6.9 driving musings

[daantjie]

Hi guys

Took the ol' girl out for a shake down today, weather's been rough so first spin of the year delayed

Again got the feeling that these beasts truly were made for faster driving.  Around town at lower speeds it tends to feel very heavy and downright unwieldy at times. But once you stretch the legs at 80-100 km/h+ it's like it's transformed into a totally different animal. Like a racehorse that just waits for the gallop.

Any other 6.9 drivers feel this luggish front heavy feeling at low speeds or maybe just me?

Cheers

[raueda1]

Hi guys

Took the ol' girl out for a shake down today, weather's been rough so first spin of the year delayed

Again got the feeling that these beasts truly were made for faster driving.  Around town at lower speeds it tends to feel very heavy and downright unwieldy at times. But once you stretch the legs at 80-100 km/h+ it's like it's transformed into a totally different animal. Like a racehorse that just waits for the gallop.

Any other 6.9 drivers feel this luggish front heavy feeling at low speeds or maybe just me?

Cheers

I fully agree about the "made for..."  feeling.  I don't get the very heavy/unwieldy feeling though.  I mean, it IS a big, heavy car after all.  But at low speeds the throttle response is terrific and it's as zippy as I want it to be.  I also find handling excellent for such a big car.  That said, after rebuilding the struts the handling improved immensely - it was super smooth but wallowy and barge-like before.  I'm coming to believe that the struts can deteriorate slowly with a lot of difference in the ride between perfect-newness and old-and-tired (even though still working).   Cheers,

[daantjie]

Well, maybe I should qualify this a bit more by saying my daily driver is a '07 Honda Civic     there simply is no comparison in "grocery getting" type driving for me.  The Civic is light years ahead in just sheer nimbleness and "whip ability".

For sure this changes on the freeway though.  There the Benz really shines and has that nice, stable big car glide and the Civic seems choppy at speed.

Maybe just me, dunno...

[raueda1]

Well, maybe I should qualify this a bit more by saying my daily driver is a '07 Honda Civic     there simply is no comparison in "grocery getting" type driving for me.  The Civic is light years ahead in just sheer nimbleness and "whip ability".

For sure this changes on the freeway though.  There the Benz really shines and has that nice, stable big car glide and the Civic seems choppy at speed.

Maybe just me, dunno...

This explains a lot about perceptions and comparisons, LOL.  My daily driver is a GL550, not exactly small and wispy.   

[ptashek]

Not a 6.9 driver, but my smaller V8 also likes to be driven "spiritedly"
Doesn't feel heavy in slow traffic though.

Can also relate to the nimbleness and "whip ability" of smaller, more modern cars. My daily driver since recently is an EV, and it's hard to beat the 320Nm of torque it delivers from the word go.

[BCK1963]

Don't make the mistake and compare old cars with modern ones, even not a 6.9 with a Honda Civic.
My daily driver is a 2012 BMW 330 d and I can hardly imagine a situation where the 6.9 tops the BMW except when I look on the dashboard, the center console, the body curves etc. or when I listen to the engine sound :-)
Furthermore, when I move the BMW I get from A to B, when I drive the Merc I enjoy that in a different way.

I'd say that the 6.9 becomes alive at 100 - 110 km/h. The throttle response then is very different compared to around 80 km/h. It is always ok and sufficient, though, if you are not in a hurry.

I can't say that that the weight and related handling of the 6.9 particular bothers me.
My personal weight bothers me more 

[Max-NL]

Even though we've owned the 6.9 for 8 years already, it's only been driven about 100m in total from the one end of the workshop to the other end. So I unfortunately cannot tell how it handles    .

[BCK1963]

But how did it feel on these 100 m, straight and in curves?
Could be a valuable information for short-distance drivers 

[Randys01]

Too long out of the saddle.
See if you can snag a drive of a 1978 Chev !

[ramiro]

Weird, power wise i think the car is actually to zippy in towns because even with a light touch of the throttle pedal it really wants to take off , i always have to be careful to not give to much throttle while turning or the car wants to spin the tires or just feels uncomfortable.

Is the spring pressure of your throttle pedal linear?
For me the first part is very light until one point where when you get over that the car really takes off, sometimes thats actually annoying because if you just want to give it a little more throttle you get over that bump and it gets to much , but on the other hand it makes slower driving easier.

What the hydraulic suspension really does not like are sharp turns on country roads , there a normal steel spring w116 feels much better.


 

[daantjie]

My throttle feel is actually stiffer at take off and gets progressively lighter.

[ramiro]

ok maybe i should check my linkage again, but sometimes i think that it feels like that on purpose to make it easier to drive the car slow.

[Randys01]

I find the throttle a bit trigger happy to begin with but generally linear inasmuch as there is a direct correlation between the throttle and linkage. ie it is not electronically manipulated like modern cars.

[raueda1]

Weird, power wise i think the car is actually to zippy in towns because even with a light touch of the throttle pedal it really wants to take off , i always have to be careful to not give to much throttle while turning or the car wants to spin the tires or just feels uncomfortable.

Is the spring pressure of your throttle pedal linear?
For me the first part is very light until one point where when you get over that the car really takes off, sometimes that's actually annoying because if you just want to give it a little more throttle you get over that bump and it gets to much , but on the other hand it makes slower driving easier.

Honestly, I can't recall what my throttle response was like originally, but after messing with it the response was extremely smooth and progressive. None of the problems described in this thread.  At the time I vaguely remember Daniel talking about how the roller in the cam-like plate of the linkage needed to be just so.  And getting it that way wasn't easy, but I think that's the key.  First I replaces all the plastic stuff (balls, bushings, roller etc).  I also vaguely recall working on both ends of the linkage separately before reconnecting the long rod.  That is, getting each "end" of the linkage right before connecting them together with the long rod - first get pedal, roller cam etc just right, then get the short throttle linkage right and only then set up the long rod.  Then repeat just for good measure. The CIS manual goes through it, more or less, except the nonsense on shift rod adjustment.  Anyway, throttle response is terrific, maybe best I've experienced in any car.  My partner has BMW X1 and the car jack-rabbits around.  And I recently drove some kind of Hyundai, same thing.  Terrible.

Hope this makes sense, it's a holiday weekend and I've started on the margaritas      Cheers,