This stretch of L.A.'s 405 freeway is constructed of concrete slabs and as such is notorious with ride/handling engineers. The high frequency ride qualities of the Mitsubishi Outlander GT don't like it at all, and our Director of Vehicle Testing, Dan Edmunds (an engineer who used to design and test suspension on the OE side of things) characterized this as, "too little compression damping." Ya, I'd say so. Jump with me to see the video.
I drive this stretch of 405 South almost daily and I can't think of another vehicle in our current long term fleet that does this. Unladen pickup trucks often do this; not crossovers.
Chief Road Test Editor, Chris Walton @ 16,161 miles
carguy622 says:
07:41 AM, 04/14/11
With a ride like that the Mitsubishi will be a rattle trap in no time!
ahightower says:
08:04 AM, 04/14/11
Now do the Equus
ed124c says:
08:08 AM, 04/14/11
Yes, now do the same ride with a car that, in your opinion, rides well.
vvk says:
08:27 AM, 04/14/11
Wow.
daxtripper says:
08:37 AM, 04/14/11
Man, how about some politeness in response to your free content? Sheesh.
Chris, would you mind doing a similar video featuring a car you'd consider to have a good ride? I'd be interested to see the comparison. Thanks. -Tom Dax
sniperruff says:
08:39 AM, 04/14/11
"I can't think of another vehicle in our current long term fleet that does this"
Maybe a video from the same camera/mount on the Terrain/Juke/Countryman would help.
esoterica says:
09:02 AM, 04/14/11
CW, I'm sorry that you have to drive this road daily, because I've only driven it a couple dozen times and every time I do I think it must be the worst-built stretch of highway in the country.
I've been on it in a Volvo S60, Cadillac CTS, Ford Fusion, Nissan Versa, S-Class hybrid, Dodge Charger R/T, Honda Prelude, and probably a few others, and hands-down the best damping was the Fusion, followed by the CTS.
The S-class literally made the backseat passengers nauseated, and the S60, which otherwise seemed pretty well suspended, didn't settle down until about 90mph.
igeekone says:
09:23 AM, 04/14/11
Road like this command a soft suspension car. This is why the Camry and Accord sell so well.
esoterica says:
09:45 AM, 04/14/11
@igeekone, no the Camry turns a road like this into a series of semi-unpredictable, long-wavelength undulations, which causes motion sickness, similar to the S-class.
mercedesfan says:
10:51 AM, 04/14/11
@esoterica,
I completely agree, soft suspensions do not do well on roads like this. There is a similar stretch of road up here in the Bay Area that I always like to take with cars I test drive. By far the two worst cars I've driven on that road were a non-ABC S-Class and a Lexus LS. You just start gently oscillating and won't stop. It is the polar opposite of the Mitsu: it doesn't knock your fillings out but the damped up and down motion makes you sea-sick! It was actually because of that road that I special ordered my S550 so I made sure I got ABC. With it, the road just disappears beneath you, without it you throw up.
ahightower says:
11:06 AM, 04/14/11
My apologies...
That's nifty. Sure would be neat to see the same thing in other vehicles for comparison. Keep up the great work!
cr_driver says:
11:48 AM, 04/14/11
Yeah, do some comparisons!!
Not properly tuned indeed.!
sodaguy says:
12:22 PM, 04/14/11
@mercedesfan:
Where in the Bay Area is this stretch of highway?
crackheadalley says:
01:32 PM, 04/14/11
I've driven this same freeway for years on:
Isuzu Impulse (Geo Storm) = harsh but good control & I was young and could not care less
Ford Mondeo V6= Smooth, great damping.
Ford Bronco II = I had nightmares for years about the steering column falling on my lap.
ML320 = No problem but except the cup holders opening by themselves on the dash.
Golf A3 VR6 = No problem, car was actually happy to ride the wave motion.
Fiat X1/9 = Felt like celebrating another safe arrival home with a toast at dinner time.
BMW 325Ci = No problem, car was actually happy to ride the wave motion.
Honda CB 750F = Rear damping could not get into terms with front forks
Aprila Dorsoduro = Irrelevant ripples.
Honda XR560L = REALLY irrelevant ripples.
Yamaha R1 = Barely tolerated the ride @65, would rather skim trough section @ +90
F-350 (Diese)l = Nothing inside the cab or bed finishes the 405 ride in the original position
Motorcoach D4050 to LAX = lovely slow motions, induces sleep.
mercedesfan says:
04:54 PM, 04/14/11
@sodaguy,
I really should have said "used" to be a road. 505 South just off of I5 used to be horrendous like this. However, they went and filled in a lot of the cracks, etc a few years ago. It's actually even worse now in terms of potholes, but it doesn't lead to the kind of oscillations that it used to.
If you really want to test out your car's damping, though, just drive down Zanker between Trimble and Brokaw in San Jose. That road is nasty. Not undulating, but it has potholes EVERYWHERE.
panerai250 says:
04:27 AM, 04/15/11
How about the Juke for comparsion,or any LT vehical.
fushigi says:
04:35 AM, 04/15/11
From the video: "This is pretty unacceptable."
Yes, it is. Whoever approved the payout for that road build needs to be fired for wasting taxpayer dollars. A road should be smooth and flat. Sure, they can deteriorate after a few years but that road looks relatively new.
Seriously, as bad & ill-maintained as Illinois & Chicago roads are I've not encountered such a stretch of highway around here.
porschecarrera says:
10:13 AM, 04/15/11
I used to dread the freeway slap on the 101 north between Redwood City and San Mateo, but now I have the pleasure of driving the 405. Caltrans: Your dollars at work, paying retiree pensions.
porschecarrera says:
10:14 AM, 04/15/11
Oops, edit "tax dollars."