My opinion of why cars are still heavy!

I looked into the weight of the cars also, especially since Ferrari and Lambo's are also becoming heavier.


The simple answer is this:

Each year the federal government raises the standard for safety and crash tests (frontal, side, roll-over, rear, etc).

The extra strenght (safety) can only be achieve by added more aluminum or steel components. (Carbon-Fiber is still very expensive to work with from a factor standpoint).

Electronics: Car have so much in the way of electronics, thus more cabeling and wiring to support: HID lights, CD player with changer, MP3 players, power windows, power door locks, traction control, Antilock brakes, Navigation.

Just my 2 cents!

Everyone else ..chime in!

 

I think those are irrefutable facts.

Adding more objects tend to add more weight(working under the assumption said objects have mass of course).

 

Yet the new Porsche 997 Twin Turbo has more features than the previous example (996 TT) but is also lighter.............

Maybe some manufacturer's are spending a little more R+D money where it counts ?

 

No kidding!!!

You can also add in the equation that people get used to extra features. 10 years ago, the customer base for cars with ABS, GPS, Traction control, 10 way adjustable seats was an elitist niche, nowadays the customers who do not want such feature are an extremist niche, and they buy cars like the Atom or Lotus Exige...

 

Cup holders , 250 airbags , MP3/Phone/DVD/GPS , Electric/massaging/heating seats..

 

Yes. Look at the new Z06. Much lighter than previous Corvettes.

It's a lot more difficult and expensive to make cars lighter. It's easier and cheaper to just increase the power. Most manufacturers seem to be taking the easier path. That's a shame, because reducing weight improves all aspects of performance.

 

AGREED !!!!! ... you hit the main point!!!!

 

You can find the same matrial to build a Z06 at WallMart.


Keep this in mind as well, people are getting larger to, I tried to sit in a 71 tyuimp or whatever its called it that thing was very small. another one was the 60's VW bug.

It's not suprizing that cars are getting bigger.

 

Good point. I had a opportunity to sit in a Lotus Elan (the RWD version) a couple years ago, and I could barely fit. I was 19 at the time and running a minimum of 5 miles a day. So I was skinny, and it still was a squeeze for me.

 

Im as big as bear and have problems sitting in those old 240ZX's but yet I seem to fit into a Viper like a glove.

There's still very uncomfrable cars today like the XLR and the FGT but then again those where made for thin people.

 

It has a lot to do with design budget and attitude, it is a lot easier and cheaper to add on stuff to a unsatisfied part when turning a prototype to a production car than competely redesign and remake a part that fits or connects perfectly.

 

Many items tend to get heavier, yet are required, even for performance.

Look at brakes, they became bigger and bigger, still, you don't use CF, the weight is very high.
Electrical seat adjustement is also a thing that makes cars heavy for almost nothing.

Exhaust systems that have to mute at cityspeeds but give full bark at higher speeds also cost some weight.
More cogs on a gearbox don't help either
etc. etc. etc.
AWD etc. won't help either.
Of course safety standarts raised the bar as well, but who will complain about it ?
For the 997 it was an easy game somehow for porsche. The 996 has been around for some years now, so they had plenty of time to look at and improve the structural parts that were understressed.

For the Z06, no matter how much i admire the car, it's basically a -well engineered- kit car.
It's still a frame cassis, with a fiber/CF body,transverse leaf spring etc etc. so gaining weight is probably much easier, but we should compare it to a TVR in terms of weight, not an F/L car or a Porsche.

 

^^
The new 997 TT has aluminum doors, more use of other aluminum/carbon fiber to lighten the car. Still needs to loose the 4WD
----------------------------------------
As far as the Z06 is concerned. I'll kiss your ass if you can find carbon fiber body panels, balsa/carbonfiber sandwiched panels, magnesium frame components, aluminum frame rails, etc. at Walmart. Give me a break.

Off topic:
The whole Z hating thing is so fking tired. No its no F car, P car, whatever, but like it or not, hearing one at WOT roar by you as your no torque 3.5 liter engine tries to move your 4500lb car is an experience you wont forget.

I love alot of cars. Fcars, Lcars, Z06's, P cars, etc. To hate one b/c of its perceived image rather than love it for its strengths is lunacy. But hey, I'll leave you to enjoy your bias while I sample each for what they each excell at.
Rant finished.

 

AMEN!!

 

I guess that means you could build a lambo or Ferrari from the parts at walmart as well?

Hummm..Carbon Fiber panels
Titainium connecting rods
Magnizium alloy
Aluminum hydroformed frame
drysump oiling system

Sound familure??

 

I was talking about engineering, and this is pure -excellent- kit car. sorry guys.
Again, i don't say something bad about the car, i love it, really.
Simply, it's no complex unibody or space frame design, it's a ladder, give me a break, it could in Uranium it would still be crappy design, used on trucks and ol' school offroaders.
Same for suspension, they could levitate (they use excellent the magnetic ride btw fro shocks), but a transverse spring is plain '50s design.
Any 911 for ages has a dry sump, it sounds cool in a MB, but in perf cars it's a must.
Again, corvette is not the only one doing so. In the end, the perf' advantage L or F has over Corvettes or porsches whose main design is still pure non sense is quite small.

But basically, yeah, you could get the parts for a F/L car from walmart, but you couldn't get them together like that. For the Z06 probably yes.
Same for the Viper btw.

 

While there are numerous reasons for the weight gain among recent cars, one excuse for it is that people do tend to like the feel of a heavier car. That's not the case for everyone, but when Joe Blo plunks down eleventy billion dollars for a sportscar he expects something solid and substantive, not some flimsy piece of plastic that jumps over every bump and gets taken by every gust.

And I think that point would be substantiated by Z0RR0's saying that the "extremest niche" is taken care of by the atoms and elises, thus reducing the need to appeal to that crowd by the designers and engineers of the heavier cars.

 

Sir you are delusional.

BTW- Porsche dropped the dry sump on the 911 to keep costs down (standard and S model. Not sure about the TT, or GT3 etc.)

 

Sorry but Lambos and ferraris are built out of state of the art matrials like the ones found on the F-15 Eagle. I like I say they don't come cheap.

Don't get me wrong I love Corvettes, but the main reason why they aren't my favorite is because its all business, all it has to offer is performance and thats it. You get WallMart quality and and a basic look that blends in with everything else on the road.

The Z06 is a nice car for the money but GM had to halfass somewhere to make it the best bang for the buck deal.

 

Yeah, those AMRAAMs and Sidewinders really add a lot of weight to the Murcielago. When those bat-wings deploy, you better not be in front of that baby.

 

Its funny how the Murcielago design takes after the F/A-22 Raptor while the Gallardo takes after the F-35 JSF LightiningII.

 

Good examples!

I've heard some staggering statistics that the top end Mercedes has over 100 solenoids/electric motors in them. These magnetic/steel items can add weight very quickly.