Leaderboard

An update to my earlier post about "jiggly" ride in my new Sportbrake - prem lux on 17in wheels. Now 2000 miles in, and just driven 800 miles down through France. On Autoroutes and undulating roads the ride is fine - firm, but very comfortable, and the way it handles bigger bumps indicates that the springing is probably about right. Broken road surfaces are a different story. It seems that the damping in the rear air springs is too stiff, so there's no apparent rebound and the suspension feels locked solid (try it on the rumble strips on the edge of the road!) Also means that if you try hard on a corner with short-period bumps, the back end gets skittery and skips out of line. It's very sensitive to tyre pressure - if you drop them to 32psi the straight-line ride improves, but you start to get the tramlining that that BillyBoy reports - 35 seems about right. Is it my imagination, or is it worse first thing in the morning and in the cold? Spires(in Leicester) do a kit to soften the saloon which gets good reviews, so I contacted them about the Sportbrake - and apparently I'm not the first. They are going to look into the possibilities. Watch this space!