isnt cornering just a PART of the overall HANDLING of a car?:wonder:

so many peeps are discussing the merits of one over the other, but to me you cant have a 'good' handling car without effective cornering
if it wont go around a corner, it isnt handing very well
it might handle pretty well, but be a bit 'sketchy' around corners

etc.
etc.

discuss and put my mind to rest, please:freak3:

I always though how a car "handled" was what it did on the limit, ie understeered, oversteered, swopped from under to oversteer etc.

Would'nt cornering come under road holding? or have I got it all wrong.

I would agree with Scoobian on this - that cornering was indeed just part of the way a car handled.

isnt cornering just a PART of the overall HANDLING of a car?:wonder:

so many peeps are discussing the merits of one over the other, but to me you cant have a 'good' handling car without effective cornering
if it wont go around a corner, it isnt handing very well
it might handle pretty well, but be a bit 'sketchy' around corners

etc.
etc.

discuss and put my mind to rest, please:freak3:

Id agree that cornering is part of the cars handling.

Someone with a PHD will probably dissect that apart and make me look a right div though.....:razz:

I would deffinately say cornering is the BIGGEST part of the way a car handles! if i bought a car and drove 40miles of motorway and some one said "how does it handle then?", there's not much i would be able to tell them. Maybe its not that simple, how the car reacts to input might be close to a reasonable definition. And then this would also be dependent on the conditions (a car on slicks might handle great in the dry, but in the wet...).

That might also suggest raw acceleration or braking fall slightly out-with... A car could be an absolute rocket to 100mph but be spinning up and pulling all over the road... or have staggering brakes but almost no modulation.

don't think it means what the car is like at the edge. i don't need to go to the limit to tell my imprza is a better handling car then my old '95 fiesta! Likewise i could describe my DH bike as having slugish handeling on the flat, or if i slackened off the geometry, and i can tell that at 4mph in acar park

The subtle difference is that handling is what the car does in the approach to the corner, in the corner and on exit from the corner.

Subaru's generally have huge grip as a substitute for handling.

I have swapped ARB's fitted an ALK, and fitted wider road legal slicks to mine.

This makes the car handle better, i.e. less understeer into corners, but only slightly increased the grip. The car "sits" flatter on the brakes and turns-in more sharply, on exit from the corner body roll is controlled and oversteer can be provoked.

For me the 80 mph "Elk Test" is the clincher, it's possible to swerve from one lane into another and back without any loss of control, and barely any body roll.

The experts will be along soon with a text book answer, but lets be honest few of us drive at or near to the handling limits of our cars.
I go to Blyton (Rallycross circuit) to learn what my car is going to (try) to do to me when I get it wrong....

DunxC