Do you find your car feeling much less power on humid days?

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:34 am

I am really trying to work out whether its just me or if there are any hard facts surrounding what I am experiencing. I find that some days my NB feels really strong with great mid pulling power and engine responses with real zest. Than on other days when its hot or humid, the car really feels like its struggling even with a 1.8 litre motor ! Humid days seem to be worst than hot days.

Anyone experience the same thing?

The MX5 seem to be more sensitive to weather changes compared to my Mazda6 and Magna...maybe I just don't pay enough attention in those cars.

Dweezle · Postby **Dweezle** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:10 am

It might be in my head, but driving back from QLD in the extreme humidity it really felt like I had lost power..

But yeah, might be psychological.. Haha

Now, today in Sydney feels fine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ForceMajeure · Postby **ForceMajeure** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:30 am

Definitely, a HAI (hot air intake) system never did really take off.

Maybe we all need to move to Tassie.

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:58 am

Yeah..I feel that with the recent super humid weather we have been experiencing lately has sapped the power out of my MX. She feels like she is struggling.

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:53 pm

Hot air is less dense, hence less power.
If your car was turboed, you'd notice the effect even more....

FMS01 · Postby **FMS01** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:30 am

Can't say I've noticed much with my boosted MX5 but my AE92 with 20V 4AGE on cold Brisbane nights was AWESOME! It even sounded different. I used to look forward to cold Wed and Tue nights so I could do a solo run around Mt Glorious and Nebo.

Cheers,
Julian

project.r.racing · Postby **project.r.racing** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:13 am

rascal wrote:Hot air is less dense, hence less power.

+1. Normal life for cars.

samx5 · Postby **samx5** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:01 am

Every car I've owned has had 'good' and 'not so good' days. Some days the motor is smooth & willing & the chassis feels tight, other days it can feel loose and the engine seems rougher...............or maybe its just me!

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:57 am

samx5 wrote:Every car I've owned has had 'good' and 'not so good' days. Some days the motor is smooth & willing & the chassis feels tight, other days it can feel loose and the engine seems rougher...............or maybe its just me!

Yes. I feel exactly the same way but only where the car is verging on being underpowered like the MX5's. I guess if you have a lot of grunt to begin with, you are not close to ever using 100% of it so less likely to feel the missing 5kw or so. Whereas with the MX, its not the torques engine in the world so you'll miss whatever power which is being sapped. Chassis always feel consistent to me regardless of temperature or wheather conditions.

I noticed you also had a peugeout 306, that was a classic design with superb handling. Its a pity they don't make cars like that any more. I drove the new GTI polo recently and while it was pretty powerful, the handling and drive feel was very remote and uninvolving....not like the 306 and MX5.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:26 pm

the comments are amusing- they describe how people feel on hot and or humid days. Incidentally the 306 had a good reputation for chassis and ride but not for build quality. Some say they still build them like that.

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:47 pm

Mr Morlock wrote:the comments are amusing- they describe how people feel on hot and or humid days. Incidentally the 306 had a good reputation for chassis and ride but not for build quality. Some say they still build them like that.

yes. I have to agree with you about French quality. One of the reasons why I bought an NB was because I knew how bullet prove their manufacturing is as I had owned an NA many years ago. The damn thing just never gave me one single problem even after driving it super hard for many years.

I have worked with Japanese before and I can tell you that the excellent build quality comes from their extremely 'anal' work culture. Not great for innovation but excellent for build quality like the Germans. You can't really beat the japanese for build quality. Japanese cars have held up extremely well against the best in the world.

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:51 pm

miatalim wrote:
Mr Morlock wrote:the comments are amusing- they describe how people feel on hot and or humid days. Incidentally the 306 had a good reputation for chassis and ride but not for build quality. Some say they still build them like that.

yes. I have to agree with you about French quality. One of the reasons why I bought an NB was because I knew how bullet prove their manufacturing is as I had owned an NA many years ago. The damn thing just never gave me one single problem even after driving it super hard for many years.

I have worked with Japanese before and I can tell you that the excellent build quality comes from their extremely 'anal' work culture. Not great for innovation but excellent for build quality like the Germans. You can't really beat the japanese for build quality. Japanese cars have held up extremely well against the best in the world.

Interesting, I had 10x as many problems with my MX5 in its first year, compared to my Peugeot 308 in its first year...

samx5 · Postby **samx5** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:31 pm

Yes, I had a 306 S16 with the 116kw 2 litre & sports suspension, the handling was superb, the genius with it was that the grip never gave up and yet the shocks were supple, it just soaked up every mid corner bump and was therefore a very quick car on 'real' Aussie roads (i.e. crap). At this stage Peugeot was making their own shocks, were not getting them from an outside supplier as far as I know. It had passive rear steer with bushes that flexed to turn the rear wheels under high cornering load, which made the nose tuck in sharper just when you would expect a front drive car to understeer. Not suited to a racetrack, as the suppleness of the shocks on the road would translate to softness on the track. Other positives were great steering with a fair bit of weight and feel, a nice gearshift and fantastic bolstered seats that were comfortable all day. The negatives were a massively heavy clutch pedal that got worse until you replaced a bushing in the clutch cable mechanism (and then 6 months later it would start to get heavy again....), front wishbone bushes that failed every 3 or 4 years, assorted gremlins to electrics, and my passenger footwell turned into a swimming pool one time. I sold it as I was getting to know the service department too much for my liking........

miatalim · Postby **miatalim** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:06 pm

samx5 wrote:Yes, I had a 306 S16 with the 116kw 2 litre & sports suspension, the handling was superb, the genius with it was that the grip never gave up and yet the shocks were supple, it just soaked up every mid corner bump and was therefore a very quick car on 'real' Aussie roads (i.e. crap). At this stage Peugeot was making their own shocks, were not getting them from an outside supplier as far as I know. It had passive rear steer with bushes that flexed to turn the rear wheels under high cornering load, which made the nose tuck in sharper just when you would expect a front drive car to understeer. Not suited to a racetrack, as the suppleness of the shocks on the road would translate to softness on the track. Other positives were great steering with a fair bit of weight and feel, a nice gearshift and fantastic bolstered seats that were comfortable all day. The negatives were a massively heavy clutch pedal that got worse until you replaced a bushing in the clutch cable mechanism (and then 6 months later it would start to get heavy again....), front wishbone bushes that failed every 3 or 4 years, assorted gremlins to electrics, and my passenger footwell turned into a swimming pool one time. I sold it as I was getting to know the service department too much for my liking........

Yes. The handling of the 306 was truly magic and the suppleness was bordering on devine. I have heard too many nightmare stories about Pugs though from all over the world in terms of build quality and reliability...I reckon only an Alfa Romeo could beat it for poor reliability.

samx5 · Postby **samx5** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:30 pm

If only the Peugeot QC was the same as the designers intended, things could have been different. Maybe they should have built them in Thailand instead of Coventry UK. The ability to soak up road shocks was very similar to the current Golf GTI, feels very sophisticated. Renault is starting to build cars in Asia now, should be very interesting.