Ride comfort

[Roy C]

Having lived with the MP for a couple of months now I have had the opportunity to experience the vehicle on different types of journey and to use the local vehicle test-track. In an unparalleled feat of coordination this test-track has been specifically designed and built by Harrogate Borough Council and various utility providers over the last couple of years to provide the ultimate test of a vehicle's ride and handling. They have cunningly disguised this collection of pot-holes, poorly patched tarmac and dips that alarmingly alter the camber as the road I need to travel on to reach my house.

This has highlighted some short-comings in the MP ride quality. On motorways and A-roads, when the speed is between 50 and 80 mph, I find the MP takes everything in its stride. Road / wind / tyre noise is minimal and the ride is smooth. However on my "local test-track", which in part has a 30 limit and the rest is 40 mph, I find the ride unsettling. Removing a large part of the roof does seem to have noticeably reduced the structural rigidity and at certain points there is even a creak / squeak that is difficult to trace but I think is maybe the roof seal as the vehicle flexes. Travelling in my wife's Mini the bumps and dips and holes do not seem anywhere near as noticeable.

Does this tally with anyone else's experience of ride quality sub 40 mph but, in particular, has anyone else got a creak / squeak when encountering just the right cadence of humps and bumps? If not it could always be a poorly stored camping mug or storage container rubbing against something rather than something that is more structural that is going the bug the hell out of me every time I drive to and from my house.

 

[mptripsaway]

Having lived with the MP for a couple of months now I have had the opportunity to experience the vehicle on different types of journey and to use the local vehicle test-track. In an unparalleled feat of coordination this test-track has been specifically designed and built by Harrogate Borough Council and various utility providers over the last couple of years to provide the ultimate test of a vehicle's ride and handling. They have cunningly disguised this collection of pot-holes, poorly patched tarmac and dips that alarmingly alter the camber as the road I need to travel on to reach my house.

This has highlighted some short-comings in the MP ride quality. On motorways and A-roads, when the speed is between 50 and 80 mph, I find the MP takes everything in its stride. Road / wind / tyre noise is minimal and the ride is smooth. However on my "local test-track", which in part has a 30 limit and the rest is 40 mph, I find the ride unsettling. Removing a large part of the roof does seem to have noticeably reduced the structural rigidity and at certain points there is even a creak / squeak that is difficult to trace but I think is maybe the roof seal as the vehicle flexes. Travelling in my wife's Mini the bumps and dips and holes do not seem anywhere near as noticeable.

Does this tally with anyone else's experience of ride quality sub 40 mph but, in particular, has anyone else got a creak / squeak when encountering just the right cadence of humps and bumps? If not it could always be a poorly stored camping mug or storage container rubbing against something rather than something that is more structural that is going the bug the hell out of me every time I drive to and from my house.

Hi Roy,
Where I reside in the East Midlands we have some of the best "test tracks" in the UK and so far in my experience the MP was designed to deal with the best (worst) of them.
I haven't experienced the squeaks that you describe but I do have an annoying rumble on the most challenging part of said "test track" which I think is coming from the fixed awning although all attempts to pin it down have been futile!

 

[Spekky]

I can see this thread becoming a comparison of test tracks! I can't believe your roads can be anywhere near as well prepared for suspension testing as ours here in Surrey. However - I have a terrible rattle which sounds like loose spanners inside the sliding door. I don't think it is transmitted from the awning. The vehicle is going for another visit to the car hospital today, so I have asked them to look at this at the same time.

 

[anyideas]

Roy I’m with braysaway, no issues here. So far it’s dealt with anything I’ve thrown at it.
In fact I am still in shock at how well it drives.

 

[Spekky]

Actually, I agree about the general ride quality, which is excellent. I will be interested to find out how it handles round the adverse camber French roundabouts next month. I try and avoid the autoroutes, as I like driving through the countryside, and the French do like their road furniture.

 

[anyideas]

Actually, I agree about the general ride quality, which is excellent. I will be interested to find out how it handles round the adverse camber French roundabouts next month. I try and avoid the autoroutes, as I like driving through the countryside, and the French do like their road furniture.

We’re in France in July so would be interested to hear how you found it during your trip.

 

[mptripsaway]

Watch out for the huge anti-speed humps in many French villages, designed to slow traffic to 30kph, I'd recommend approaching them considerably slower than that if you want to keep your crockery intact.

 

[Israel]

Owner of a MP 250d 4matic (Comes with Active Chasis Control). My advice: if the road is bumpy, drive slow and enjoy the views . This car is not made for that.
As a note: I mount 17'' tires on winter and 18'' on summer. Bigger tires do a difference, much better.

