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I do notice the jerks to the right and left on high winds. This past week-end, I drove 1000kms, and on the hilly roads of VT, no problem, often they are protected from the wind, on any stretch exposed, like on the 417 or 401, I feel the urgency to drive with both hands, as I would feel the speed shifts, front/back or right/left from gusts of wind. Not much push from back wind, but I can feel the resistance on head wind. And going from 4.7L/100km to 10.... IT feels it too. ;-)
I wonder if wider tires would have less effect. I doubt, but one has to wonder.
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Yep the wind blows it around a bit. I have not owned anything recently that compares to the Micra but I will assume just on general principle that any small, light, tall car would behave the same. Even big vans and delivery trucks are susceptible, especially when empty.
My car is much lower that most Micras, with a much better suspension and upgrade tires...I don't notice much difference but it would be interesting to do a side by side on a windy day.
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With my SR I don't think it is any better or worse than my 08 Rogue was. Recently my summer rims got put on which are 16" x 7" vs stock 16" x 6" rim width and +42 offset vs stock +50. Car definitely is a bit more planted. My daily commute covers most of the DVP then across 401 and up the 400 about 90 km of highway to and from work.
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I don't know if it's bravery, I'm building my micra into an autocross machine, so I wanted to kinda benchmark where it sat and how it felt at 6k rpm, it felt good, but I question the sanity of anyone wanting to sustain a speed like that for any length of time.
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Mike go 2" on your exhaust from the cat back and you will have no trouble getting to and holding 160+ speeds. You can hit 170 on flat pavement in the 4500 rpm range. Not that I condone driving at those speeds on any of our roads...
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If you're doing 170 at 4.5k rpm, you're not in a micra. That's not even possible unless you're coasting down the steepest hill in Canada. lol. And for the record, my exhaust will be 2" right up until the muffler, then swaged to 2.5. (s-way-ged, not a swagfag. Just clarifying)
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UPDATE Today Friday April 10th is extremly gusty windy day. Just took my Micra out on HWY 62 north and it was not nearly as bad as it was in the winter on snow and ice. Wind from the west today so the north/south run up 62 was a good test. The wind still moved the car around but not nearly as bad as the one trip I took up and back down the 115 in winter.
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My previous car, a Grand Am GT, was comparatively heavy and low, and was virtually unaffected by even the strongest of crosswinds. The only time I noticed an exceptionally strong crosswind was at a standstill, and I might have felt the car shake slightly. Compared to that, the Micra gets blown around on the highway noticeably more. There is no chin spoiler on the Micra, so that's only going to make the problem worse. I can understand why car reviewers would mention this in their reviews; after two decades of reviewing cars that are lower, heavier, and generally incorporate a chin spoiler, a tall, light car lacking the benefit of a chin spoiler is a completely different beast. I'm closing in at nearly 40,000km, and I hardly notice the cross-winds anymore, which have become more common in southern Ontario lately. There's an exceptionally strong gust, I adjust for that with a slight twitch of the incredibly well-tuned steering, and the sway bars fore and aft help me avoid the debris that said wind is blowing onto the road; it really is not an issue for me.
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I hate to bump an old thread but this is my "street bike" I had it out today its tall and light like the micra and has about the same top speed. After blasting by a few transports today I have to say the micra is a very stable vehicle.
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Here in St. John's Newfoundland, the windiest city in Canada, my car is all over the road on windy days when the wind is over 60 km/h, so the reviewers are correct. I wonder if upgrading to wider wheels will help with this?
