Neil.H

I had driven mine in all kinds of rain (including 300 mile trips on motorways rain all the way etc) over the 23,000 miles I did in it, and I had never aquaplaned either. Until one day, I did.

I've obviously thought a lot about my accident, and IMHO the main factors that caused me to depart the road backwards are:

1) The speed I was going, whilst legal, was too great - the spray from the road hid the puddle and I had no time to slow down for it = I was going to fast. Lesson learned.

2) The sheer depth of water that I hit. More time spent skimming the surface of the water means more time for lateral movement. The fact that I was on a sweeping bend probably didn't help. The road where I went off floods regularly in heavy rain, I've seen it many times since the accident and it's very bad indeed. I'm absolutely certain more cars will crash there unless it's fixed.

I'm sure the cars balance is also a contributary factor - a front-heavy car will be less likely to swap ends for example. Perhaps the LSD doesn't help either. But I don't blame the car at all, it's just the way it is and what makes it so good in the dry.

rahula

To be honest I have never had the problem of aquaplaning on the S02 or RE050s. I have felt the car move about when heavy rain created streams in the ruts on the road and I then slowed down but never lost control.

I remember going to the meet in Sussex with everyone and I had to come home early as my in-laws were visiting and when I left it was pelting it down. I drove it at around 60-70% of how I would in the dry, had to overtake an Escort 2000 that was extremely slow in the bends and all was fine. The car didn't misbehave, it didn't hang the tail out and I was in control of what I was doing, I could have been a maniac on the road or a controlled driver but it is the driver in the majority that is responsible for the outcome to an incident.

Some people will get unlucky in the S, but they would in any other car too and others create the problem by driving incorrectly. I could put on some true off-road tyres on the S and I would probably be fine, I might put some narrow tyres on and I will be fine at higher speed but eventually at some speed and some water level it will aquaplane. If the question is whether the S02 are a problem, I don't know because I never had a problem with them.

gaddafi

Agreed

This debate will continue and no-one will change their stance

But I believe that any car with low profiles is more prone to aquaplane than another car with narrow tyres

That's all

I don't believe the S is more prone to aquaplane than an M5/M3/911/TVR etc

ABS, LSD, DCS, TC and size 11 feet have nothing to do with it

Things like Clio 172s may be less likely to aquaplane because of the tyre profile

Fine with me

I don't want a Clio - I want cars from my list above

Nick Graves

That is one of my bete noirs about this 'no tomorrow' politic;

It doesn't matter how often it happens, no-one GAF.

Soon as someone dies & there's a potential manslaughter angle, the repairers are rushed out to patch up the problem.