Ford Ka revving high

Absolutely!

I engage cruise control and the settle the car into the worn lorry ruts in the A11. This means I can go "hands off" and have a nap for half an hour.

;)

Aye - they're all different. I'm lucky in that I can use cruise for over 26 of my 30 miles. :)

That's easier in a larger car. In a small one, like Kermit, when the motorway reaches a bend you can go from one rut to the other, which can wake you up. Very disappointing!

That is very unusual.

So is that :-)

Yebbut, I bet you've got stoopid low profiles fitted? ;-)

Aye, tell me about it. It is an aftermarket unit of course.

Aye it's great isn't it!

My challenge is to be hitting the highest preset on the on-ramp to the dual carriageway and not to need to turn it off until I arrive at the far end.

I can probably do this four out of five days! :)

Pah nothing of the sort!

We've gone for the "thinking choice." 5.5J 13" rims with 185/60 tyres. No need for 15" rims, the brakes fit inside 13s, no need for bigger brakes, they stop the Ka well enough even after abuse.

Nice.

I guess it's a just a small car then ;-)

Hehehe! Yes indeed.

I have various "problems" with running the Ka on 15" or larger wheels.

One is that with a rim of 6J or wider, there's a good chance of catching the inside of the arches.

Two is that almost all aftermarket wheels are _heavier_ then the original fit item. On a low powered machine, this isn't good news for performance.

Three is that standard Ka brakes behind 15" or larger wheels look lost. I'd want bigger brakes. I don't need bigger brakes. Do I therefore need bigger wheels?

Four is that the Ka becomes well snappy in the wet on 195/45/15s* and downright nasty when the tyres get below 3mm and it's wet.**

Five, you'd really want 16" rims, but for the 1.3 Ka you need 195/40 tyres and they're expensive.

Six, _everybody_ and I mean almost _everybody_ until we used 13s, goes to a bigger wheel without thinking of the consequences. Whining "my tyres cost too much" and "my Ka's ride is very hard" gets annoying after a while. :) We wanted to do something different...

• In my experience. On good tyres you're going quicker when it happens, mind you.

On what?

Yes.

Indeed.

One thing that many forget. Putting alloys on, in place of steels, does not usually save weight.

Right.

Yup, that's understandable. For one water has to travel further to escape the tyre, and needs more mass in the vehicle to keep it on the tarmac for this action to work. There's also less flex in the sidewalls, which means they tend to break-away rather suddenly.

Another good reason.

Yup. I hear it a lot too.

Yes, you can hold the road at a higher speed, but as mentioned, without the sidewall flex, you don't get the 'drifting' characteristic that allows for a gradual slide. Instead it'll just break-away suddenly.

Volvo s60

Ah, Vauxhall bits then ;-)

I must admit I'm pretty surprised at that, many cruise systems used to not engage at all unless you were doing at least 30mph.

Vauxhall?!

Ford!

I guess that older systems used vacuum servos - where these couldn't operate below 30?

My Carlton wouldn't let me engage cruise below 30mph - but at least it would happily maintain a steady 135...

Cruise is nice but the same-as-the-car-in-front version seems like a really useful addition.

Well, that's what you need isn't it ;-)

Aye, that's a more useful idea. Now all we need is a link to the steering, and object collision avoidance, and we'll be sorted.

It's hard to keep up isn't it? I thought Volvo were in with GM. Still, Ford is worse ;-).

Yes, they weren't as precise, and a variation in speed of 3-4mph could have meant you were speeding.