming you have decent tyres, with proper pressures etc.) the limit is higher than with most cars, so there's no need to worry about anything, if you drive like your granny. But since the limit is up there and the car is just so much fun to toss around, you'll likely start driving faster and faster till you find the limit. And if you're not prepared for that, then you will be in trouble.

[Anonymous]

i had a hairy moment in the wet along a country road the other day. was gunning through the lanes and suddenly spotted a traffic light sign for temporary roadworks, which followed with a sharp blind left turn, applied the brakes, backend IMMEDIATELY gave way, took my foot off the breaks and applied a bit of opposite lock and managed to regain control. all in about a 1/10th of a second  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

thankgod i have the reflexes of a cat  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[kanujunkie]

thankgod i have the reflexes of a cat  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

thank God it wasn't the reflexes of my cat, it just fell off the back of the sofa!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Anonymous]

My cat has bad reflexes too, he's been hit by cars  3 times - he just dont learn.
and he doesnt clean himself anymore which is a bit horrible,

thanx for advice, maybe shouldnt have got first mid engines rwd ,- just as winter sets in, especially given that they dont grit the country roads i use

[darrenjuggins]

Hi,

Just come back form covertry this morning - hell -4.5 degrees already !!!! heck, we are in for a harsh winter.

Had no driving issues though, just kept the speeds sensible and kept in the slow lane, let the rep muppets come a cropper in the outside lane.  Wasn't in a rush to get home so enjoyed a pleasent drive home.

temp didn't go above zero, thus there deffinately was no "spirited" driving techniques !

As they have all said smooth and steady in these conditions.


When summer come and it warms up, you can nail it round roundabouts, my mate loves it when I do that, the girls on the other hand, they kak it !


Have fun

Darren J

[kanujunkie]

hell -4.5 degrees already !!!! heck, we are in for a harsh winter.

please, don't say that, i work outdoors on an airport, whatever the local weather is in london, you can usually take 5degs off at work   s:( s:(  

blinkin nobblin already

[Anonymous]

My cat has bad reflexes too, he's been hit by cars  3 times - he just dont learn.
and he doesnt clean himself anymore which is a bit horrible,

thanx for advice, maybe shouldnt have got first mid engines rwd ,- just as winter sets in, especially given that they dont grit the country roads i use

Don't worry, just take it steady.  We got our '2 last winter and it survived plenty of snowy and icy driving (almost) without incident.  Having the engine over the rear wheels is a Good Thing for traction and the feel when the car slides at low speeds(snow) is excellent and the handling really predictable.

[darrenjuggins]

Sure your not confusing your MR2 for your other car - A LandRover Discovery   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

Heck I found that unless I already had forward motion, my car was like bathing a fish - pointless and useless   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s8) s8)    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

all that I managed to do was spin the car round on the spot, very impressive in a big open car park, but pretty useless in the office car park when I wanted to go home !!!! doh !!!!

but also manged to survive - was a little embarressed when I got stuck at the end of the drive on a gradiant, it was just not gonna go up it ! this was me then   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:    s:oops: :oops: s:oops:   Tee, hee !


Cheers

Darren J

(Andy only joking mate)