Confusion

[SDR]

Yesterday I did my first long trip in the car, nearly 400 miles and tried out a few things mentioned in this thread.   Four take-aways, 2 minus, 2 plus.   This is mainly (although not exclusively) about the RSA and the overspeed beeps so, if you're bored with the subject, best to stop reading now!

Quick disclaimer, when I mention speed I mean indicated speed on the car's speedo, not accurate speed (my speedo reads approx 5% fast which seems to be par for the course).

First minus.   I tried changing the automatic sound leveliser (speed sensitive volume) to low.  Sadly, it didn't seem to make any difference to the overspeed beeps (radio off).   If it seems too good to be true....   However, you don't need the radio/media to drown the beeps (see Second plus below).

First plus.   When you exceed the speed limit, as displayed by the RSA and therefore not always accurate, you only get 3 beeps;   and the sign stops flashing shortly thereafter.   I had previously thought that it carried on beeping for longer than that.   I think that this is because if you exceed the displayed limit by 1mph, slow down to the limit, and exceed the limit again, the performance is repeated.   So, if you are driving on an undulating road (even with cruise control engaged), and you 'yo-yo' either side of the limit by even 1mph, you get a whole lotta beeps.   You only get 3 beeps if you stay over the displayed limit.  Which I did quite often because I found that the RSA was prone to missing NSL signs at the end of a lower limit.

Second minus.   My Corolla TS is a noisy car!   This is entirely subjective, of course.   The tyre/road noise over 50mph on anything other than perfectly smooth tarmac is more than I remember in 30 years or so driving VW Group cars (last being an Audi A4 Avant);   and many before that too*.   I had noticed the feather-light bonnet, with no sound insulation at all, I guess that is an indication.

Second plus.   At anything over 50mph, I couldn't really hear any beeps because of the road noise.   Seriously!

*Footnote.   My car is fitted with Conti Eco Contact 6 tyres.  These are definitely eco tyres, A rated for fuel efficiency and with a fairly high noise rating (although I believe that is measured 'drive by' rather than in the car).   IME, the downside of eco tyres is that they tend to be noisy (hard compound).   I used to run a Ford Ka+ as a second car as it was relatively cheap to insure for young, inexperienced named drivers.   That had Eco Contact 5 tyres and was also plagued by road noise;   but I had thought that it was just because it was a cheap car and lacked noise insulation.   Perhaps the tyres on both cars have something to do with it.

[Corolly Poly]

2 hours ago, SDR said:

Yesterday I did my first long trip in the car, nearly 400 miles and tried out a few things mentioned in this thread.   Four take-aways, 2 minus, 2 plus.   This is mainly (although not exclusively) about the RSA and the overspeed beeps so, if you're bored with the subject, best to stop reading now!

Quick disclaimer, when I mention speed I mean indicated speed on the car's speedo, not accurate speed (my speedo reads approx 5% fast which seems to be par for the course).

First minus.   I tried changing the automatic sound leveliser (speed sensitive volume) to low.  Sadly, it didn't seem to make any difference to the overspeed beeps (radio off).   If it seems too good to be true....   However, you don't need the radio/media to drown the beeps (see Second plus below).

First plus.   When you exceed the speed limit, as displayed by the RSA and therefore not always accurate, you only get 3 beeps;   and the sign stops flashing shortly thereafter.   I had previously thought that it carried on beeping for longer than that.   I think that this is because if you exceed the displayed limit by 1mph, slow down to the limit, and exceed the limit again, the performance is repeated.   So, if you are driving on an undulating road (even with cruise control engaged), and you 'yo-yo' either side of the limit by even 1mph, you get a whole lotta beeps.   You only get 3 beeps if you stay over the displayed limit.  Which I did quite often because I found that the RSA was prone to missing NSL signs at the end of a lower limit.

Second minus.   My Corolla TS is a noisy car!   This is entirely subjective, of course.   The tyre/road noise over 50mph on anything other than perfectly smooth tarmac is more than I remember in 30 years or so driving VW Group cars (last being an Audi A4 Avant);   and many before that too*.   I had noticed the feather-light bonnet, with no sound insulation at all, I guess that is an indication.

Second plus.   At anything over 50mph, I couldn't really hear any beeps because of the road noise.   Seriously!

*Footnote.   My car is fitted with Conti Eco Contact 6 tyres.  These are definitely eco tyres, A rated for fuel efficiency and with a fairly high noise rating (although I believe that is measured 'drive by' rather than in the car).   IME, the downside of eco tyres is that they tend to be noisy (hard compound).   I used to run a Ford Ka+ as a second car as it was relatively cheap to insure for young, inexperienced named drivers.   That had Eco Contact 5 tyres and was also plagued by road noise;   but I had thought that it was just because it was a cheap car and lacked noise insulation.   Perhaps the tyres on both cars have something to do with it.

Mine is not too noisy most of the time but there are certain road surfaces that it doesn't like and it can get pretty noisy when I encounter those. Fortunately it is not often.

The speeding alerts work like my TomTom. It beeps when I first exceed but doesn't bother me again unless I drop below the limit and exceed again. 

[SDR]

10 minutes ago, Corolly Poly said:

Mine is not too noisy most of the time but there are certain road surfaces that it doesn't like and it can get pretty noisy when I encounter those. Fortunately it is not often.

