Those runflats are becoming infamous!
02-05-2007, 01:29 PM
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Reading the feb issue of Top Gear and it seems the runflats are making a name for themselves.
Testing the new 335d coupe, quote " Then theres the ride. BMW is making a bit of a dogs dinner of this at the moment, and the finger of blame points squarely at the standard fit runflat tyres. When you buy a BMW, just as when you buy an Audi or a Mercedes or any properly premium brand, you dont expect to endure a pummelling every time you turn up an imperfection on the road. Which is all the time in the UK. Remove the sports suspension and fit a set of regular tyres, and this car might be as comfortable as a night in with Scarlett Johansson, but right now, on our roads, its far from it"
So its not just all us moaners, i was thinking maybe i am being over fussy. Maybe BMW should start listening to customers and motoring magazines.
Two things have to happen, ditch the runflats or get better runflats. And at the moment i dont think the runflats are quite there yet. Yes they might be ok for the roads in Florida. But they sure are not ok for the roads in the uk. And probably many other countries.
Testing the new 335d coupe, quote " Then theres the ride. BMW is making a bit of a dogs dinner of this at the moment, and the finger of blame points squarely at the standard fit runflat tyres. When you buy a BMW, just as when you buy an Audi or a Mercedes or any properly premium brand, you dont expect to endure a pummelling every time you turn up an imperfection on the road. Which is all the time in the UK. Remove the sports suspension and fit a set of regular tyres, and this car might be as comfortable as a night in with Scarlett Johansson, but right now, on our roads, its far from it"
So its not just all us moaners, i was thinking maybe i am being over fussy. Maybe BMW should start listening to customers and motoring magazines.
Two things have to happen, ditch the runflats or get better runflats. And at the moment i dont think the runflats are quite there yet. Yes they might be ok for the roads in Florida. But they sure are not ok for the roads in the uk. And probably many other countries.
02-05-2007, 01:35 PM
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Originally Posted by fraseman999' post='387782' date='Feb 5 2007, 11:29 PM
Reading the feb issue of Top Gear and it seems the runflats are making a name for themselves.
Testing the new 335d coupe, quote " Then theres the ride. BMW is making a bit of a dogs dinner of this at the moment, and the finger of blame points squarely at the standard fit runflat tyres. When you buy a BMW, just as when you buy an Audi or a Mercedes or any properly premium brand, you dont expect to endure a pummelling every time you turn up an imperfection on the road. Which is all the time in the UK. Remove the sports suspension and fit a set of regular tyres, and this car might be as comfortable as a night in with Scarlett Johansson, but right now, on our roads, its far from it"
So its not just all us moaners, i was thinking maybe i am being over fussy. Maybe BMW should start listening to customers and motoring magazines.
Two things have to happen, ditch the runflats or get better runflats. And at the moment i dont think the runflats are quite there yet. Yes they might be ok for the roads in Florida. But they sure are not ok for the roads in the uk. And probably many other countries.
Testing the new 335d coupe, quote " Then theres the ride. BMW is making a bit of a dogs dinner of this at the moment, and the finger of blame points squarely at the standard fit runflat tyres. When you buy a BMW, just as when you buy an Audi or a Mercedes or any properly premium brand, you dont expect to endure a pummelling every time you turn up an imperfection on the road. Which is all the time in the UK. Remove the sports suspension and fit a set of regular tyres, and this car might be as comfortable as a night in with Scarlett Johansson, but right now, on our roads, its far from it"
So its not just all us moaners, i was thinking maybe i am being over fussy. Maybe BMW should start listening to customers and motoring magazines.
Two things have to happen, ditch the runflats or get better runflats. And at the moment i dont think the runflats are quite there yet. Yes they might be ok for the roads in Florida. But they sure are not ok for the roads in the uk. And probably many other countries.
BMW are innovative and there is no denying the concept makes sense. Its like the iDrive concept, where everyone complained about it, but a couple of generations later, its getting a fair bit of acceptance and similar concepts have been adopted by the likes of Benz and Audi. I think the RFTs will be the same, but like the iDrive, need more time to get there. And until then, I'll keep to my non-RFTs...
02-05-2007, 01:56 PM
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I agree, but who is testing these cars. The concept is fantastic. But at what cost, the very thing that is supposed to make the car safer in my opinion is making it unsafer.
