Your V5 and roundabout negotiation

dvance

Active Member
Mar 23, 2010
273
0
It's been getting colder and wetter up here in Scotland, so I've had the delight of going round wet/cold roundabouts in the last week, and although I've had fun doing it, it's made me think.

Basically, what bothers me slightly is the fact that when I negotiate tightish (not too tight mind you) roundabouts at about 30 mph, in 3rd gear and give it a bit of poke coming out (bout a quarter throttle I would say), there's a noticeable lightness in the steering, and well some small sliding around. It's not too major, but it's caused me to pause and think. Is it the inherent Toledo handling? Or is it the fact that my front Kumho ECSTA's are awful, and well near the end of their life (about 1.5 mm of legal thread left i.e. above the mark).

The fact that winter is coming is not making this much better :)
Any comments are appreciated.

P.S. The roundabouts in question:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=...1846,-3.170178&spn=0.006177,0.013797&t=h&z=16

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=...0155,-3.175317&spn=0.003088,0.006899&t=h&z=17
 

TerrificToledo

Active Member
Apr 1, 2010
123
0
wet + accelerate + corner + dodgy tyres..... it's all gonna add up haha

you do that in any car and you'l have a slippy slidy twitchy "understeery" roundabout movement lol
 

dvance

Active Member
Mar 23, 2010
273
0
Don't want to sound stupid, but in my Alfa 147 on Conti Sport Contacts, that's never been the case. But then again I suppose I did not have so much momentum on the front end ;)
 

GrayT

I'm Old
Jul 7, 2004
812
5
London
The Toledo's handling was never a strong point and remember the V5 lump is fairly heavy. There's enough torque low down in third to upset things a little in the wet.

I have to say that my A4 is by a long chalk better on cornering, but they are totally different beasts and there's aspects of the V5 that I miss. I always saw the V5 as more of a cruiser - ideal for distance and torquey motorway overtaking, but frankly outclassed by a number of other motors on the twisties.
 

Matt-V5-Duffy

Parts, parts, parts...
Oct 6, 2010
482
3
Nottinghamshire
I found it can suffer from a fair bit of understeer in the wet, but I've put that down to rubbish tyres. :drive2: I think trying to get all that torque down to the tarmac doesn't help too much either in the wet.

I wouldn't say the handling was bad with the Toledo, but it isn't as good as it could be.
 
Feb 26, 2009
5,275
1
Wolverhampton
I can't really say anything about the handling, I'm coming from Vauxhalls so I think it's like the proverbial s*** to a blanket!!!
 

dvance

Active Member
Mar 23, 2010
273
0
Upon further thought, I'd have to agree with GrayT and kewe that the handling is not as good as it could be, but it's not bad at all overall.

I think it's mostly a combined effect between wet+cold+old tyres. On a run to Newcastle on the A168 (could be wrong with the number here), I remember having decent levels of confidence in the twisty bits, but then again it was much warmer back then, also my tyre temperature must have been much better considering it was a long drive compared to my daily commute ... Come to think of it, I actually think that if you drive it reasonably well (i.e. not cruise without throttle through corners, smooth etc), you should probably not see too much difference between the Toledo and any other decently sportish car. And if there is notable difference you're probably going too fast for your own good on public roads. Then again I have not been able to extract proper tyre squeal from it as of yet, not as confident with it as with my 147.
 

AP_V5

Active Member
Jan 19, 2010
109
0
Sussex
Wasn't amazing when I first got it as standard but the rear suspension is relatively basic it handles pretty well considering but there is a marked improvement once dropped and on 17" wheels :p

Tyres with good tread and a half decent brand are always handling changers as well as the front wheels are doing an awful lot, they've got steering, weight carrying of the engine and a generous amount of low down grunt going through them all at the same time!

At the end of the day though if you really push it it will always under steer as its front wheel drive as well as front heavy!
 

russ0r

Guest
It's definitely your tyres. I can take roundabouts at 30 in the wet quite easily :p

EDIT: I've got Eagle F1s on the front though :eek:
 

dvance

Active Member
Mar 23, 2010
273
0
I am expecting to get an advisory from the MOT to get new fronts, so I've been trying to decide what new tyres to get. Even looked at PZero Rosso's :D A bit out of my price range though
 
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