For some reason this was sent to me rather than autox@autox.team.net.
Reply to author, not me.
mjb.
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Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 16:19:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Baumbach <rallyfreak@yahoo.com>
Subject: Subject: Best Suspension Geometry, Etc?
First, I think you'd have to take both front and rear
suspensions into consideration. Struts are generally
poor ultimate performers because their roll center
moves much too quickly, compared to a short long arm
or multi link suspension. That rules out nearly every
current FWD car these days, and some RWD ones too
(Mustang, MR2 Spyder). And, for those cars like the
Focus that have a very good multilink rear suspension,
they had to make some sacrifices to it to make it work
with the front strut. For FWD, I'd have to give it to
a Honda, though your power preference would probably
determine whether you choose a second gen CRX-Si or a
Type R or a Prelude SH. For RWD, I'd guess it would
have to be one of the exotics, but for most of us poor
people the Miata or S2000 is probably the closest
we'll get to the best suspension geometry. The RX-7
is probably right there too.
The problem with not taking into consideration
compromises is that big car companies have to cover
their behinds by trying to design in understeer and
"safe" handling into the cars, whereas exotic cars
don't necessarily take that into consideration, they
assume their customer has a clue about how to handle a
car on the limit.
And Finally, a thought to ponder, Porsches all use
MacPherson Struts up front nowadays, and I don't hear
anyone complaining about their handling...
Steve Baumbach
1999 Plymouth Neon ACR - the slow one from Detroit...
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