Do they do all there road testing on racetracks, where they are bowling green smooth. Surely someone must have took it for a test drive and said "shit man that ride sucks"
Yes, the concept is great but the tyres are a few years away.
Do they do all there road testing on racetracks, where they are bowling green smooth. Surely someone must have took it for a test drive and said "shit man that ride sucks"
Yes, the concept is great but the tyres are a few years away.
02-05-2007, 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by fraseman999' post='387782' date='Feb 5 2007, 10:29 PM
...as comfortable as a night in with Scarlett Johansson...
ABC
02-05-2007, 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted by aybeesea' post='387805' date='Feb 6 2007, 12:00 AM
...as funny as an unfunny thing...
ABC
ABC
(sorry - lost touch with UK tv!)
02-05-2007, 02:08 PM
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Originally Posted by fraseman999' post='387803' date='Feb 5 2007, 10:56 PM
I agree, but who is testing these cars. The concept is fantastic. But at what cost, the very thing that is supposed to make the car safer in my opinion is making it unsafer.
Do they do all there road testing on racetracks, where they are bowling green smooth. Surely someone must have took it for a test drive and said "shit man that ride sucks"
Yes, the concept is great but the tyres are a few years away.
Do they do all there road testing on racetracks, where they are bowling green smooth. Surely someone must have took it for a test drive and said "shit man that ride sucks"
Yes, the concept is great but the tyres are a few years away.
Perhaps they should open a new testing facility in the potholed roads of the Scottish highlands (or Ireland) or any of the multitude of other countries with less than perfect roads...
02-05-2007, 04:05 PM
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I think I read that the new 2008 550 sports package has non-runflat tires.
02-05-2007, 05:01 PM
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Originally Posted by pennetta' post='387846' date='Feb 5 2007, 07:05 PM
I think I read that the new 2008 550 sports package has non-runflat tires.
Lou
02-05-2007, 06:23 PM
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My Ride: 2007 BMW 550, Sport, Navi, PS, CWP, Sirius
Originally Posted by fraseman999' post='387782' date='Feb 5 2007, 05:29 PM
Remove the sports suspension and fit a set of regular tyres...
02-05-2007, 06:50 PM
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My Ride: 2006 550i, Alpine White, Beige Ltr, Sport Pkg, Cold Weather Pkg, Premium Sound, Active Steering, Comfort Access, Steptronic, Nav, Satellite Radio, Split Fold Rear Seats, V1
Enough with the runflat bashing - let me paint a picture for you...
It is 5 am and I am late for the airport. I pull out of my garage and drive into an ice storm. It is dark, bitter cold and the roads are icy. I get a mile from my house and a light pops up on the screen and tells me I have a flat tire. The warning message goes on to say that it is safe to drive up to 50 mph. Rather than miss my flight, I made a quick decision to continue to drive to the airport - slowly - and worry about this when I get home. I made it to the airport without incident.
I flew back the next night and got to my car at 1 am (yes I know my job is crazy). I thought about calling BMW service but figured it would take a couple of hours to deal with this. I was tired and made a decision to drive home - slowly - and deal with it in the morning. I safely made it home and closed the garage door. After saluting my 550 for a job well done, I went to bed. The next day I found the nail that punctured my right front tire, replaced the tire and became a believer in runflat technology.
Keep wining about harsh ride, handling at the limit, noise, etc. Come back to the forum after you have a flat and share your thoughts about tradeoffs.
It is 5 am and I am late for the airport. I pull out of my garage and drive into an ice storm. It is dark, bitter cold and the roads are icy. I get a mile from my house and a light pops up on the screen and tells me I have a flat tire. The warning message goes on to say that it is safe to drive up to 50 mph. Rather than miss my flight, I made a quick decision to continue to drive to the airport - slowly - and worry about this when I get home. I made it to the airport without incident.
I flew back the next night and got to my car at 1 am (yes I know my job is crazy). I thought about calling BMW service but figured it would take a couple of hours to deal with this. I was tired and made a decision to drive home - slowly - and deal with it in the morning. I safely made it home and closed the garage door. After saluting my 550 for a job well done, I went to bed. The next day I found the nail that punctured my right front tire, replaced the tire and became a believer in runflat technology.
Keep wining about harsh ride, handling at the limit, noise, etc. Come back to the forum after you have a flat and share your thoughts about tradeoffs.