Gentlemen.
Do car manufacturers engineer their cars so that say when you close a car door it closes with a sloid sounding "clunk". I say this because I sat in a new shape Toyota Corolla and Focus both of which feel as if they have less solid doors then say a VW Golf. Would this really be the case or is it all in my mind. Do manufactureres suchg as VW use a thicker sheet of steel than say Toyota?
Thanks.
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When Lexus designed the LS400 they could not get the door to close with the reassuring sound that the Mercs made so they appointed a team of accoustic engineers.
Basically the engineers found that by putting bits of rubber and various weights in the doors they could get the desired sound and feel.
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There was somebody on 'That's Life' a few years ago who claimed to be able to identify cars purely by their door clunk.
Generally I think it is true, cheap cars have tinny sounding bangs, quality cars make a satisfying clunk. Old minis and my Renault 4 sounded as if the door would fall off if slammed too hard.
On the other hand older Land-Rovers sounded like banging a dustbin lid but I saw a scarey wildlife film on safari and a clip of a rhinocerous charging a LandRover. I recall seeing the horn stuck through the door panel, but the door stayed intact.
My Volvo's doors weigh a ton and have a momentum that would amputate your arm if you got it caught.
The nicest doors I have ever owned were the forward-hinging 'suicide' doors on a 1947 Triumph Roadster 1800. These either shut with the faintest 'click', or could be closed entirely silently by holding the chrome handle down until the door had closed.
They were thick aluminium on a massive wooden frame, with solid brass chromed catches.
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Two points:
* I am on my second MB E320 Coupé. The large doors have behaved exactly the same on both of them: passenger door shuts with the expected thunk, driver's door doesn't. I have given up trying to figure out why. Both doors require a firm follow-through when closing, which I guess has to do with the quality of the seal that MB have managed to engineer into these pillarless cars; every passenger is surprised that an MB door needs this technique.
* Whatever happened to the wonderful zero-torsion locks that Ford fitted to Cortinas in the 1960s? Now that was a door that never needed slamming.
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passengerdoor shuts with the expected thunk, driver's door doesn't.
Could that be due to driver's door being open when passenger door closes and not vice-versa, reflecting air-tight qualities?
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I think my Fiestas have got better and better, the first had a nasty tin-like bang, the MK5 had a nicer noise, and the MK6 is infinately better, with a nice solid clunk, although not quite up to a new Merc standard.
I think a lot of the way a car feels is down to perceived quality, which I'm pleased to say is very high in the Fiesta, my dad commented that the door pillars look very, very solid and the whole car feels well screwed together... But it still doesn't quite make a Mercedes noise!
Blue
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On my Laguna, renault have engineered a very nice quality sounding thunk on all the doors. The engineer must have said "Non I only do doors" or was laid off, as the rear hatch sounds like the cheapest dustbin lid.
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Thanks for the thought, frostbite, but no: passenger door thunks in all circumstances, driver's door doesn't thunk. And as it has been the same on both cars I take it to be what software people would call a feature, not a shortcoming. It annoys me, but doesn't spoil my overall enjoyment of the car.
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I was wondering if this could be due to the Mercs primary market being left hand drive, and therefore with it then becoming the drivers door, would be expected to get more use and wear, so is engineered more thoroughly, to cope with the extra openings & closings. !!!
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Good point: and as all passengers (esp. my daughter), slam the pink fluffy dice passenger door, they predicted that method and obliged.
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". . . as all passengers (esp. my daughter), slam the pink fluffy dice passenger door, they predicted that method and obliged."
Puts on tin hat, crouches low, loads mortar: I aver that all women slam all car doors all of the time. I once said this to a female passenger and she didn't demur.
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Cliff,I remember those Renault 4 days. The doors closed with a kind of clack. I was more concerned about going through the rusty floor pan. My 845cc was amazingly nimble but died when the the gasket went and the liners dropped. Mike
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The new LDV van doors OPEN with a loud clang.
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I seem to remember being told that the (original) Beetles were so well sealed that you sometimes had to open a window before you could manage to close a door!
Graeme
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That is correct C5, they were so well sealed and with their flat floorpan, they would actually float !!
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To answer the original question:
Yes.
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Hence the old saying.....\"I\'m going to hang around like a pink fluffy dice in a Volkswagen.\"
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