Well, buying an Excel may not have got you a HSW but maybe it has better noise insulation 😁

Seriously, I think that I read a review somewhere that said that the 2.0 was quieter than the 1.8 because it has acoustic side windows.    Whether that is true or not I've no idea. 

[Corolly Poly]

1 hour ago, SDR said:

Well, buying an Excel may not have got you a HSW but maybe it has better noise insulation 😁

Seriously, I think that I read a review somewhere that said that the 2.0 was quieter than the 1.8 because it has acoustic side windows.    Whether that is true or not I've no idea. 

Who knows 🤣

[Roy124]

12 hours ago, SDR said:

Seriously, I think that I read a review somewhere that said that the 2.0 was quieter than the 1.8 because it has acoustic side windows.    Whether that is true or not I've no idea. 

Not sure about the side windows but it has acoustic windscreen.  How much difference that makes I don't know but given the larger engine it might only reduce the noise level to that of a 1.8

[coreye9090]

I just checked my Yaris with the radio off, I can barely hear the over the speed limit beeps. (No I am not deaf before you accuse me)

I might be just lucky with mine!😂

[SDR]

30 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Not sure about the side windows but it has acoustic windscreen.  How much difference that makes I don't know but given the larger engine it might only reduce the noise level to that of a 1.8

If the review (and my memory of same) are correct, it said that all (current model) Corollas have an acoustic windscreen but only the 2.0 models have acoustic side windows. 

I actually don't find engine noise to be an issue at all.   It's the tyre/road noise that could do with being better suppressed. 

[SDR]

20 minutes ago, coreye9090 said:

I just checked my Yaris with the radio off, I can barely hear the over the speed limit beeps. (No I am not deaf before you accuse me)

I might be just lucky with mine!😂

Well, I do have poor hearing, albeit largely corrected by modern technology!   Too well corrected, possibly, because I can easily hear the beeps until they are drowned out by the road noise...

We are, however, talking about different cars.  I suppose that it would be surprising if the systems were identical. 

[sportse]

19 hours ago, SDR said:

  So, if you are driving on an undulating road (even with cruise control engaged), and you 'yo-yo' either side of the limit by even 1mph, you get a whole lotta beeps.   You only get 3 beeps if you stay over the displayed limit.  Which I did quite often because I found that the RSA was prone to missing NSL signs at the end of a lower limit.

 

That's an interesting way they've programmed it, to stop the beeps people will have to keep 'speeding' and not let their speed drop.

But good to hear that I won't be beeped at constantly when trying to rejoin the motorway or drive for 100 miles with it beeping all the time. (because it thinks the 20mph services speed limit still applies.)

Mine for some reason picked up a random 60 limit today on a 70mph dual carriageway I've driven for months and kept it for 20 miles. It hasn't done it before, so shows the camera speed assist isn't consistent.

I'd passed several national speed limits it ignored and kept showing 60, before it finally corrected itself after a 50 limit followed by a national. Maybe it thought it was a van for a while.

[sportse]

Regarding tyre noise, I've been impressed with the Bridgestone ecopia 150 tyres fitted as standard to my car.

In 16" size they're as quiet as 16" Michelin Crossclimates I had on another car before. According to the label, they are 1db louder than the Michelins, but I can't tell the difference.

[SDR]

1 hour ago, sportse said:

Regarding tyre noise, I've been impressed with the Bridgestone ecopia 150 tyres fitted as standard to my car.

In 16" size they're as quiet as 16" Michelin Crossclimates I had on another car before. According to the label, they are 1db louder than the Michelins, but I can't tell the difference.

Interesting.  According to Black Circles, the Ecopia 150 has the same (fairly high) noise rating as the Eco Contact 6.   However, AFAIK, the noise measurement is a 'drive by' test, not an 'in car' test, so the ratings may not mean much for the people in the car (if that's wrong I'd be happy to be corrected).

It seems to be something of a lottery as to which tyres you get on a new car.   I suspect it's largely a commercial decision as to which tyre manufacturer is offering the best deal at the time.   I can't criticise Toyota for fitting the Contis, they are a 'premium tyre' after all;   but they are noisy (unless it's just the car).

I had a new Skoda Octavia a few years ago which came fitted with Michelin Energy tyres (also eco tyres);   the car was a lot more civilised after I had replaced them.   Problem was, they lasted a long time, so the pain did too.   I suspect that the Contis may be the same.

[Corolly Poly]

Mine has 17" Falkens that I have heard can be noisy but don't seem too bad. Maybe my fat windows do reduce some of the noise from them

[sportse]

My car also has the Toyota boot liner, that might be reducing some of the sound as it's a large solid plastic liner.

It wasn't something I would have bought myself, but came with the car alongside the mud flaps and rear hatch scuff guard.

[Corolly Poly]

12 minutes ago, sportse said:

My car also has the Toyota boot liner, that might be reducing some of the sound as it's a large solid plastic liner.

It wasn't something I would have bought myself, but came with the car alongside the mud flaps and rear hatch scuff guard.

I've got that but took it out as even tho its a Toyota item, it doesn't fit with the boot floor on its lower position!