Skickat från min SM-A320FL via Tapatalk

 

[BabaJen]

You are driving a camper. At the end of the day it is a fully loaded van.

It should travel well over all surfaces but don't expect limo ride quality when it gets bumpy. There is a lot of rattly bits wanting to tell you that they're rattly. Packing goes a long way.

 

[Roy C]

Thanks all for the replies. I am comfortable that the ride quality isn't going to be as good as a car that hasn't had a large section of it's roof removed and which has many fewer add-ons to pick up rattles.

The thing that is really vexing me is the squeak. I noticed a couple of days ago after heavy rain that it wasn't squeaking in the usual places on the "test track". Also with my wife driving for the first time today I found that I could make the squeak occur less often if I pushed up on the roof panel. This could suggest it is the seal of the pop-up roof rubbing against the original roof. Maybe the roof seals need some lubrication, which they had just after the heavy rain. I think I'll try some silicone spray / lubricant on the roof seals.

 

[Roy C]

I have tried putting silicone lubricant on the roof seals and this has had no effect but I have been looking more closely at the roof and I notice that the roof on the passenger side front corner has significantly more travel when pushed down than on the front driver's side and the rear corners. I think the roof is not closing tightly enough on the passenger side front corner. I am going to book it into the dealer for them to look at it.

 

[BabaJen]

You have my Sympathy Roy. Unidentified squeaks are the one thing to drive me nuts. I hope it is what you think it is and the dealer can sort it.

 

[Roy C]

You have my Sympathy Roy. Unidentified squeaks are the one thing to drive me nuts. I hope it is what you think it is and the dealer can sort it.

Thanks. I’ve booked it in next week and over the weekend I will be emptying all the cupboards and drawers to make sure it is not a loose camping mug or something trivial. When I first got it it seemed pretty rattle free so it is something that has developed over time.

Thinking back the only other thing of note is that I did close the roof with a duvet still on the mattress and now I’m wondering if that has something to do with it, whether the pressure of closing with an albeit thin and squashy duvet has caused something to loosen under strain but I can see no obvious issues with the roof or the mechanism.

 

[Katie]

We have got an unidentifiable rattle that has developed since I got the van. This morning I emptied it but still there. Then I found the side trim on the offside of the rear seats was loose and managed to find out it was unclipped. Put it back but it still rattles. aargh! It does not sound to me as though it’s coming from the awning but as I am a bit deaf and on my own this weekend I can’t be sure. Also think it could be one of the blinds as it sounds like plastic rather than metal but Westfalia seem to have done a good job of putting rubber bits in most of the places in the van that do move slightly on bumpy roads.
My partner is not bothered by rattles at all but when she returns I am going to make her drive the van around a bit with me in the back to try to locate it.
Once I know where it is it won’t bother me nearly so much as all the rattles from the contents of the cupboards I can easily accept.
I’ll let you know the outcome if I think it may be useful to others; meanwhile, Radio 3 on high volume.

 

[Paul Rutley]

It's really interesting listening to your observations on the ride. I had no idea, having barely done 700 miles since getting it in December but I shall be putting it to the test in just over a week and will be listening for the creaks and squeaks! The upper bed is made as I thought it's the only place to store the bedding bar the pillows. I'll let you know what I hear later in this thread. Cheers

 

[WILLH]

Mine is perfect apart from an annoying rattle sometimes coming from the latch on the lower drawer under the sink-will adjust it myself when I get the time

 

[Roy C]

My car is back from the dealer's and so far squeak-free over a couple of trips round the "test track". They adjusted the roof mechanism because it was too tight, apparently.

 

[Roy C]

Slowly but surely the squeak in the roof has come back. As well as adjusting the roof they lubricated it so I suspect it was more the lubrication than the adjustment that removed the squeak. So I will try lubricating the roof myself but when I did the roof rubber seals with silicone lubricant spray last time it didn’t make any difference. I shall try agian but maybe I didn’t lubricate the right things - just the seal rubber and runners - or I need different lubricant. Any suggestions on where and how to lubricate the roof?

 

[Roy C]

I am now squeak-free again, or at least the van is. This time, as well as the runners, I lubricated two extra areas: the small plastic-coated bar of the locking mechanism and the plastic spacer where the scissor mechanism crosses over. A quick run around the test-track turned up no squeaks. I'll monitor the situation and it seems I might need to do this every few weeks but I'd much rather that than gritting my teeth every time a less than perfect British road appears in front of me.

 

[Brian Drought]

@Roy C Did this go away for you completely? My roof is making a fair noise!