Handling foibles, bump at braking

[epaminondas]

I have seen comments on these three characteristics several times here and have driven the car for a few months now and have some observations.

1. Wandering - sensitivity in steering.

I believe what we have is a tighter steering ratio on these cars. You turn the wheel with less motion that with many cars. This was implemented in the Honda CRX HF. I had a CRX Si and the ratio was not as direct as the HF which was the higher mileage varient. One of the mods was to take the HF rack and put it in the si Many performance cars have a tighter ratio. What this means is that the car will feel more jittery and require more concentration. Not a flaw but a charactaristic.

2. Slowness off the line. If you want more punch off of the line - turn off the traction control and put it in low. This works - despite naysayers on this blog.

3. Bump in drivetrain at heavy braking - yup. If you prepare to stop further away from the stop sign and learn how to use your regenerative braking more smoothly - you never will feel this - havent had it in weeks since I retrained myself.

 

[WattsUp]

2. Slowness off the line. If you want more punch off of the line - turn off the traction control and put it in low. This works - despite naysayers on this blog.

It might make some difference (and I am with you on that) but the difference is, at best, marginal. Nobody should be expecting any real noticeable difference using Low and/or turning off traction control. The car basically behaves the same with regards to off-the-line acceleration regardless of these settings.

What does seems to work more effectively is to "blip" the accelerator (to get car moving) right before flooring it. This seems to "skip" some of the torque curve softening if you can get the timing right.

3. Bump in drivetrain at heavy braking - yup. If you prepare to stop further away from the stop sign and learn how to use your regenerative braking more smoothly - you never will feel this - havent had it in weeks since I retrained myself.

You still sometimes will feel it, depending on the nature of the interruption in the road surface. The behavior was worse before the firmware update last year, but it can still happen no matter how smoothly you might be braking. It does tend to happen more when you are braking heavily and/or are still at speed while going over the interruption.

 

[epaminondas]

when you blip it - do you tap down and then let off - then floor it?

 

[jeffand]

During a hard launch the traction control may see some wheel spin, and then back off on the power.

 

[Steve0512]

Is this because of the low friction tires, the massive torque or both?

 

[WattsUp]

Is this because of the low friction tires, the massive torque or both?

One could reasonably conclude both probably contribute to wheel spin.

Wheel spin also happens quite easily if you attempt to accelerate strongly while turning at low speeds (for example, making a corner out of a parking lot). The inner front wheel (I think) easily looses grip with the pavement in this case (with or without traction control enabled).

Wheel spin also happens quite easily (turning on not) if the road is wet. I've inadvertently sheepishly "burned rubber" a few times trying to pull away from stoplights on rainy days.

 

[WattsUp]

when you blip it - do you tap down and then let off - then floor it?

Yeah... I tap just to barely get the car moving, and release. That's what I meant by "blip". When you floor it right after that, it seems you get a bit more torque than normal. It doesn't always work... like I said, there is an element of timing to it.

 

[myra78888]

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[damania]

shouldn't the traction control stop the tires from spinning int he first place, dry or wet?

 

[WattsUp]

shouldn't the traction control stop the tires from spinning int he first place, dry or wet?

Traction control (in any car) doesn't stop all wheel spin. In fact, it usually takes some wheel spin to trigger traction control. After all, up until the moment a wheel breaks free, it has traction.

In the FFE, the traction control is easily overwhelmed when turning and accelerating at the same time, especially from a slow speed. The inner wheel in the turn can easily break free and spin.

One time, I actually spun the inner wheel all the way around a corner, while doing about 35 mph.

 

[triangles]

Regarding wheel spin; the weight distribution in the FFE is 49/51 or 51/49 I don't remember which. Either way there is less weight on the front wheels compared to the ICE version which naturally would make it easier to spin the front wheels.

 

[jmueller065]

FFE weight looks like this:

(Yeah I weighed mine at a local CAT scale--without me sitting in it.)

Note the misnomer as the steer axle on the FFE is also the drive axle

 

[triangles]

Interesting thanks for sharing.