New Car Faulty Steering

[Mike Watterson]

Surprisingly I find that the really aggressive close tail gaters are almost always women.

Men here.

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
To my mind one of the biggest issues is the drivers of SUV's they are too close and drive if they are invincible. They are often unaware that a standard saloon car will out corner them and handle much better due to the lower centre of gravity and lower weight above the centre line. I totally dislike the bullish attitude of some SUV drivers. Own up time I have to say one day I was hustled on a country road by one of said vehicles on a road I know very well, he sat so close on my tail I couldn't see his lights in the mirror, the 1242cc panda wasn't the quickest but I did open it up and on the bends the SUV was all over the place and I'd not say the Panda is the best handler either but far superior to the SUV with all its bells and whistles, I eventually had a 100 meter gap and I turned off the road and didn't see it again.

I also got hassled big style by a BMW X5 I think in the Picasso just after Ayr hospital heading toward Dalmellington, in the 40 limit which I was doing he was right up my back end flashing lights and gesticulating to go faster, I actually slowed down which is the advice you should do, he eventually passed with the one finger sign but he got stuck by a tractor further up the road, I did take a note of his number but didn't contact the police unfortunately. I think we should all use a dashcam front and rear.

[Pye Man]

I think this is the issue with all the built in safety features that drivers can get to think themselves invincible.

Years ago it used to be said about Volvo drivers that, with all the safety features and crumple zones, they drove them (the big models at least) like tanks – though I can’t say I noticed it myself.

What I liked about driving the van was I got a lot of courtesy from other commercial vehicle drivers. You would be frequently waved out into the road by other vans and (even) lorries. They’d allow you to cross the line of traffic in front of them and things like that whereas you’d be there ages in a car. When I got into a car I noticed the difference a lot. Of course, there’s always been a thing about white van man, or should that be man driving a white van...

[Murphyv310]

Hi
I was a blue van man for a long time after leaving the TV trade. I covered Scotland from Aberdeen to Inverness, Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirling, Falkirk Glasgow, Ayrshire and as far as Galashiels and and all the bits in between. Did 40 to 60,000 miles a year, 6 am starts on many occasions and 19.00 returns home with the odd overnight stay. I never had the issues on the road as now. My old VW T4 made it to 300,000 miles until the crank pulley lost its keyway and the valves hit the pistons. It was replaced with a smaller van a 2012 Fiat Doblo which I had till 2015. It was fine for me but did a big mileage as I was concentrating on Arnold Clarks Scottish outlets. I did see with the Doblo disrespect from others on the road whereas the T4 didn't attract the bullies.

[Craig]

There seems to be two themes emerging. One is safety features, and the other is driving style.

In general safety features are in my view a good idea, and if they are working correctly, and current generation, should not be intrusive. Opinions clearly differ though.

Driving style is certainly more aggressive that I remember. Part of that is that there are a lot more more cars on the roads. And part of it is that a modern car is so quiet, and capable of such high speeds, you get little sense of how fast your are travelling. If you leave the recommended two second gap, all that happens is that someone squeezes into it. Or undertakes at 100 and then pulls in front. They lose track of the fact that they are in a tin box, and an event at 100mph is not survivable.

Mind you, I still have mental scars of pulling off the M1 onto the M18 in the mid '80s, and the old boy and his wife stopped dead in the fast lane to read the map right in front of me. I swerved into the slow lane, and the guy in the slow lane had the presence of mind to take the hard shoulder. As we pulled away, white knuckled, we looked at each other in astonishment at what we had just seen happen.

But the car I was driving back then was an Escort, bought new. Even though it had a 1.6 litre engine (with a conventional carb), the most I could I could get with foot flat to the boards was 90mph. I really have no idea how fast my Ford Kuga goes, and really don't want to do the test. But fast for sure.

[Radio Fixer]

Yes!  Nick I remember when I had my van the 'help' you got from other vans and big vehicles.  If they had known all mine had in it was windsurfing gear they would have probably driven over me  

Gary

[Kalee20]

I do like reversing sensors and camera.

And I've not been a fan of automatic transmission - but I now have an automatic Land Rover Discovery automatic, and it's fantastic for slow-speed manoeuvring with a horse box attached, reversing uphill particularly, it cuts out the clutch wear!

(Though, when things go wrong, I know it's much less adaptable. Can't bump start the vehicle, for instance...)

[peter scott]

This VW thing that started this thread is the first car I've driven where I actually paid any attention to reversing sensors because the rearward visibility is just appalling. I still don't fully trust the sensors to see every type of obstruction but I guess it will be fine once I've learnt its capabilities. It also beeps at me when passing close to walls and parked cars which is a fact of life in small Spanish villages. I think I would rather have the less collision distance before it beeps.

Peter

[AdrianPH]

I will have a small comment on this.

I drive a Kit car at times when the sun is out, it's a mall open top car, no power steering or servo brakes etc. The most basic one can get. I also drive a small Skoda citigo 1000cc town car it has the luxuries of ABS, assisted steering, a roof and heating, but not a lot else.
I find myself doing a defensive style driving in them both because of the road manners of a lot of other road users.
My way of thinking is that the bigger cars such as SUV's, 4x4 and luxury vehicles, what ever one calls them, insulates the driver from the road and driving conditions, the driver is unaware of road surfaces, wet and greasy roads, road noise etc. more akin to driving in an armchair. So the drivers are closer then they should be to others cars, faster then they should be on the roads and are therefore more aggressive to other road users. They get to rely on ABS, traction control, radar sensors & automatic breaking, lane control and other such wonders to solve problems rather than not get in them in the first place.

I have not checked, but it would be interesting to see if the road accidents statistics are increasing or decreasing over time. Although how one takes into account COVID the increasing road usage and improving tech, I would not know, a sort of accidents per mile travelled in the UK? I accept that the bigger the cars and safer the structure the number of fatalities should be decreasing, but if the number of total accidents is not decreasing then it may point to a driving style.

Adrian

[Murphyv310]

Great Post Adrian.
Very well said, I fully agree.