rumble through car on motorway

Hello let me introduce myself I picked up a 130k miles A2 1.4SE petrol yesterday, I have wanted one of these for a while. However I have a noticeable rumble vibration feel, not highly aggressive but it spoils an otherwise pindrop silent 70mph journey. You feel it more under load or acceleration at high speed, it's kind of a rumble feeling through the car and sounds slightly whirry. Can anyone please suggest what this might be, I know gearboxes are a weakness but its not grinding, the car just feels a bit rumbly shaky under acceleration in 5th at higher speeds. Its as if the load on acceleration makes the front wheels shake as you accelerate.

I would love to fix it but wonder about engine mounts or can the gearbox being worn create this effect at higher speeds say above 40? There is a slight whirr noise heard from the box you can hear inside the cabin that goes away if you drop it out of gear at 70.

Answers on a postcard please, positive and accurate suggestions welcome, Greg

Hi.

the first thing to do is to go to a tyre dealer and get a free tyre check and balance.

Tyres can develop faults that cause this kind of thing and as it is a free it is worth doing to eliminate one possible cause.

Tyres can develop bulges ("eggs") and a small defect can create the vibrations and rumbles.

Whirring noises from gearboxes don't always mean a serious problem. The 1.4 is so quiet that you will notice things like this and it might not be a problem.

For a gearbox to cause noticeable vibrations it would have to be in a pretty bad way and you would hear more than a whir.

So I would recommend that you get the tyres and balancing checked by a professional first

Steve B