So as planned by Sunday morning I had put 450km on the car since pick up on Friday. Brakes still haven't been run in yet as the initial bite is still not strong enough.
My first impression of it around the city was that the suspension was abit too soft. To the point when the car went over continuous uneven surface the wheels just felt like they were bouncing around. On smooth road it was ok and overal it took up the bumps reasonably well.
Taking it at decent speed around some corners initially felt unsettling as the the suspension travel was more than what I was use to.
Took the car to Wiseman's ferry run to get a feel of what this thing was really made off.
Going on the old road up north the car really came into it's own. I was in for a treat once speed was past 2nd gear.
The chassis set up of the CU2 was quite impressive. Mid corner I could give it more turn-in and power and the car just pivoted at which ever direction I was turning. At no point at all did the car feel nose heavy and hinting understeer which was just superb. It's only at the limits that you get a sense of how capable this car is. On a few occasions it felt like the car was offering more turning input - this may have been the VSA at work by plucking the inner rear brake to give added oversteering. I haven't driven something with VSA in the past so am not sure on this one. It was a strange sensation because the tyres felt like they had no additional grip on offer but yet the car was still able to turn in quite sharply.
The steering feed back is not as good as the civic sport as it didnt fully communicate how much traction is left in the tyres. I did get a sense that the wheels were just too big for this thing....specially gover bumpy road. The larger wheels might be holding back some of the nibble qualities that chassis was designed for.
After this 3hr long drive it really made me less sure about whether adding thicker swap bars would be a good idea right now. Reason being, forcing the car to roll less will just shift the weak point more to the tyres. I guess it might be worth considering better tyres before the upgrade in springs or sway bars. Taking out some of the floating feeling that comes with a soft ride will certainly sharpen the CU2's characteristics up a notch.
It's left me wondering what the mazda 6, audi A4's and other cars in the category has on offer in terms of handling. Maybe what the CU2's offering is quite the norm these days for full sized sedans.
:thumbsup:
P.S - No pinging.
