Packard Forum Index » General

Good afternoon...My neighbor has an almost new Tesla and I happened to have a ride in it yesterday. It goes like a bat out of hell and the feeling in the seat is like a Boeing 737 taking off. However, my feeling was that while it rode quite nicely, it did not ride any better than our Packard 23rd series deluxe. I was very surprised that the ride of the old girl held up very well to the new expensive 'Electric Hot Rod'.

How do other members of this forum rate the ride of their Packards against more 'MODERN IRON'? Ernie

Well, I think that is going to be a difficult apples-to-apples comparison to make, since passenger cars (what Packard made) aren't 19 feet long and two-and-a-half-tons heavy anymore.

A guess a Chevy Suburban is the closest thing to any Packard, and for what a new Chevy Suburban costs you can buy a pretty nice Packard these days.

I don't know where to go on this one.

I have never had the chance to ride in a Tesla but I have commented to many people that the torsion ride of the 55 Caribbean is pretty impressive on the potholes and rough surfaces that we call roads here in Western Pennsylvania. I think it is actually quieter going over bumps and railroad tracks than the newer Audi and BMW's that I have driven on the same roads.
I drove the car to Hershey on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last Fall and it cruised smoothly at 60-70 mph.
The car was fitted with gas filled shocks at the suggestion of Kamters and rolls on American Classic radials.
It would be nice if it handled and stopped like a new BMW but those vehicles never draw waves or thumbs up received while cuising in the Packard with the top down......and I have never had an identical car parked next to the Caribbean in a restaurant parking lot.

My '56 Carib gives what I consider a superb ride quality, better than anything else of that era that I've driven. But honestly, can we expect a purely mechanical suspension to match one where sensors and computers are making thousands of decisions and adjustments a minute (or is it per second?) to the suspension components?